Spending quality time with family members and friends plays an important role in our lives and can help us maintain our wellbeing and stay positive. Life can be busy and full of other commitments, but reconnecting with family helps you to reconnect with yourself, your culture, and reflect on what matters most in life.
This March Break, plan a fun activity with your family and/or friends. Activities can include watching a movie, going for a walk, cooking a healthy meal together, playing a board game, and many more.
Take a group picture during the activity and submit it to enter the March Break Photo Contest. The contest opens on March 12th and closes March 21st.
See the event poster for details on how to enter, or contact Samantha Morris at morrissa@tbh.net for more information.
Navigating the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has presented significant stress and uncertainty for health care workers. It may be difficult to cope during these challenging times and it is important to take time to take care of your own health and wellbeing. Self-care is taking time to do things that improve your physical health and mental health. Self-care can help to manage stress, improve mood, and increase energy. Self-care activities look different for everyone and even in small amounts can be beneficial in relieving stress.
Here are some self-care ideas:
Set aside time for exercise. Physical activity is a great way to reduce stress, and improve mood and overall health. Consider taking a short walk during a lunch or coffee break.
Know and respect your limits and try to find balance. Consider setting aside time to ‘unplug’ from electronic devices and instead do something fun and healthy for yourself.
Aim to get proper rest. Inadequate sleep can contribute to stress while healthy sleep routines can improve well-being.
Include yourself on the list of people you are taking care of. Be kind to yourself. Set aside time to participate in social and recreational activities that you enjoy.
Focus on positivity. Identify and challenge negative, unhelpful thoughts.
Practice gratitude. Remind yourself of things you are grateful for and write them down as visual reminders.
Despite incorporating various self-care practices, you may continue to experience challenges. If you feel you are not coping well and are experiencing significant distress, you may benefit from formal support from someone like your family doctor, nurse practitioner or a mental health professional.
Here are some mental health resources available for additional support:
Employee & Family Assistance Program (EFAP) (807) 623-7677
Walk-In Counselling
Thunder Bay Counselling Centre & Children’s Centre Thunder Bay (807) 700-0090
Dilico Anishnabek Family Care (807) 624-5818
Thunder Bay Crisis Response Service (807) 346-8282
Thunder Bay 50/50 tickets are back at Seasons Gift Shop! If you’re looking for purchase Thunder Bay 50/50 tickets, swing by Seasons to purchase some using credit or debit. Tickets are also available online at www.thunderbay5050.ca
The Thunder Bay 50/50 funds vital medical equipment right here in our Hospital.
World Kidney Day (March 10) is a global campaign aimed at raising awareness of the importance of kidneys and kidney health. This year, the World Kidney Day campaign celebrates ‘Kidney Health for All’. Join in on increasing kidney health education and awareness this month to close the knowledge gap about kidney disease.
A kind word can go a long way. It’s something that we should always keep in mind. After all, giving kindness to those who need it most can benefit everyone.
Performing acts of kindness is a great way to show our appreciation for others. Additionally, studies have shown that engaging in acts of kindness to others can have direct impacts on our own health. It can increase health benefits while decreasing harmful characteristics. A simple act of kindness could possibly be the easiest way to boost your health.
Did you know that acts of kindness can release beneficial hormones into our bodies? In fact, oxytocin, the love hormone, and serotonin, a feel-good chemical can be increased. These hormones boost our self-esteem, optimism, calm us down and make us happy.
Engaging in acts of kindness can also have an impact on our overall happiness. When we are kind to other people, our brain’s pleasure and reward centres light up as if we were the recipient of the act of kindness. This phenomenon is commonly called a “helper’s high”.
Being kind to others can also impact physical health. When we engage in acts of kindness, we produce endorphins, the brain’s natural pain killer. Additionally, being kind can reduce blood pressure and stress hormones, as well as decrease feelings of anxiety and depression.
Last month at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, Prevention and Screening Clinical Services took part in Random Act of Kindness Day by setting up a kindness booth for staff. At the booth, staff were able to access kindness resources, activities, and recipes and were encouraged to pay the kindness forward. Staff were able to take a completed affirmation heart or create a heart of their own with a customized kind message to gift to someone in need.
Kindness is contagious. The positive effects of kindness are experienced by everyone who witnesses them, which causes their mood to improve and makes them likely to pay it forward.
Here are some ways that you can show your appreciation for others
On January 13, 2022, someone broke into Bay Village Coffee by throwing a rock through the glass door. They didn’t take much – some milk, cookies, and espresso syrups – but they left thousands of dollars of vandalism damage.
They also left the rock.
Bay Village owners Gary Mack and Alan Forbes wanted to turn the horrible experience into something more positive. So, they decided to auction off the rock in February and donate the proceeds to the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Foundation in support of local cardiovascular care.
It’s cathartic as much as anything, they said.
“When somebody breaks in, you just feel so violated,” Gary said. “And you can’t help but feel a little angry about it – it was a very expensive cleanup.”
“It made us feel better about the experience because we can turn around and do something good with this,” Alan said.
They asked Thunder Bay artist May Porter to paint it for them. May has a long history at Bay Village – her paintings have hung on their walls since they first opened.
“She is such an awesome person,” Alan said. “Her style is something else, too. What she’s creating is way more than a painted rock.”
Way more, indeed. Rather than simply use the rock as a canvas, May highlights the contoured images already there. The rock in its current form (May is still painting as of this writing) contains two human faces, a fox, a squirrel, a moose, a mouse, and a smiling sun.
“I’m literally finding the characters in the rock,” May said. “I studied it and eventually I saw faces and animals, and I painted them to bring them out the rock. Now, I can’t stop seeing faces!”
It’s been positive for May, too. She said that before the project, she felt creatively blocked. Now, her mind is opening to new possibilities for her artwork. “I’m thinking come summer, I’ll be found down at the shore looking for crazy rocks. I’m liking what I’m seeing.” She will also be illustrating some children’s books later in March.
May has a history with the Foundation, inviting patients waiting for chemotherapy treatment at Regional Cancer Care Northwest to paint on her canvas. She takes inspiration from those marks to create the finished painting before donating it to the Foundation to auction.
“I would say, ‘You’re welcome to leave your mark on the canvas.’ Then I’d find a picture in the picture. So not everyone’s mark would be visible, but every mark would be there.”
May’s newest project takes that idea in a whole new – and exciting – direction.
Social workers play a critical role in hospital settings by helping patients and families address the impact of illness and treatment. Tremendous stress often stems from hospitalizations that are sudden and, at times, related to catastrophic illness or injury. Stressors such as decreased personal control, information overload, change in functional ability and reduced financial resources, can lead to a range of emotional responses such as, anxiety, anger, and depression.
Social workers, as part of the health care team, provide assessment and appropriate interventions to aid the patient in achieving optimum recovery/rehabilitation and quality of life. Social workers often have specific expertise in areas such as general medicine, emergency work, pediatrics, geriatrics, oncology, neurology, psychiatry, and palliative and end-of-life care.
March 7-13, 2022 is Social Work Week. The Social Work profession contributes to the overall health and well-being of individuals, families and communities. Social workers are unique among helping professionals because they look at people’s challenges within the context of their social environment. They also understand and consider the connections between personal challenges and larger social issues. Social workers help to identify the source of stress or problems, strengthen coping skills and find effective solutions.
The theme for this year’s Social Work Week is ‘we all need support‘. Two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, people and communities across Ontario are navigating the mental health impacts of anxiety, stress, and burnout like never before. Ontario has more than 20,000 Registered Social Workers who have been on the frontlines of recovery. As the largest provider of mental health care in the province, social workers are vital to ensuring mental health access for all Ontarians. In health care, long-term care, schools, community mental health, private practice and more, social workers are there to intervene early, reduce barriers, and deliver the quality mental health care that individuals, families, and communities need, now more than ever.
Thank you to all of the social workers who makes a positive impact on the real lives of thousands of patients who receive care at our Hospital and beyond.
March 8th is International Women’s Day, a global day of recognition celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women and girls, and raising awareness of the work left to be done.
We would like to acknowledge and celebrate all the amazing women who work at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre and Thunder Bay Regional Health Research Institute. Their kindness is symbolic of what it means to be human — while their strength and spirit is almost inhuman. Like all of our staff, these women are committed to professionalism and public service each and every day. During the past two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, many have been pulling double duty by going home after a shift at our Hospital only to continue working as caregivers, parents, and children of aging parents. They are often quiet warriors and unsung heroes. Please join us in celebrating their leadership at work, at home and in the community and thanking them for their service.
