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Disability Pride Month is observed annually in July. This month offers a meaningful opportunity to celebrate the uniqueness of disabilities as a natural part of human diversity. It also highlights the contributions that individuals with disabilities make to society. In Canada, approximately 8 million people live with disabilities, both visible and invisible, including physical, sensory, and psychiatric disabilities, and neurodivergence.
Disability Pride Month is also a time to reflect on the barriers that continue to impact people with disabilities, many of whom continue to face systemic ableism and discrimination in everyday life. As health care providers, we recgonize that access to safe, inclusive, and barrier-free care remains essential to driving change and ensuring equity for all.
Flags are symbols of solidarity and pride, and can help to raise awareness and visibility. The Disability Pride Flag was originally designed by disabled writer, artist, and activist Ann Magill in 2019. The original flag featured the coloured stripes of the current flag in a zigzag formation, representing creativity when navigating obstacles.
In 2021, Magill redesigned the flag to its present configuration, after learning from members of the disability community that the zigzag created a strobe effect on computer and phone screens, potentially triggering symptoms for those who live with epileptic seizures and migraines.
The meanings and colours of the flag are as follows:
All six flag colours: The six colours are the standard colours of international flags, to represent that disability affects individuals worldwide
Charcoal Black background: Honoring the memory of individuals with disabilities who have passed away due to violence, abuse, neglect, and other injustices, while also expressing protest and anger against the mistreatment they endure.
Diagonal Band: The band represents a contrast between vertical walls and horizontal ceilings that isolate people with disabilities, and cutting across societal barriers. The placement of the colours in the band is also significant, helping to reduce symptom triggers and improve contrast.
Red Stripe: Physical disabilities.
Gold Stripe: Neurodivergence.
White Stripe: Invisible and undiagnosed disabilities.
For Disability Pride Month in 2022, CBC compiled a list of 12 books that illustrate the importance of accurate representation for those living with disabilities. The list contains works of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, books for Young Adults, and children’s books. For detailed descriptions of each book, click here.
Clinical placements play a vital role in a health care learner’s journey, bridging academic learning with real-world practice and helping students build confidence, competence, and professional identity. Through hands-on experience, learners develop essential clinical skills, teamwork, and an understanding of patient centred care.
As an academic health sciences centre, our Hospital is proud to support learners by providing a safe, supportive, and enriching placement environment where future professionals can learn, grow, and contribute meaningfully to patient care. Every month, the department of Academic Affairs is highlighting learners at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre.
Today, we meet Cerene, who is in Medical Laboratory Science at St Lawrence College.
Hometown – Oshawa, ON.
Program – Medical Laboratory Science, St Lawrence College, Kingston ON.
What does an average day during your placement look like?
An average day during my placement begins with checking in with my preceptor and setting goals for the day. From there, I shadow experienced Medical Laboratory Technologists, I observe and participate in routine laboratory procedures, and complete independent mock patient cases. Each day provides valuable opportunities to strengthen my technical skills, apply classroom knowledge in a clinical setting, and continue building my confidence as a future MLT.
Is there a mentor of faculty member who has significantly impacted you?
I feel incredibly grateful to have had many mentors who have positively impacted my journey. Throughout my studies and placement, individuals such as Lyl Stavropoulos, Sandy Trevisanutto, and Chelsea van Schie, have shared their knowledge, leadership, and encouragement. During my time in Kingston, Chelsea generously took the time to tutor and support me. These mentors and many others have been helping me build both my confidence and my understanding. Their guidance has played an important role in my growth as a future MLT.
What is one interesting fact others might not know about you?
One interesting fact about me is that I enjoy skateboarding. It’s super fun and challenging but it keeps me active!
The regional hospital has beefed up its kitchen service.
For nearly a year, the hospital kitchen implemented a cook-serve method, moving away from the cook-chill method, says Colin Koivula, operations coordinator with the hospital.
“Knowing that nutrition and food are such an important part of patient recovery and the patient experience, we wanted to make some improvements, and this was just sort of the first step and the biggest step to make those,” he told Newswatch.
Koivula said the kitchen has always cooked its food from scratch, but the way it preserves food has changed.
Colin Koivula.
The cook-chill method involves kitchen staff preparing food in advance, chilling it to an appropriate temperature, and reheating it a day or two later. Now, patients are getting their food right after it’s cooked, he explained.
Stephanie Rowan, area general manager for Sodexo Canada, said, “We worked with the Thunder Bay Regional and Sodexo team, and collectively this is how we were able to make the move because they were able to use Sodexo expertise for what they do in other hospitals and what we can do here at the Thunder Bay Regional.”
Stephanie Rowan.
Sodexo Canada oversees the nutrition and food service program in hospitals across the country.
Sodexo, the Thunder Bay Health Science Foundation, and the hospital worked collaboratively to overhaul the kitchen, buying new equipment and instruments for the line, as well as tray carts for service delivery, Rowan said.
“It’s changed basically everything. Certainly, the kitchen wasn’t set up for it. We didn’t have the equipment for it. All of our staffing, all of our roles, have changed, so I mean, right from the bottom up, it’s changed the whole way through,” Koivula said.
With the switchover to the new method, he said it’s just as labour-intensive as before. The real change is time sensitivity, especially when cooking for patients with food allergies and dietary restrictions.
“There’s just so many variations of that that it’s just not as easy as just putting out 350, 370 meals. It has to be like I say, different. It might be minced or pureed or no sugar or no added salt, all sorts of things in there that make a diet and make a meal slightly different for each patient,” Koivula said.
Even the menu has been revamped. The kitchen has condensed its three-week rotating menu to a seven-day rotating menu.
“The menu looks hopefully like what you’d be eating at home. We’re trying to give a nutritious, comforting, well-balanced three meals a day,” Koivula said.
The staff are cooking up further changes to the menu.
“We’re also looking at seasonal menus. In addition to that how do we change up the menus? Maybe there’s something Thunder Bay local that we could add to it. Can we do something with the pediatric-type menu? And then, we also look at patient preferences…the nice thing about being with Sodexo as well because we’re in the other hospitals, so we have a wide variety of menus that we can lean on,” Rowan said.
She said they have seen a significant change in patient satisfaction since adopting the change.
“Overall, just being able to cook in real time and deliver the meals has shown an improvement in patient experience,” she said.
With the switchover from ZENworks to Intune, everyone has access to the OneDrive Sync App! The OneDrive Sync App lets you access your OneDrive using the computer’s File Explorer, in addition to the web. Note: this process must be done on each computer you use.
Step 1: Open the OneDrive App
Click the cloud icon in your system tray.
If you can’t find it, try clicking the up-arrow to see more icons!
Step 2: Sign in to OneDrive
If you’re not automatically signed in, you must go through the sign in process…
Click the sign in button, then follow the prompts and log in with your @TBH.net account.
On the Back up folders on this PC prompt, ignore the red text and click Next.
Step 3: Access Your Files!
When the OneDrive Sync App is connected to your account, the cloud icon will be blue and you will have a NWOHealth folder in your File explorer!
If you have been following the Strategic Plan or recent news on the state of hospital finances across the province, you have a sense of the challenges that we face as we navigate a difficult financial position. Our Hospital ended the year with a $7.6 million deficit, and the position puts significant pressure on our working capital. We are not alone in that. Hospitals across Ontario are in the same place, for the same reason, and many are in a worse position than we are. Inflation has been outstripping the funding we receive for some time, and that gap is widening. At the same moment, the Hospital is doing the once-in-a-generation work of moving to a new electronic health record – Meditech Expanse, which is excellent from the perspective of modernizing and improving our clinical systems and processes. While we implement a more intuitive and responsive documentation system that improves and integrates information and decision making, we place added stress on other working capital demands and our ability to address other technology needs.
What that means for us, and what I have been spending more of my time on, is the health sector stabilization planning work the Hospital is taking part in with the government. We have been tasked with the difficult task of finding efficiencies while we benchmark our performance and results against peer hospitals. We are doing both. Our current focus is on our organizational efficiency including length of stay, conservable bed days, overtime and sick time. Those are the places where the way we work can be done differently, more efficiently and at the same standard of care.
I want to be clear about the principle guiding this work. We will not be supporting any cuts to programs or care in ways that compromise quality and access. While I cannot promise that no role in this Hospital will change, because we know some will – what I can tell you is that we will work through this period to ensure that the decisions we make are guided by that principle.
Moving ahead, we recognize that some of the most useful ideas about how to do things differently come from you, the people doing the work. If you see something in your area that could be done more efficiently without giving up quality, I want to hear about it. Talk to your manager. Let us know about your ideas. This year, the Hospital needs to be more responsive to those ideas than ever, and this time the moment calls for it.
At the same time, work on the next Strategic Plan is starting. I want this round of engagement to be different from the ones that came before. The questions framing it are simple. What should we keep doing? What should we start doing? What should we stop doing? Come ready to answer them when engagement begins. The plan we write next will only be as good as the conversations that build it. We need you in this process.
Meanwhile, the Cardiovascular Surgery Program marked one year of construction this month. The structural work on the new wing is complete, the building envelope work continues through the summer and interior fit-out begins later this year. If you have walked past the site recently, the difference between June 2025 and today is striking. The work to bring cardiac surgery to Northwestern Ontario by 2028 has not slowed and it will not. Also, earlier this month, four of our staff were honoured at the Ontario Association of Medical Radiation Sciences provincial awards in Toronto. Recognition at that level is a reminder that the work being done in this building stands up next to the best in the province. Thank you to the team and congratulations to all four.
Finally, on accreditation. Initial information from Accreditation Canada following last month’s survey is positive. Our compliance overall came in about 99 per cent. We expect more detail over the next month or two and I will have more to share once we have had time to review it. Congratulations to everyone. The work I saw on the floors during the survey week is the work I see every day, and that is work to be proud of.
Congratulations to the winner of Indigeous History Month Trivia, Lisa Morin, Operations Coordinator in Laboratory Services.
Miigwech (thank you) to everyone who took part in our National Indigenous History Month Trivia.
We hope these questions provided an opportunity to learn more about Indigenous history, the impacts of colonization on health and wellness, and the ongoing journey toward reconciliation in health care. Building awareness and understanding is an important step in creating culturally safe, respectful, and inclusive care environments for all.
The answers to the trivia questions are listed below.
Q 1. Before colonization, how did many Indigenous Peoples traditionally view health and wellness?
Answer: A balance between physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual wellbeing
Q 2. What federal legislation, passed in 1876, gave the Canadian government extensive control over many aspects of First Nations life?
Answer: The Indian Act
Q 3. During what years did the Canadian Indian Residential School System operate?
Answer: 1883-1996
Q 4. What did the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s healthcare-related Calls to Action encourage healthcare organizations and professionals to do?
Answer: Recognize the impacts of residential schools, address systemic racism, and support culturally safe care
To facilitate the construction of a new Bike Shelter, the sidewalk between the East (Cafeteria) Entrance and Staff Parking Lot G is temporarily closed. This closure is necessary to ensure the safety of patients, visitors, and staff while construction activities are underway.This temporary closure is expected to remain in place for approximately four weeks. During this time, please follow posted signage and use the designated alternative pedestrian route.We appreciate your patience as we complete this important improvement.
If you have any questions or require assistance navigating the area, please contact Ian Kelly at (807) 684-7222.
Parking is now easier with our Pay by Plate system. Instead of using a paper ticket, your parking payment is linked directly to your vehicle’s license plate number.
How it works:
Park your vehicle.
Visit a Pay by Plate kiosk and enter in your license plate number.
Select your parking duration: • Up to 1 hour. • Up to 2 hours. • Up to 4 hours. • Over 4 hours until midnight (daily maximum).
Pay using debit, credit, Apple Pay, Google Wallet or Samsung Wallet.
Parking rates remain the same as our other parking lots. Click herefor more information.
Click herefor map showing Fish (A3) and Squirrel (C1) lots.
Our Security team is available to assist and can be found in the triage area of the Emergency Department and at the Visitor Information Desk in the main West Entrance. The kiosks are also equipped with a call button for assistance.
Thank you for your cooperation as we continue to improve the parking experience for our patients and visitors.
