The need for increased mental health and substance use supports – in an already fragile health-care system in crisis – has never been clearer. Nurses are at the forefront of the system providing mental health supports to people in need of care and healing.
The Registered Nursesʼ Association of Ontarioʼs (RNAO) Mental Health and Substance Use Best Practices Program, established in 2006, drives change by providing leadership to enhance evidence-based care and services.
For more information such as news articles, strategies, tool kits, staff and patient resources related to substance use and addictions, click here!
The Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre’s Screen for Life coach started its tour in Dryden this week / Katie Nicholls, TBnewswatch.com
The mobile cancer screening bus will be travelling through Northwestern Ontario until October.
If you are driving around the region over the next few months, you may cross paths with an eye-catching bus.
The Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre’s Screen for Life coach has started its travels around the area and will be stopping in more than 30 communities through October to deliver breast, cervical and colon cancer screening services.
“It’s very important to detect cancer in those individuals who are otherwise asymptomatic, which means they don’t have any symptoms or don’t seem to have any problems,” said Vanessa Masters, who is the mobile coach coordinator at the TBRHSC.
“Detecting cancer early can help lead to better outcomes for patients, so we encourage people that are of the eligible screening ages to get screened, even if you don’t have any symptoms or don’t think you have anything wrong.”
The coach, which has been around for over three decades, is currently in Dryden until April 25.
The Screen for Life will then travel to various communities before wrapping its tour in Red Rock on Oct. 22. A full list of the tour’s stops can be found here.
“We bring cancer screening to a number of communities that would otherwise have to travel to access these services,” Masters said.
“Each year we try to re-evaluate the schedule and add additional communities so that we can bring those screening services to anyone in the region who may need it.”
The screening guidelines for individuals are as follows:
Women, Two-Spirit, trans and non-binary people between the ages of 50 and 74 should have a breast screening mammogram every two years.
People with a cervix between 25 and 69 years who have ever been sexually active should have a Pap test every three years.
Individuals between the ages of 50 and 74 who have no first-degree family history of colon cancer should complete a take-home colon screening kit every two years.
Anyone who is eligible for a screening can visit the coach. A referral is not required to access the services.
To book a screening appointment, call 807-684-7777.
The Screen for Life coach features mammogram equipment that is used for breast cancer screenings / Katie Nicholls, TBnewswatch.com
As part of our commitment to keeping staff engaged and informed on the Strategic Plan 2026, Strategy and Performance is sharing updates in alignment with the identified priorities: Equity, Diversity & Inclusion, Patient Experience, Staff Experience and Research, Innovation, & Learning.
The April 10th Operational Updates and Strategic Planning Meeting featured a presentation on Seamless Transitions was presented by John Ross, Director of Patient Flow and Partnerships. The strategy is co-led by Laura Lee Barrie, Director of Surgical and Ambulatory Services.
Visit the Strategic Plan 2026 page on the Hospital’s corporate intranet, where these presentations, along with other resources can be found.
A big THANK YOU to Janeen Mann and the congregation of Pastor Steven Loweth, Westminster United Church. Together, they recently donated 56 pairs of socks for the Hospital’s Patient Clothing Cupboard and 53 pairs for Adult Mental Health.
These socks, and other clothing, are provided to patients in need upon discharge from the Hospital. We are always happy to accept donations of gently used adult “comfortable” clothing and brand new socks and underwear to the Volunteer Services office.
The Patient Clothing Cupboard is accessed daily by staff so the need is great. Your generosity is greatly appreciated in helping us serve patients. Thank you for supporting the Patient Clothing Cupboard!
Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre (TBRHSC) presents “Ask an Expert”, a series where team members from our Bariatric Centre of Excellence answer questions they commonly encounter. For more information on our Regional Bariatric Care Centre, please visit bit.ly/TBRHSC-RBCC. This month’s question is answered by Katelyn Methot, Registered Kinesiologist.
How does physical activity help me to improve my health?
Physical activity provides many health benefits. Physical activity is an important tool to improve chronic disease risk factors, by lowering blood pressure, increasing healthy cholesterol and decreasing unhealthy cholesterol, improving blood sugar regulation, and reducing inflammation. Physical activity also improves stamina and strength, cardiovascular and respiratory function, protects the joints from osteoarthritis, and reduces the risk of falls and injuries. It also has a positive impact on mental health and cognition.
Diet culture refers to a set of beliefs that values thinness, appearance and shape above health and well-being. It can have a negative effect on a child’s relationship with food and their body. When determining what, when and how much to eat, help your child listen to their physical hunger and fullness cues. When children are taught to trust their bodies, they have a greater sense of self-esteem, which can help foster body acceptance and a positive relationship with food.
For more resources on healthy living or to learn more about TBRHSC’s Paediatric Healthy Living Program, please visit our website at bit.ly/Paediatric-Healthy-Living-Program
Ryan Shalley and Manish Agarwal thought it was an April fool’s joke but quickly realized their win in the J&J Sports Save a Heart raffle secured them a prized Polaris RZR900 Trail Premium side by side worth over $27,000. Their decision to support the raffle was a natural choice for Manish given his father’s cardiac journey, and Ryan’s feeling that we should have had cardiac surgery in Thunder Bay all along. The two plan to utilize their prize for summer adventures with friends and family.
Jeff Witiluk, Dealer Principal of J&J Sports, said, “Our family is so proud to be a part of this raffle knowing the impact the funds will have for our community. No one should have to travel out of town for life-saving cardiac surgery and we’re thrilled that we can contribute to raising the much-needed funds to bring cardiovascular surgery closer to home.”
This donation by the Witiluk family is part of a larger donation to support their ongoing commitment to the Our Hearts at Home Cardiovascular Surgery Campaign.
With the transition to Microsoft Outlook, we need to retire GroupWise Messenger and ask that you start using WebEx Messaging.
A Webex account has already been created for you, just click on the WebEx application in your Application Launcher.
NOTE: WebEx should not be used to communicate personal health information.
See the attached knowledge article for more information on how to use WebEx Messaging. This knowledge article is also available in Help Desk – Self Service.
GroupWise Messenger will be retired on June 1, 2024. For more information, contact the Help Desk at help@tbh.net or at extension 6411.
Shared on behalf of Dave McConnell, Director, Regional Cancer Care North West and Sandra Wilson, Manager Molecular Imaging, MRI, US and Clerical Support
We are pleased to announce that as of March 12, 2024, our Hospital now offers Prostate Specific Membrane Antigen (PSMA) Positron Emission Tomography (PET) prostate scans to patients. PSMA PET scans are used to target a protein found in prostate cancer cells and can potentially identify areas of prostate cancer recurrence not seen with routine imaging such as Bone Scans, MRI or CT.
Although our Hospital had previously participated in a clinical trial to be able to offer this testing, as a result of COVID-19 as we were unable to secure the radiotracer (F-18 PSMA) needed to perform the PSMA PET scan. By bringing awareness to this inequity for the North, a solution was pursued to address this gap in prostate cancer management.
After much advocacy, we have successfully secured funding and are now manufacturing this radiotracer in our Nuclear Medicine department. By having this isotope in our hospital, adjacent to our PET/CT scanner, the Nuclear Medicine team can prepare this radiopharmaceutical without barriers created by transportation or distance. This program expansion will enable us to provide timely care for patients in the Northwest region closer to home.
