Shared on behalf of Dr. Rhonda Crocker Ellacott, President and CEO, TBRHSC, and CEO, TBRHRI

Dear Staff, Professional Staff, Learners, Volunteers, Researchers, and Board members — greetings, boozhoo, bonjour.

As you know, our community, regional and provincial COVID-19 numbers have been rising over the past week with the highly transmissible Omicron variant impacting through our populations. If you have not done so already, please make plans to get your third vaccination shot as soon as possible.

Without a doubt, this was not the message I wanted to be delivering in my last blog of the year – a year in which you and your colleagues delivered time and time again for the communities we serve. It’s not the message I wanted to deliver as most of you plan for some much-needed and well-deserved downtime over the holiday season. However, here we are again. And, as you have done time and time again, we will get through this by working as a team, supporting one another and being kind to each other. You are not alone. We are in this together, all paddling in the same direction.

As a young nurse, I remember a mentor saying to me that helping people is not what we ‘do’ but rather what we ‘are’ – it is who we are at our very core as people. And, never has that commitment been tested more than now. I know you are tired after almost two years of this – and while we have encouraging signs in our region with higher-than-average vaccination rates, the public needs you now more than ever for who and what you are – health care professionals who truly care.

While we have not experienced a dramatic surge in patient care admissions, we have seen a significant surge in the Hospital’s COVID-19 Assessment Centre activity in response to community outbreaks.

To that end, you may have noticed the opening of a complementary assessment centre to help support the public health testing requirements related to outbreak management. What was once viewed as an unconventional and rare reaction to an outbreak has now become part of our standard operating procedures as these variants continue to play havoc on our health system needs.

Ontario Health (OH) has communicated with all hospitals, asking us to actively support our Public Health colleagues in prioritizing COVID-19 vaccinations for eligible populations, understanding the need to effectively balance the provision of urgent and emergent care for all Ontarians.

Operationally, OH has re-established regional Incident Management System (IMS) structures with a focus on patient flow to support the system as it responds to the imminent wave of the Omicron variant. As in previous waves, the Ontario COVID-19 Critical Care Command Centre will coordinate capacity for acute and critical care. Meanwhile, among other preparations, OH is also asking hospitals to prepare to pause all ramp up of scheduled activity that would ordinarily occur after the planned seasonal slow-down period, prepare to defer non-emergent, non-urgent (scheduled) care on instruction from regional IMS/leadership structure, be ready to accept critical care and/or acute care patient transfers, and to plan for how the hospital will incrementally create capacity for staffed adult or staffed paediatric (where applicable) inpatient beds to care for COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients. We are being told hospitals may be asked to quickly achieve these surge capacity goals to support immediate regional or provincial capacity needs. I share this with you, so we all have the same information and are eyes wide open right now.

I want to ensure this end-of-year surge does not take away from the amazing work you have all done in 2021. It was one year ago this month that we delivered the first dose of vaccines. In partnership, our Hospital worked with Public Health and other partners to achieve the high vaccination rate in our district. Here at TBRHSC/TBRHRI, our voluntary vaccination rate among staff was one of the highest in Ontario – a testament to your commitment to your colleagues, our patients and the community.

Over the past year we have supported Long-Term Care (LTC) in early waves of the pandemic, and we made national news for accepting and managing the care of patients from both Ontario and Manitoba who were transferred here through the Critical Care Command Table. We have been there not only as a regional hospital but as an important player in the Ontario and Canadian health care system.

Our teams in all areas like the assessment centres, critical care, labs, paediatrics, emergency, and the list goes on, have, and continue to deliver the best quality health care one can get.

To support ongoing patient care needs, we have expanded surgery in the region to meet care needs and put together a responsive plan to meet urgent clinical needs.

You did all of this during a global pandemic, and I know you can keep delivering. We have the structures in place to manage this. We have the people and experience to respond.

I do recognize we are challenged, like other hospitals, with staffing issues. However, it is critical that we preserve and care for you through this holiday season. Not a day goes by that I am not in awe of how well we have persevered and achieved many milestones during this unique era. Please know that none of your efforts are taken for granted.

On a closing personal note, I want to express my sincere and heartfelt thank you to everyone who has supported and helped me navigate my first year in my role as President and CEO. Each day has truly been a learning experience as I continue to lead an amazing health care facility and an amazing team during times of great challenge, great change and, at times, uncertainty. It has been a banner year – and I owe you all a debt of gratitude for where we find ourselves today.

Despite the challenges we face, each of you deserves some time to spend unwinding, reflecting and celebrating. The Kindness Carts are out on December 19th – let’s all do what we can to safely share some holiday spirit together.

I leave you all with genuine hopes for a safe, healthy and happy season with friends and family. Let us welcome 2022 with optimism and positivity as together, we look toward the fresh new year that lies ahead.

As always, I welcome comments on this blog or any other matter. You can reach me at: crockerelr@tbh.net