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Go with the flow

The Stollery Children’s Hospital is home to one of the most advanced life-support programs for critically ill children in Canada and has recently received the highest level of international recognition for its work.

Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) is a form of life support used for patients with severe heart or lung failure who don’t respond to conventional treatments. ECMO temporarily takes over the work of the heart and lungs, giving critically ill patients the precious time they need to heal.  

How ECMO works: 

  1. Pumps blood outside the body through a machine  
  2. Adds oxygen and removes carbon dioxide 
  3. Returns the blood to the patient, allowing the heart and lungs time to heal 
The Stollery’s ECMO Program is linked to the worldwide ECMO community through the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization (ELSO). ELSO unites ECMO professionals to standardize care, publish research, develop guidelines, and maintain a global patient registry. The Platinum Center of Excellence designation is ELSO’s highest honour, awarded only to programs that demonstrate exceptional quality, safety and continuous improvement.   

As of January 2026, the Stollery is the only children’s hospital in Canada to hold the ELSO Platinum Center of Excellence designation.

The Stollery’s ECMO program is one of the most advanced pediatric ECMO programs in Canada and across the globe. What sets them apart is:  
  • Dedicated pediatric and neonatal expertise: care tailored to the unique needs of critically ill infants and children.
  • Comprehensive multi-disciplinary approach: bringing together intensivists, surgeons, nurses, respiratory therapists, and allied health professionals to deliver collaborative, evidence-based, world-class care.  
  • Commitment to innovation: through continuous quality improvement and adoption of cutting-edge technology, best practice guidelines and innovation, they deliver the safest and most effective ECMO care.  
  • Global benchmarking: they actively participate in international research and networking to stay at the forefront of ECMO advancements.  

ECMO first arrived in Edmonton in 1988, supporting newborns at the Royal Alexandra Hospital. By 2000, the program expanded into the Stollery Children’s Hospital’s pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) – caring for medical, surgical and cardiac patients.

From 2018 to today, ECMO operates across both the pediatric cardiac intensive care unit (PCICU) and PICU, forming one of the strongest pediatric Extracorporeal Life Support (ECLS) programs in Canada. 

Over the years, the Stollery’s ECMO team has completed: 

  • More than 800 ECMO runs supporting 730 patients. 
  • 40–50 ECLS runs every year. 
  • An extensive ECMO transport program with more than 130 retrievals since 2007. 

As the Western Canadian referral centre for congenital heart disease surgery and solid organ transplantation, the Stollery’s reach spans across the Prairies and territories. 

For children too unstable to travel on conventional life support, the Stollery provides ECMO transport—a rare and highly advanced service extending to Calgary, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Regina, Vancouver – and beyond. 

The team completes 12–13 ECMO transports every year, ensuring the sickest children across Western Canada can reach specialized care safely. 

Thanks to our generous donors, the Stollery Children’s Hospital Foundation can continue supporting highly specialized programs like ECMO.

From its beginnings in 1988 to its Platinum-level program today, the Stollery’s ECMO team continues to push the boundaries of what’s possible in pediatric critical care. 

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