A clinic at Health Sciences North/Horizon Santé-Nord (HSN) that uses Botox® injections to help children with mobility challenges received a boost today from Shriners in Sudbury and Toronto.

Members of the Sudbury Shrine Club and the Rameses Shriners Toronto were at HSN’s Children’s Treatment Centre today to present a cheque for $4,800 to the HSN’s Pediatric Botox® Clinic.

Since 2004, the Sudbury Shrine Club and Rameses Shriners Toronto have donated over $370,000 to the clinic.

“It is always a highlight of our year to be able to make a contribution to the Botox® Clinic at HSN,” says Noble Al Burns, President of the Sudbury Shrine Club. “Over the past decade, the Sudbury Shrine Club and Rameses Shriners Toronto have developed a great association with this clinic, and feel we have been a small part of the growth of this phenomenal service to children. It is complementary to our philanthropy to improve the lives of children by providing pediatric specialty care through our international hospital network.”

HSN began its Pediatric Botox® Clinic in 2002, for children with such health issues as cerebral palsy, acquired brain injury and idiopathic toe walking. These children often experience involuntary and painful muscle contractions and spasms. BOTOX® therapy involves the injection of therapeutic doses of purified botulinum toxin protein directly into the affected muscles to prevent the spasms or contractions from occurring.

Every year, approximately 25 injection clinics are held at HSN, serving about 100 children.

Benefits of the BOTOX® injections include overall improvement in motor function/gait patterning (walking), improved upper limb function such as the ability to grasp and release objects with the hands, and better communication and self-help skills.

“This clinic is very important to our patients and their families because it means a lot less pain, greater mobility and increased communication for these kids, and in some cases we can delay or completely avoid the need for corrective surgery,” says Dr. Sean Murray, a pediatrician and the Medical Director of the Family and Child Program at HSN. “This clinic is vital to their quality of life and we couldn’t offer the clinic to the extent we do were it not for the support of the Shriners in Sudbury and Toronto.”

In addition to providing direct financial support to HSN’s Pediatric BOTOX® Clinic, a physician from the Shriners Hospital in Montreal travels to HSN’s Pediatric Centre of Excellence to perform assessments. Children can be referred to the Shriners Hospital for further treatment or orthopedic surgery. The Shriners financially sponsor the children and their families for these trips.