MGH campus transformation
MGH’s campus transformation continues with major renovation work. Patients and visitors can expect to experience noise, hallway closures and detours around the hospital. Learn more about our campus transformation.
MGH’s campus transformation continues with major renovation work. Patients and visitors can expect to experience noise, hallway closures and detours around the hospital. Learn more about our campus transformation.
Last updated: May 9, 2024
If your child needs care for an urgent but non-life threatening health issue, we encourage you to consider other urgent care options in East Toronto. If you need to come to our main Emergency Department (ED), please come prepared by reading the information on our ED page.
Our Child and Youth Emergency Zone is a family-friendly space beside the Stavro Emergency Department (ED) that is designed to treat children and youth aged 17 years and under in East Toronto who need urgent or acute medical care when their paediatrician or family doctor is not available.
This includes assessing and treating illness, including cold, flu and COVID-19 symptoms, as well as injury, pain or mental health crises.
Patients who visit our Child and Youth Emergency Zone have the opportunity to receive paediatric assessment and treatment, as well as coping supports, in a dedicated space that is physically separate from the hospital’s main ED.
The goal is to make the ED experience more comfortable for local children, youth and families at a hospital that is close to home.
Our Child and Youth Emergency Zone is located off of Mortimer Avenue under the Emergency sign. Use the door to the immediate right of the main Emergency Department entrance.
The Child and Youth Emergency Zone is open every day from 9 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Our main Emergency Department is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and is always available to anyone – adult or child – who requires urgent or emergent care.
Have you visited our Child and Youth Emergency Zone? Share your experience in a short survey and help us continue to improve urgent paediatric care for our community.
Despite staff’s best efforts, some visits may take some time. If you are able to, please bring:
Staff will ask you screening questions for COVID-19 and other infectious diseases. If you screen positive, you will not be turned away. Staff will do their best to keep patients with possible infectious symptoms in separate areas.
After screening, a triage nurse will see your child. The triage nurse will assess the urgency of your child’s needs by asking you and your child questions. They will also measure your child’s vital signs and weight. The triage nurse may ask your child to take off their jacket and shoes to help with this.
Staff will then register your child for their Child and Youth Emergency Zone visit. They will direct you and your child to a dedicated waiting area where you will wait for your child’s name to be called.
Your health, safety and comfort are very important to us. When you arrive to our Child and Youth Emergency Zone, an experienced triage nurse will triage all patients using the Canadian Triage Acuity System (CTAS). This ensures the sickest patients are seen first, regardless of time of arrival.
If your child's condition changes or gets worse while you are waiting to receive care, please tell someone at the triage desk or a team station.
Our team does their best to ensure wait times to receive care are as short as possible. Individuals who need diagnostic imaging (e.g. CT scan, X-ray, MRI, ultrasound), blood work and other services may need to wait for those services.
As of April 2024, masks are optional for patients, visitors, staff and physicians in all areas of the hospital, including the Emergency Department. (However, patients, visitors, staff and physicians must wear a mask in specific circumstances as determined by the Infection Prevention and Control Team.)
If you would like to wear a mask, our team will provide you one when you enter the Emergency Department.
We understand seeking emergency care for your child or family can be a stressful time. Please let our team know if they can make your visit easier or more pleasant. They may be able to offer:
Please speak to staff before giving your child anything to eat or drink in case your child needs a test or treatment that requires an empty stomach. In this case, eating or drinking may need to be delayed.
When your child’s name is called in the waiting area, a nurse will further examine your child. A doctor will then examine your child and arrange for the appropriate treatment.
Some children may require tests, like an ultrasound test, or additional assessment by a specialist. This may require an additional wait.
The nurse and doctor will explain to you the next steps in your child’s care. They may also give you a prescription, appointment information or other instructions.
If your child’s condition does not improve after you get home, contact your child’s paediatrician or family doctor. If the matter is urgent and your paeditrician or family doctor is not available, we encourage you to come back to the MGH Child and Youth Emergency Zone.
The doctor may decide to keep your child in hospital for further care. In this case, your child will be transferred to MGH’s Paediatrics department.
This may require your child to be moved to MGH’s main Emergency Department or another area of the hospital while a room is prepared for them in the Paediatrics Department. Staff in the Emergency Department will continue to care for your child until this is done.