The Family Voice at the Heart of EPIQ 2026

Every year, the EPIQ conference brings together Canada’s level-3 NICUs to share knowledge, strengthen quality improvement, and move neonatal care forward.  

But it’s the people that truly makes the EPIQ conference special. 

The 2026 conference in Banff highlighted the growing and essential role of NICU parent partners in shaping better care. Families are not an “add-on” to quality improvement. They are at the heart of it. 

At the pre-conference Family Integrated Care workshop, parent partners Neelam Prasad, Christina Moss, and Fabiana Bacchini shared projects co-designed with families, for families. Topics included culturally precise mental health support in the NICU, stronger post-discharge systems, and advocacy for parental presence as essential policy, not a privilege. 

In the second half of the workshop, parent partners and healthcare providers worked side-by-side to develop practical quality improvement ideas that could increase family presence in NICUs right away. 

One parent partner reflected on the energy of the weekend:

“There is so much power in the gathering of people who are dedicated to improving outcomes for tiny babies and their families… The collective decisions about priorities and practices for the future is something that should make everyone very proud.” 

Year after year, many attendees say the family story presentations are the highlight of EPIQ. This year was no different. Parents Kelsey Ibbotson, Kaitlyn Saby, and Andrew Taylor shared the realities of life in the NICU and the long journey beyond it. Andrew was joined onstage by his daughter Lucy, born at 25 weeks, now 12 years old. Her vibrant life offered a glimpse of what long-term outcomes can look like when families are truly integrated into care. 

The weekend also included updates from EPIQ’s seven national outcome groups. With more groups integrating parent partners into steering committees, 2026 marked an important milestone: long-term family engagement is becoming part of the structure, not just the conversation. 

For many parent partners, this work is deeply personal: 

“Being involved in QI has helped me make sense of my lived experience… There’s something healing in being able to see a bigger picture.” 

EPIQ 2026 was a reminder that when families and clinicians build together, NICU care becomes stronger, more compassionate, and more effective—for every baby who comes next.