Alberta Children's Hospital

CALGARY, AB, July 28, 2024 /PRNewswire/ - Big crowds and memorable performances during the CPKC Women's Open helped Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) raise a record $4.3 million for heart health in Alberta, with $3.8 million to the Alberta Children's Hospital Foundation and $507,000 to the Red Deer Regional Health Foundation. Lauren Coughlin finished the week 13 under par to take home her first LPGA Tour victory and the US$390,000 winner's share of the US$2.6 million purse, one of the largest for a non-major on the LPGA Tour. Continue Reading CPKC Women’s Open winner Lauren Coughlin and Nadeem Velani, CPKC EVP and CFO (CNW Group/CPKC) "It was wonderful to have the CPKC Women's Open back in Calgary, home to CPKC's global headquarters and over 2,000 of our railroaders, many of whom contributed to the incredible success of this week's tournament," said Keith Creel, CPKC President and CEO. "Congratulations to Lauren Coughlin on winning the CPKC Women's Open and her first LPGA tour victory. Calgarians cheered on Lauren and all the world-class golfers while helping make a big difference for kids who are fighting to live the full, healthy lives they deserve. "Together, this year we raised an incredible record amount to support children's heart health," Creel added. "CPKC is honored to continue making a lasting difference in communities across Canada through CPKC Has Heart, our community investment program supporting heart health initiatives." Since 2014, CPKC has helped raise more than $22 million for children's heart health as the title sponsor of the CPKC Women's Open. This year's total donation, the biggest in the CPKC title sponsorship's history, is the result of several fundraising efforts of the CPKC Has Heart campaign. Through CPKC Birdies for Heart, CPKC contributed for each birdie made by Earl Grey Golf Club members prior to the tournament and $5,000 for each birdie made by LPGA players on the 14th hole during championship tournament play at Earl Grey. CPKC also matched donations made during Alberta Children's Hospital Foundation campaign online in February, which is Heart Month. "We are so grateful for our longstanding partnership with CPKC," said Saifa Koonar, President and CEO of the Alberta Children's Hospital Foundation. "Over the last several months and culminating with this week's tournament, CPKC has been helping inspire our community to support pediatric heart health and generously matching donations. We are in awe of the amount that's been raised, which will fuel ground-breaking research to support early detection of heart defects in babies and give them the best possible outcomes in life." Red Deer Regional Health Foundation was the 2024 CPKC Women's Open community partner. "We are incredibly grateful for the generosity and support from CPKC and the participants of the CPKC Women's Open," said Manon Therriault, CEO of the Red Deer Regional Health Foundation. "We thoroughly enjoyed working with the various teams that made this happen and were overjoyed to be chosen as a community partner. We were thrilled to engage our community, our donors, and our hospital staff in this initiative." "The funds raised will make a significant impact on cardiac care in the Alberta Central Zone, ensuring that our community has access to the best possible heart health services," added Therriault. "Our hospital is currently undergoing an expansion, and community partnerships like this are the reason why our expanded hospital will have the enhanced care that our community members deserve. This partnership exemplifies the power of coming together to create meaningful change and improve lives." "The impact that the CPKC Women's Open has on the communities that it touches through CPKC Has Heart is immense," said Laurence Applebaum, Chief Executive Officer, Golf Canada. "The legacy and lasting benefit to pediatric heart health saves lives and improves patient care in meaningful ways. In 2024 CPKC Has Heart once again set a new standard strengthening its position as one of the leading philanthropic initiatives in Canada." About Canadian Pacific Kansas City With its global headquarters in Calgary, Alta., Canada, CPKC is the first and only single-line transnational railway linking Canada, the United States and México, with unrivaled access to major ports from Vancouver to Atlantic Canada to the Gulf of México to Lázaro Cárdenas, México. Stretching approximately 20,000 route miles and employing 20,000 railroaders, CPKC provides North American customers unparalleled rail service and network reach to key markets across the continent. CPKC is growing with its customers, offering a suite of freight transportation services, logistics solutions and supply chain expertise. Visit cpkcr.com to learn more about the rail advantages of CPKC. About CPKC Has Heart At CPKC, we know that a railroad may serve as the arteries of a nation, but at its heart is community. That's why, through CPKC Has Heart, we've already helped raise more than $45 million to help improve the heart health of adults and children across North America. And along the way, we're showing heart whenever we can. Find out more on About Alberta Children's Hospital Foundation The Alberta Children's Hospital Foundation inspires our community to invest in excellence in child health, research, and family centred care. Through the generosity of donors, the Foundation provides funding for innovative programs, state-of-the-art equipment, advanced medical training and internationally recognized pediatric research. The Alberta Children's Hospital Foundation is a founding partner of the Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute. Together, we can create the best health and best future for children and families. About Red Deer Regional Health Foundation Red Deer Regional Health Foundation raises and disburses funds for programs, services, and the purchase of medical equipment for the Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre and other facilities in Alberta Health Services Central Zone. About Golf Canada Golf Canada is the National Sports Federation and governing body for golf in Canada representing 341,000 golfers and 1,505 member clubs across the country. A proud member of the Canadian Olympic Committee, Golf Canada's mission is to increase Canadian participation and excellence in golf. By investing in the growth of the sport and introducing more participants of all ages to the game, our vision is to be a world leader in golf. For more information about what Golf Canada is doing to support golf in your community, visit . SOURCE CPKC

A new study finds concussions don't reduce the IQ of children. Findings may help to reduce parental fears regarding these common and concerning head injuries. Researchers looked at socioeconomic status, patient sex, severity of injuries, concussion history, and whether there was a loss of consciousness at the time of injury. None of these factors made a difference. Across the board, concussion was not associated with lower IQ. The angst parents feel when their children sustain injuries is surely one of the universal conditions of parenthood. That anxiety is heightened greatly when those injuries involve concussions. But a new study led out of the University of Calgary, published today in the medical journal Pediatrics, may set worried parental minds slightly at ease. The findings -- taken from emergency room visits in children's hospitals in Canada and the United States -- show that IQ and intelligence is not affected in a clinically meaningful way by pediatric concussions. The study compares 566 children diagnosed with concussion to 300 with orthopedic injuries. The children range in age from eight to 16 and they were recruited from two cohort studies. The Canadian cohort encompasses data collected from five children's hospital emergency rooms, including Alberta Children's Hospital in Calgary, along with those in Vancouver, Edmonton, Ottawa, and Montreal (CHU Sainte-Justine). In the Canadian hospitals, patients completed IQ tests three months postinjury. The U.S. cohort was conducted at two children's hospitals in Ohio, wherein patients completed IQ tests three to 18 days, postinjury. "Obviously there's been a lot of concern about the effects of concussion on children, and one of the biggest questions has been whether or not it affects a child's overall intellectual functioning," says Dr. Keith Yeates, PhD, a professor in UCalgary's Department of Psychology and senior author of the Pediatrics paper. Yeates is a renowned expert on the outcomes of childhood brain disorders, including concussion and traumatic brain injuries. "The data on this has been mixed and opinions have varied within the medical community," says Yeates. "It's hard to collect big enough samples to confirm a negative finding. The absence of a difference in IQ after concussion is harder to prove than the presence of a difference." Combining the Canadian and U.S. cohorts gave the Pediatrics study an abundant sample and it allowed Yeates and his co-authors -- from universities in Edmonton, Montreal, Vancouver, Ottawa, Atlanta, Utah, and Ohio, along with Calgary's Mount Royal University -- to test patients with a wide range of demographics and clinical characteristics. "We looked at socioeconomic status, patient sex, severity of injuries, concussion history, and whether there was a loss of consciousness at the time of injury," says Yeates. "None of these factors made a difference. Across the board, concussion was not associated with lower IQ." The children with concussion were compared to children with orthopedic injuries other than concussion to control for other factors that that might affect IQ, such as demographic background and the experience of trauma and pain. This allowed the researchers to determine whether the children's IQs were different than what would be expected minus the concussion. The findings of the study are important to share with parents, says Dr. Ashley Ware, PhD, a professor at Georgia State University and lead author of the paper. While the Pediatrics research was underway, Ware was a Killam Postdoctoral Fellow at UCalgary, where Yeates was her supervisor. "Understandably, there's been a lot of fear among parents when dealing with their children's concussions," Ware says. "These new findings provide really good news, and we need to get the message to parents." Dr. Stephen Freedman, PhD, co-author of the paper, a professor of pediatrics and emergency medicine at the Cumming School of Medicine, agrees. "It's something doctors can tell children who have sustained a concussion, and their parents, to help reduce their fears and concerns," says Freedman. "It is certainly reassuring to know that concussions do not lead to alterations in IQ or intelligence." Another strength of the Pediatrics research is that incorporates the two cohort studies, one testing patients within days of their concussions and the other after three months. "That makes our claim even stronger," says Ware. "We can demonstrate that even in those first days and weeks after concussion, when children do show symptoms such as a pain and slow processing speed, there's no hit to their IQs. Then it's the same story three months out, when most children have recovered from their concussion symptoms. Thanks to this study we can say that, consistently, we would not expect IQ to be diminished from when children are symptomatic to when they've recovered." She adds: "It's a nice 'rest easy' message for the parents."