A special shout out to Dr. Ram Mishaal and the EMSP team who were runners up for the 2025 Optimizing the Early Years Award. These awards are presented annually by Health Quality BC to celebrate the people and projects that are improving the quality of care in our province.
The EMSP launched in June 2022 at Sunny Hill Health Centre, BC Children’s Hospital, as the first-of-its-kind selective screening program for CP; filling the identified early detection gap. In partnership with Perinatal Services BC, the EMSP has made BC the first jurisdiction in the world to have a provincial screening program for CP.The EMSP consists of a group of trained professionals who conduct the Prechtl General Movements Assessment (GMA) on identified high-risk infants for CP between 3-4 months corrected age. GMA is a validated predictive tool for CP that identifies certain movement challenges by 4 months post-term age. The EMSP clinicians conduct GMA by scoring a two to five-minute-long video of the infant lying on their back while they are awake and calm. The video can be recorded in the clinic or home setting. Comments from caregivers have illustrated that they appreciate the virtual accessibility, “I appreciated not having to go to an in-person appointment. The zoom call worked well and I was able to understand what was being shared and was able to share my own thoughts and ask questions.”
Dr. Ram Mishaal, the Senior Medical Director for Child Development and Rehabilitation at BC Children’s Hospital, who is also one of the co-leads on this project shared, “Every child deserves the best opportunity to thrive and fulfil their functional potential. Early Cerebral Palsy detection leads to early specific interventions and family support, which in turn improve children and their family’s function. Through this program we’ve seen a positive impact on caregivers mental and emotional health, as it provides them with the opportunity to receive answers, share their concerns and guide their teams so we can focus on what is important to them.”
To date, EMSP and the CP Early diagnosis clinic have assessed over 400 patients and decreased the age of CP diagnosis from 23 moths to 11 months. Being a virtual program, AS of October 2024, EMSP has saved over 1000 hours of travel time to families, saved 76,061 km of travel distance (1.9 times the earth circumference) and saved estimated 17,760 kg of CO2 emission (~12 homes’ electricity use for one year).