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What began as a daycare out of her home nearly 20 years ago has since grown to provide care for countless children with complex medical needs across Saskatchewan.

Hope’s Home, recognized as the first medically inclusive child-care facility in Canada, opened in 2005 in Regina. Jacqueline Tisher moved a dozen children from her home’s daycare into their new facility. Today, Hope’s Home has expanded to include centres in Saskatoon and Prince Albert along with a second centre in Regina.

Tisher has even been approached by other jurisdictions in North America to assist in creating a working model for their community.

Opening Hope’s Home, however, wasn’t initially how Tisher expected her career to unfold. She previously worked as a registered nurse in the pediatric intensive care unit and neonatal intensive care unit.

It was through her experiences both professionally and personally that Tisher recognized the need for child care in the community, especially for children with medical needs.

“I’m a firm believer in that you have to be very intentional to make change, you have to plan for it and you have to not just talk about it. You actually have to do it,” Tisher said in her sit-down interview for Shaping Saskatchewan.

On the personal side, Tisher is a mother to Acacia, her oldest daughter who lived with spina bifida and hydrocephalus, who died at 18 years of age. Tisher also had a foster daughter named Hope with special needs, who died at 10 months old.

It was these types of experiences that created a burning passion for Tisher to make a difference in her community.

“It’s about making their life the very best while they’re living and that’s inside you based on your experiences. And when you see this dream, it becomes your purpose and you want to lead it. That’s how I lead,” she said.

“I remember what that was like being Acacia’s mom. I remember what it was like to walk in the hospital and see the gap. I know what it’s like to hold the hands of the mom and dad that watch their child pass. To be able to make a difference and lead a difference — that’s passion.”