The EDI Champion Program at The Hospital for Sick Children empowers staff to advance equity, diversity, and inclusion through education, mentorship, and systemic advocacy. Using an anti-oppression framework, the program addresses biases, how to dismantles barriers, and fosters culturally safe care, creating meaningful, sustainable change in healthcare for diverse patients, families, and teams.
Linda Nguyen RN, BScN, MN, The Hospital for Sick Children
Linda Nguyen has been a registered nurse for 16 years at SickKids. For the past 8 years, she’s held various education positions across the organization as an Interprofessional Education Specialist (IES). In her current IES role, she is responsible for the development and implementation of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) education. She also supports the Substance Use Health Initiative that aims to build organizational capacity to care of adolescents with substance use and/or substance use disorder.
Elena Blackwood RN, MN, The Hospital for Sick Children
Elena is an Interprofessional Education Specialist in the Learning Institute at The Hospital for Sick Children. She is one of the co-directors for the EDI Champion Program and co-leads organizational EDI education. She is also a core team member for the hospital’s health equity data initiative aimed at collecting sociodemographic information from patients and families. Elena’s focus is also on ensuring representation within the nursing workforce and her efforts extend to overseeing the Black and Indigenous Nursing Student Awards and Inclusive Mentorship Program. In 2020, she was the recipient of a SickKids President’s Award and in 2022, Elena won a SickKids Nursing Excellence Award for nursing leadership. Prior to this, she worked for many years on the inpatient cardiology unit. Through her work, Elena is keen to advance SickKids efforts related to strengthening equitable care across the organization for racialized populations.