We are excited to share that we have secured new spaces for the full summer of Day Camp on both the north side and south side of Edmonton in partnership with the City of Edmonton. We will be offering full summer 8 weeks of summer Day Camp at the ACT centre on the North side, and the Meadows Recreation Centre on the south side. We will be fully staffed at both locations and registration is now open. We are thankful to the Rotary Club of Edmonton Sunrise who made a generous donation of $5,000 which will allow us to reduce the cost of day camp by $50 per person per week. This program will be eligible for FSCD billing if you have a contract as previous years. Register using the contact@edss.ca email as soon as possible to secure your space for camp.
We are pleased to partner with the YMCA Family Resource Hub to offer our community the Triple P Program – Positive Parenting Program. There is some interest but we do need more families to indicate their wishes to join in. We will run this program once we have enough participation to make it work. Please send us a note at contact@edss.ca if there is a preferred date/time for this program for you.
Updates
| Next week is April 19 – 25 is National Volunteer Appreciation Week and we would like to take time to send a special thank you to all our volunteers who support EDSS both in direct program support and through guidance and governance as a board member. We also have had the honour of having our first ever Volunteer Coordinator who works brilliantly behind the scenes connecting with you and tracking your hours for our organization. We extend a huge Thank You to Tori Bergquist who has stepped up to fill this very important role for EDSS to help support our volunteers who make our programs and events meaningful and impactful for our community. |  |
Congratulations to Kiara Moore this month’s winner of the 2nd early bird prize for the Walk for Down Syndrome. We are eight weeks away from the Walk for Down Syndrome... Do you have your team name picked out and your fundraising page set up? If you need help, just reach out. Register Now Here.
Our design for 2026 t-shirts is ready to go and we are still taking team orders up until May 10th. We are thrilled that we have Qualicare onboard as a new sponsor this year! Qualicare provides nursing and caregiver services for individuals in their homes. We look forward to welcoming more families and friends to join in and walk with our community.
Advocacy in Action: Housing Options
Thank you to Karima and Yanick Ewig for the presentation last evening regarding being a “Supportive Roommate”. Their story was full of real-life examples and advice for being a supportive roommate for people with a disability and recommendations for those who are looking at building a relationship with a potential roommate for your child. There was a tremendous response and attendance for this presentation and it was also recorded for future viewing. It can be found here.
This week our team had the opportunity to connect with our University of Alberta students who have completed their Community Service Learning (CSL) projects for EDSS. We are thankful for the creativity and engagement each of these students shared with us and our community. We will share more about each project in the weeks to come as we launch the tools that were developed.
Further to our member engagement session, I want to share some of the additional highlights we shared with our members during that event.
Advocacy Strategy Updates
When we asked, you shared these urgent priorities:
Health care and service navigation
Challenges accessing consistent, coordinated health care.
- Long wait times for assessments or specialist appointments
- Difficulty finding adult health care providers with Down syndrome expertise
- Support navigating medical systems
- Aging-related health needs
Our focus is to connect with our government and share the work we are doing and what we need their help with to further the voices and needs of our families and their children.
We will be encouraging support to provide better access to primary care for adults who do not have a dedicated medical clinic in the Edmonton region. We will share the research and advancements being made with our partners Global Down Syndrome Foundation and their second version of the medical guidelines for adults with Down syndrome: GLOBAL Medical Care Guidelines for Adults with Down Syndrome | Global Down Syndrome Foundation
Advocacy In Action
Julie Boucher, Director of Community and Family Services has been busy making connections within our medical community, and last evening we were very pleased to share a wonderful experience we curated in partnership with the University of Alberta Faculty of Medicine. We were invited to make a presentation to a classroom of new medical students and residents accompanied by 4 of our family advocates with a child born with Down syndrome. The event was informative and impactful as our families each shared their diagnosis stories with the students. Each one is different and so very relevant and significant for these enthusiastic physicians developing in their practice. Our families had a common and important message to deliver focusing on how “words matter” and each child is loved and their journey begins with this important message of their diagnosis and how it is delivered. The parents will never forget how their story began. We are also very pleased to share the current medical guidelines with these students and the news that the second edition review is currently being published and will be released later this year. You can find this update and your own copy of the medical guidelines for adults with Ds here. Please share these with your family physician.
Podcast with Kristy Wolfe, Wolfe Pack Warriors Foundation. (From Playgroups to Policy)
I was fortunate to have a conversation with Kristy Wolfe, Digital Storyteller, Executive of the Wolfe Pack Warriors Foundation. Kristy and I explore how Edmonton Down Syndrome Society Builds Belonging. Listen to our podcast to hear about joy, grit, and community: from toddler playgroups to employment readiness and a joyful runway gala, discover how EDSS builds inclusion you can feel.
We cover many topics and the ask is simple and concrete: give, amplify, connect. Volunteer at a fundraiser, attend the walk, wear mismatched socks on World Down Syndrome Day to spark conversations, or bring the medical guidelines to a local GP. If you work in education or childcare, invite EDSS to train your team. If you are an employer, explore customized roles and supports that unlock talent. The through-line is practical hope—families, clinicians, educators, and neighbors can each move one piece, and together those pieces become a reliable path from first playgroup to first paycheck, and from anxious beginnings to a life rich in friends, work, and community.
50/50 draw for World Down Syndrome Day
Now live and will finish at the Walk for Down Syndrome on Sunday, June 14th. Tickets can be purchased here.
Did you know?
Through the Eye See…Eye Learn program, children in kindergarten are eligible to receive free glasses and frames. Be sure to ask your optometrist about it!
