Amanda Todd's mother Carol Todd, left, is comforted by singer Elise Estrada as they watch her music video for the song "Wonder Woman" dedicated to Amanda after the Snowflake Walk to End Bullying in Port Coquitlam, B.C., on SunDec. 9, 2012.DARRYL DYCK/The Globe and Mail
Amanda Todd's mother and a group of parents have met with provincial Health Minister Margaret MacDiarmid in an attempt to push the Liberal government to improve crisis care for British Columbia's children – and ultimately prevent further tragedies.
The girl's heart-wrenching video about the bullying and cyberstalking she experienced was seen worldwide, and her subsequent suicide last fall sparked a nationwide effort to support anti-bullying causes.
"We were able to tell our stories out there," said Carol Todd on Tuesday. "We don't have many successes, and, of course, I come with a tragic story.
"People shared their problems, frustrations and I was actually pleased to see the minister and her fellow colleagues from other ministries listen and share concrete things that they would look at for the future of youth mental health."
The parents presented Ms. MacDiarmid with a petition signed by 36,000 people calling for improvements to emergency care for children in crisis at provincial hospitals.
The families want Ms. MacDiarmid to make changes in emergency rooms to ensure psychiatrists, not physicians, make decisions on whether to admit a child to care. Parents must also be included in the decision-making process, the families said.
Ms. Todd said children shouldn't face long wait-lists and gaps in care. "It should be all standardized in terms of how we speak, what we hear, so our frustrations are less, so we don't lose any more kids," she said.
Among the parents at the closed-door meeting with Ms. MacDiarmid were Kelly and Owen Bradley, whose 11-year-old daughter was sent home from Victoria General Hospital's emergency department earlier this year despite being in mental distress.
The daughter, who has been diagnosed with a bipolar disorder, ended up on a long waiting list for a 13-bed, child-and-youth treatment centre in Greater Victoria.
Kelly Bradley, who believes emergency services for children put kids like her daughter at risk, said she was encouraged by the meeting with Ms. MacDiarmid.
"I feel we were heard," she said. "The health minister acknowledged that there are huge gaps and a huge need for improvement."
Ms. Bradley said the parents and the minister discussed how they could find ways to ensure child psychiatrists are on hand to help with decisions that involve admitting a child in distress to hospital.
Currently, at many hospitals the admitting decisions are made by emergency doctors on duty. Ms. Bradley said the parents also stressed they be included in the decision-making process involving their children.
Ms. MacDiarmid said the ministry has been working on a more uniform process that ensures all emergency rooms and health-care workers have provincewide guidelines.
She said she would want parents involved in those decisions, but could not guarantee a child psychiatrist would be available at every hospital across B.C.
Ms. MacDiarmid said she wants hospitals to have access to child psychiatrists, if not in person then through the telephone or Internet, in crisis situations.
"In terms of exactly how it's going to look, the firm commitment we made is that when the standards are developed, which I think will be fairly soon, we would talk with the families again," said MacDiarmid.