This Saturday morning from 9 a.m. to noon Magog-based group Le Tandem is holding an open house in Stanstead to mark the opening of a new satellite office next to Phelps Helps at the corner of Notre-Dame and Dufferin Streets. Identifying itself as a group focused on “community social pediatrics” Le Tandem’s mission revolves around helping the children in a community live their best possible lives by looking not just at physical health, but at the factors that affect all aspects of their wellbeing.
“It’s a very holistic approach to the needs of the child” explained Clea Corman, who is a member of the board of directors of Le Tandem in addition to her work with Phelps Helps and the Sunnyside Elementary School Community Learning Centre. “It really looks at all the aspects of the kid’s life.” Corman offered the example of a child who chronically gets colds or respiratory infections not because of an inherent health defect, but because their apartment building is not well maintained. That child, she said, could be treated countless times by a doctor without anyone catching on to the fact that the root cause of that persistent infection lies in poor living conditions. By combining the services of specialized health professionals, legal experts, social workers, or other similar professional and offering them for free in more vulnerable communities, “community social pediatrics” takes the approach of considering all factors and work with people in all sectors of a child’s life to improve their overall chances for success. See full story in the Friday, Dec. 13 edition of The Record.