Hello, Boozhoo, Bonjour.

The fires burning across Northwestern Ontario have shaped everything about this month.

As I write this, more than 120 wildfires are active across our region, and thousands of people have been forced from their homes with many evacuees coming to Thunder Bay. These are communities we serve and have built partnerships with, and the losses this region has absorbed in a matter of weeks are hard to take in.

Many of you have family and friends who have been evacuated or who are waiting on word about their communities. Some of you have lost homes. Some of you have lost camps that have been in your families for generations, and anyone from this part of the world knows a camp is never just a building. You have been carrying those losses and that worry while continuing to show up for patients, and I do not take that for granted.

Over this past month, and yet again, you continue to do what we do when things get tough. We come together, we help one another, and we cover shifts for colleagues dealing with evacuations and difficult issues. People have opened their homes to displaced family and friends, donated to evacuee supports, volunteered their time and checked in on each other without being asked. Some of that help has happened through your work here and much of it has happened quietly outside of it, and all of it reflects who the people of this organization are. If you are one of the people who has been affected, please reach out to your manager or to our Employee and Family Assistance Program. Asking for support is part of how we get through a season like this one, and no one here should carry it alone.

Our regional mandate means something different in a summer like this. We serve a geography larger than the country of France, and when communities in that geography are displaced, the people in them still need dialysis, cancer treatment, medications and emergency care. That care has continued through the wildfire smoke, and I am proud of how this organization has remained focused.

I know many of you have had questions about air quality within your departments.

Our Facilities and Occupational Health and Safety teams continue to monitor particulate levels throughout the building daily, and the results show levels remain within acceptable ranges. The ventilation and filtration systems are doing their job. The odour that may continue to come and go — comes from gases the particulate monitors do not measure, which is unpleasant but does not indicate harmful particle levels indoors. Due to the fluctuations in wildfire smoke, the outdoor courtyards and terraces have closed intermittently and will re-open as air quality allows. We will continue to assess and respond to the fluctuating environment and its related challenges. If you have concerns about the air in your specific work area, please submit a work order so an assessment can be completed.

Amid the hardest month this region has seen since COVID-19, the work of building for its future has not stopped. The Emergency Department renovations continue and the administration addition is now complete, which will serve as the temporary triage area while renovations continue through the fall, with the new reception, registration and security area opening in early August. The Cardiovascular Surgery Program has passed 38 per cent completion and remains on track for spring 2028. The renovated ECG and phlebotomy areas will soon welcome back these services to their permanent space at the end of this month.

And for those of you who cycle to work, the new secure bike shelter will be completed over the remainder of the summer by the east cafeteria entrance — details on access to follow.

Finally, for anyone who missed the Annual General Meeting in June, our 2025-2026 Annual Report is now available online, and I hope you will take a few minutes with it. One number stands out for me, especially this month. Last year, 90.7 per cent of Northwestern Ontario patients received their required inpatient care without leaving the region. The report also shows our Strategic Plan 2026 scorecard heading into its final year, with ten initiatives complete, sixteen on track and none behind. Behind those numbers is every one of you, and in a summer when our region needs its Hospital more than ever, that number is the measure of what we have built together.

Thank you for what you do, and please take care of yourselves and each other through the rest of this season.