Inter-Establishment Navigator
MUSCO, Canada
Stephanie Gould is one of two Inter-Establishment Trajectory Coordinators with the MUSCO Initiative, a pioneering collaborative effort among four leading pediatric centers in Montreal (Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Sainte-Justine, Centre de Réadapation Marie-Enfant, the Montreal Childrens Hospital and Shriners Hospitals for Children – Canada), with the financial support of the Mirella and Lino Saputo Foundation. This initiative aims to foster collaboration and mobilize partners to optimize the care and services provided to patients with neuro-musculoskeletal conditions requiring complex care, as well as their families.
Stephanie earned her Bachelor’s degree in Physical Therapy from McGill University in 1999. In her 20 years of experience as a physiotherapist at the Shriners Hospitals for Children - Canada, Stephanie worked with diverse pediatric populations and developed a particular expertise in the rehabilitation of children with Cerebral Palsy and Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI). She has presented at conferences worldwide, covering various aspects of rehabilitation and care for children with OI, as well as having given multiple talks at educational and healthcare institutions within Montreal, sharing insights on pediatric rehabilitation.
Over the years, Stephanie was struck by the challenges faced by families of kids with complex needs to access appropriate services for their children and to have their voices heard at various levels of governance within the healthcare system meant to serve them. This led her to jump at the opportunity in 2020 to take on the newly-created role of Inter-Establishment Trajectory Coordinator within the innovative MUSCO collaboration. In this capacity, she is collaborating with over 200 different professionals, managers and administrators across multiple departments throughout the four partner institutions to improve the experience and optimize the health trajectories of children and youth with neuro-musculoskeletal conditions and complex needs, and to ensure that patient and family perspectives are integral to healthcare processes.