Mount Sinai event raises over $220,000 for high-risk births

Gina Rim, a high-risk mother, with husband Scott and baby Rosie

TORONTO — Gina Rim was a high-risk mother. She’s diabetic, and toward the end of her pregnancy, she experienced a complication called pre-eclampsia, which is characterized by high blood pressure.

Her daughter Rosie, now a chubby eight-month-old, was considered a high-risk baby, born nearly six weeks early.

“We were in the intensive care unit [at Toronto's Mount Sinai Hospital] for two or three weeks,” Rim said. “Mount Sinai was really good to us. They watched over us from beginning to end, and even after we had the baby, they made sure I had all the specialists I needed.”

Rim, her partner Scott and baby Rosie were among the 1,200 participants who converged on Earl Bales Park in Toronto Sept. 28 for Mount Sinai Hospital’s inaugural fundraising walk to support high-risk births, called Rock N’ Stroll: A Big Walk for Tiny Patients.

Participants flooded the park, baby strollers in tow, to do the three-kilometre walk around Earl Bales before meeting for kid-friendly musical performances, games and a barbecue.

The event, which raised more than $220,000 – surpassing its fundraising goal of $175,000 – was designed to engage families who had assisted by Mount Sinai’s perinatal centre and to encourage them to raise funds to support the resources, facilities and equipment that Mount Sinai uses to deliver its specialized high-risk obstetric care.

In addition to the $25 registration fee per family (or $10 per individual), participants were urged to raise an additional $100 to support the hospital, whose perinatal centre is one of the largest in North America.

“Women’s and infants’ health has always been a critical part of the exemplary care provided by Mount Sinai,” said Kevin Goldthorp, president of the Mount Sinai Hospital Foundation. “Every year, almost 7,000 babies are born at our hospital, with two-thirds of those pregnancies considered high risk. Through such events as Rock N’ Stroll, we can continue to provide a tremendous level of support to our flagship program, and provide the best patient care possible.”

The marketing campaign for Rock N’ Stroll drew the attention of a number of actual, high-profile rockers, who helped to promote the cause by lending their signature images to it: the babies modeling in the event posters are dressed up like musicians KISS and Elton John.

Amish Jain, a physician who works in the ICU at Mount Sinai, was at the walk with his two young children.

He said high-risk births – which typically involve cases where the mother has a pre-existing medical condition, is older, is pregnant with multiple babies or goes into premature labour – are actually on the rise in Canada.

“Many of these babies are surviving, though they would not have survived in the past,” Jain said. “It’s an expanding need within the health care system, to support these small babies. And they go through a lot, in terms of the help they need and what parents go through.”

He noted that the rising use of reproductive technology as an aid to conception can affect a woman’s pregnancy.

“When [reproductive technology is used], the number of multiples [meaning twins, triplets, etc.] goes up… this can create complications… and many of the women who do this are older and might have underlying problems, so the babies might be delivered prematurely.”

“We look after a very high-risk population,” he said.