Shared on behalf of on behalf of Dr. Rhonda Crocker Ellacott, President & CEO, TBRHSC and CEO, TBRHRI
Hello, Boozhou, Bonjour.
I would like to begin this month’s blog by acknowledging that March marked three years since the COVID-19 pandemic began and blew up your work and personal lives in ways that we still can’t completely understand. And, I would like to vocally acknowledge it because the anniversary came and went with very little societal recognition despite the fact you are still dealing with COVID-19 at work each and every day. So, please allow me to say, yet again, thank you for going that extra mile relentlessly these past three years. Thank you serving the communities we serve with professionalism, compassion and endurance I haven’t ever seen in my 30+ years in health care. And, thank you for supporting each other day in and day out, right up until this very day. You are all an inspiration.
On that note, I continue to hear countless stories from people who have family members in our Hospital or have had to use our Hospital for some reason. The positive feedback on the great care they or their family member has received is reassuring to me that we are working together to provide exceptional care. We are getting better at what we do – please know your work is making a difference.
With that being said, it only makes sense that we welcomed the month of March by celebrating Employee Recognition Week. Spring is a time to refresh and initiate new beginnings for the months ahead. I ask that you take the time to reflect on all the great work you and your teams have been doing to make our Hospital and Health Research Institute a great place to work. Everyone has contributed in some manner and together we are making a difference in our community.
Speaking of refreshing and rebooting, I am feeling optimistic that we are starting to see a break with COVID-19 and look forward to our transition of activities into our operations. COVID-19 has forever changed the way we work in our Hospital and function in society for most. Having somewhat of a reprieve in our response needs has provided us opportunity to shift our protective measures and adjust to what normal will look like moving forward, where we can reduce the likelihood of future impacts, yet shift towards ordinary operations. For now, we will align ourselves to what others are doing in the health sector and continue to monitor and adjust to be well balanced with our measures.
As you may have seen in the news recently, there were stories related to the investments we have been forced to make around the police services we have in our Hospital. Allow me to tell you what I told the media: although I would much rather be investing these resources on our frontline health care, my top priority is ensuring that you have a safe place to do your jobs properly. From the feedback received, this has supported you and our patients, and it is an investment I will approve without apology, as long as the circumstances require us to do it. Unsurprising to most of you, recent data shows that our Emergency Department (ED) is the 10th busiest out of 74 in the province. We know hospitals across the province have seen an increase in violent situations and having measures in place like this, will help prevent situations that can impact our staff and patient care. Having police services present is just one tool for preventing workplace violence. There are many strategies that have been initiated over the past year to reduce incidents which includes adding security guards, staff training, changing staffing models and a public campaign to bring awareness to the need, and that we do not tolerate violence, to name a few. There is work being done to the physical environment and these renovations will also contribute to a safer working environment. All these efforts will continue to be a priority with ongoing evaluation being done to make certain you feel supported and confident that your work area is safe. I will keep you posted in future blogs as to our progress and hopefully this is a short-lived challenge.
Our Staff Advisory Committee met for the first time over the past month to discuss the priorities and opportunities to make our organization better. There is also recognition that this group is far more than just engagement. So much has shifted over the past several years and organizations that are future forward, recognize the need to work with staff to address what we too have identified as features in successful organizations: Healthy Culture, Environment, and Tools to support your role / Supportive Technology. These seem to reflect the focus group feedback received to date, and we will work through these areas to support our best path forward.
Finally, the provincial budget was just tabled last week, and we heard about increased health care spending – however, no specific investment information was given. While there is what appears to be fairly targeted health human resources investments, and overall health investments, I will remain cautiously optimistic as we recognize that we have our unique and rather different challenges in Northwestern Ontario and will expect to see investments that address our health inequities, access to care and wait times issues, and more significant recruitment and retention challenges. We will continue to strongly advocate to the Ministry of Health, Ontario Hospital Association, and Ontario Health regarding our targeted challenges regarding recruitment and retention and continue to advance our requests for support in particular related to our organizational and regional care pressures, together with our structural deficit and equity issues. I will keep you updated as new information is made available.
I invite you to always reach out to me if you have comments on this blog or connect with me for any other matter. If there is something we need to celebrate, then I would like to know. You can reach me at: rhonda.ellacott@tbh.net
