Since 2014, the renal program at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre has distributed food hampers to hemodialysis patients and their families.  Last year, due to the pandemic, the program was faced with challenges and the organizers had to rethink their approach, so they partnered with the Ontario Federation of Agriculture to secure food donations.

This year, registered dietitians Holly Freill, Marisa Tamasi and Katie Amadeo organized the hamper project, along with dietetic intern Maddy Gilfix.  The group partnered with the Ontario Federation of Agriculture’s Thunder Bay Chapter for a second year to secure donations for the boxes.  The TBFA was able to donate enough food to distribute every hemodialysis patient and their family with a hamper – this year that was 193 patients.

The OFA’s mission is ‘Farms and Food Forever’ and the Thunder Bay Federation of Agriculture (TBFA) is a community group affiliated with the OFA. The TBFA consists of over 100 members, representing primary producers in agriculture and associated businesses.

If you would like to get involved or support the Renal Patient Fund, you can make a monetary donation through the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Foundation over the phone at (807) 345-4673.  There is also an active food bank throughout the year.  If you are interested in running an event, food collected can be directed to the renal department.  To coordinate a donation please contact the Renal Dietitians at (807) 684-6158.

Staff from our Hospital’s Emergency Department (ED), including nurses, clerks, support workers and physicians are making a difference this holiday season by helping local residents in need. They are participating in the family sponsorship and holiday hamper program, organized each year by the Children’s Aid Society (CAS). Donors interested in sponsoring a family are provided with a list of suggested items, as well as non-identifying family information to assist in personalizing the shopping experience.

This year, the ED team sponsored a family of four, as well as two individual youths who have been involved in CAS throughout their lives.

Together, the ED team raised enough funds to be able to fill their cupboards with non-perishables foods that will last them for over 6 months. The ED team was also able to purchase everything that was on their wish list, plus many extras including clothing and winter accessories.

Kudos to our ED team for their amazing generosity! Their efforts will certainly impact these people in a very special way.

Information Technology (IT) has some exciting changes coming.

Starting in March, we will be introducing an updated username format for new staff and new email address formats for all users. We are required to do this change, as we are short on common usernames, and to make our email addresses look professional.

Username change: (New accounts only, existing usernames will NOT be impacted)

Usernames will be 10 characters long, and include a number.

Email address change: (All users, new and existing)

You will have the email address that matches your username username@tbh.net

and you will have a professional looking outgoing email address that uses your first and last name to create a standard industry email (we call this an email alias) firstname.lastname@tbh.net

Due to these changes, the way your username will show up in our GroupWise address book will need to be updated. Since the alias is automatically created on your given name, names that currently have special characters are required to be removed. Hyphens are the only special character approved. Updating of display names will begin in January 2022.  See below chart for examples.

Special Character	Existing Name Display	New Name Display	Notes
Spaces or Underscores	Mary Anne Smith ResearchEthics_Chair	MaryAnne Smith or Mary-Anne Smith ResearchEthicsChair	Users can contact the Help Desk if they prefer to have a hyphen, default will be to remove the space and underscore.
Apostrophes	George O’Malley	George OMalley
Periods	Mark St. Amand	Mark StAmand
Brackets	James (Jim) Smith Margareta (Maggie) Chen	James Smith Margareta Chen	Commonly used when people have a preferred name, these will be edited on a case by case.
Generic accounts to include organization acronym	SJCG_REO Cardiovascular & Stroke Summit	SJCG REO TBRHSC Cardiovascular-Stroke-Summit	First Name will always be the Corporation, Last Name will be department/purpose/site if required. Generic Account Owners will be individually contacted.

We encourage staff to update their email signatures, as well as, letterhead and business cards to the new alias format when reordering after March 2022.

**If there are any question or concerns please contact our Help Desk at 684-6411 or help@tbh.net

Shared on behalf of Infection Prevention and Control

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Please be advised that as of December 16, 2021 a facility-wide gastrointestinal outbreak has been declared at Chartwell-Isabella, 1350 Isabella St. E.

• Immediately place all patients, symptomatic and asymptomatic from this outbreak area on Contact (green) Precautions; or Contact (orange) Precautions if experiencing diarrhea
• Asymptomatic patients will require Contact Precautions for 48 hours after admission
• Discontinue Contact Precautions only under consultation with Infection Prevention and Control

Patient safety is a priority and it is our responsibility to eliminate hospital acquired transmission. Please set an example for staff and students and assist us by maintaining compliance and due diligence.

For more information, contact Infection Prevention and Control at extension 6094.

Shared on behalf of Peter Myllymaa – EVP Corporate Services & Operations

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The health and safety of all staff, professional staff, patients and the community is our utmost priority. With COVID-19 positive cases increasing in the community and in our Hospital and based on recently updated Ministry of Health guidelines, ALL workers, which includes all staff, professional staff, volunteers, learners and contractors, will now be required to wear eye protection while in any Hospital location – per the memo of December 15, 2021.

This measure enhances your safety and protects the specialized acute care services we provide to those in need. The aim is to minimize staff loss and illness through inadvertent exposures to COVID-19 in the workplace. As prevalence in the community grows, the risk of this increases, therefore the need to mitigate in the Hospital work environment. The Ministry guidelines indicate that contact with a positive COVID-19 person is considered high risk if eye protection was not worn. Visitors and patients are also encouraged to wear their own eye protection at this time.

Currently, workers are required to wear Eye Protection when directly providing patient care within clinical settings. This change requires ALL workers to wear eye protection immediately upon entry until exit and at all times when not in a private office or space or eating in an approved break area at all TBRHSC sites (including 980, 984, 1040 Oliver Rd and Munro St).

The following applies to ALL workers: 

Selection and Use:

• Hospital provided safety glasses and face shields will be available for use in all areas, with an additional eye shield product being made available to non-clinical areas
• For other types of eye protection that are available from Stores, ordering will be limited to departments who currently use and require the product for the nature of their work – as most products continue to be on allocation from suppliers
• If you prefer to purchase your own eye protection, review with your Manager and if approved, ensure to follow the recommended guidelines provided by OHS:
  • Eye protection must be CSA-approved (Z94.3-15) or meets ANSI Z87.1 level D3
  • Eye protection should have a clear lens.
  • Eye protection should be tightly fitted so that gaps between the edges of the device and the face are kept to a minimum.
  • The frame should be as close to the face as possible and adequately supported by the bridge of the nose.
  • Users should be able to see in all directions without any major obstructions in their field of view.
• For all areas, similar to the process for procedure masks, you will don clean eye protection or clean/disinfect personally owned eye protection prior to leaving work – once you return to work for your next shift, you will use a new eye protection. For personally owned eye protection, clean/disinfect prior to starting your shift and at the end of shift.
• NB: should the nature of your work require a higher level of eye protection; you should complete a Risk Assessment and select eye protection appropriate for the task.

Cleaning, Disinfecting & Reprocessing:

• Disinfect eye protection immediately when you have exited the room of a patient on additional precautions.
• Safety glasses will be collected and reprocessed in MDRD; place in the collection bins, as provided, after use.
• Face shields are disposable and should be placed in the garbage after use
• Eye shields have visors that are disposable, and headband that can be reprocessed; discard the clear visor portion in the garbage after use and deposit the headband in the collection bin.
• For self-purchased eye protection, you will be required to disinfect your eyewear. independently as needed including but not limited to, immediately when exiting the room of a patient on additional precautions, at the beginning and end of the day and during the course of use as appropriate.
• If Hospital provided eye protection become dirty or soiled, you are encouraged to replace and not self-clean.
• Please note that protective eye protection may contain BPA; therefore, the product should not be placed in your mouth or ingested (i.e. Prop 65 warning due to the Bisphenol-A (BpA) content).

Ordering, Distribution and Collection:

• The delivery of Hospital provided eye protection will follow current processes for procedure mask delivery and distribution.
• Any clinical departments that currently order masks will need to order safety glasses (item #003210) or face shields (item #000829).
• Any non-clinical departments that currently order masks will need to order eye protection as well, with the preferred selection being eye shields (item #000828 for visor; #000827 for headband); NB: this product is being recommended based on risk-level and MDRD’s capacity to reprocess eyewear to meet all of our Hospital and SJCG needs.
• Any areas that are currently centrally stocked with masks will have a central stock of eye protection as well; no ordering is required.
• For areas that do not have dedicated department pick-up, dirty safety glasses and eye shields (headbands only) are to be placed in centralized bins for collection.  If they are heavily soiled, they should be pre-rinsed. 
• The centralized collection bins are located as following:
• Switchboard Hallway (1^st floor near room 1006)
• Physiotherapy Reception Desk (1^st floor room 1411)
• Cancer Centre Administration Suite (2^nd floor room 2170)
• Patient Billing Office (2^nd floor)
• 3^rd Floor Administration Suite/President’s Office (3^rd floor outside of room 3043 Executive Boardroom)
• NB: offsite locations will also have delivery and drop-off locations confirmed and communicated by Stores

Instructions on how to select appropriate eye wear and care for your eye protection is available on the iNtranet.

Please contact your Manager with any questions or concerns.

The Thunder Bay 50/50 December Jackpot has surpassed $1M – officially the largest take-home prize since the draw’s inception earlier this year.  The grand prize draw is happening on Friday, December 31, and the jackpot is expected to continue to grow until then.  

“When I saw the jackpot surpass a million dollars, I couldn’t believe my eyes!,” says Glenn Craig, President and CEO of the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Foundation. “Not only are we going to make someone a millionaire, but these funds will really make a difference for our Hospital. The equipment being purchased with these dollars will give our staff and front line workers the tools they need to provide the best possible patient experience.”

Tickets are available online only at www.thunderbay5050.ca:

• $10 for 5 numbers
• $20 for 30 numbers
• $50 for 150 numbers
• $100 for 500 numbers  (December only – Special Holiday Ticket Package)

** Tickets must be purchased by 11:59 p.m. ET on Thursday, December 30 to be eligible for the Grand Prize draw on Friday, December 31, 2021.

Questions about the draw can be sent to info@thunderbay5050.ca. Participants must be present in Ontario and 18 years old or older at time of purchase. Lottery licence RAF1199631.

Shared on behalf of Jennifer Wintermans, EVP, Communications and Corporate Relations, COVID-19 Lead

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The health and safety of all staff, professional staff, patients and the community is our utmost priority. In response to the increase in cases of COVID-19 in our community and across the province, as well as the growing threat of the Omicron variant, our Hospital has moved its internal COVID-19 Pandemic Response Level from Yellow (Protect) to Orange (Restrict), effective immediately.

As of today, our Hospital has four patients admitted who have tested positive for COVID-19. Of those, three are in the Intensive Care Unit. Locally, there are 64 active cases, and Ontario is reporting 1,808 new cases. An estimated 80% of the cases reported on December 13th have been identified as the Omicron variant.

The decision to increase our response activities from Level Yellow to Orange is based on multiple factors and we are taking additional measures to ensure the safety of all against the Omicron variant.  Moving from response Level Yellow to Level Orange will allow the following measures to be reassessed:

• Review of surge plans
• PPE, specifically providing pandemic scrubs to high-risk areas
• Essential Care Partner restrictions
• COVID-19 Inpatient Unit utilization
• Clinical services planning
• Increased Rapid Antigen Testing

Please note that eye protection is now mandatory in all areas of the Hospital (with the exception of being in an office alone, at a desk in a shared office space when 2 meters of distancing can be maintained or while consuming food or beverage in a designated space).

All eligible health care workers in our Hospital who are eligible to receive a third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine are also encouraged to do so. The intent of the third dose is to increase protection that may have decreased over time and will provide added protection against new variants of COVID-19.

All response activities are evaluated on an ongoing basis to ensure they are effective and appropriate. The Senior Leadership Council, as well as leaders across the organization continues to meet daily to assess and respond to the evolving COVID-19 environment.

Our appreciation is extended to all leaders, staff and professional staff for your continued dedication to the community we serve.

All Hospital COVID-19 updates and resources are also available on the iNtranet at https://comms.tbrhsc.net/covid-19-information/

For the past six years, the Northwestern Ontario Regional Stroke Network (NWORSN) team has participated in the Children’s Aid Society Holiday Hamper program with the aim of helping someone in need. This year, they invited their colleagues and hallway neighbours on the 2nd floor of the Medical Building to contribute.

It was a huge success! The team collected school supplies, new bedding and gift cards to various locationss for a local independent youth.

Thank you to the NWORSN team (including Esme French and Kathy Bulloch in this photo) for coordinating this tremendous effort. We hope this inspires others to be generous and kind during this unprecedented holiday season.

For more information on the program, connect with Tabitha Zela, Holiday Hamper Coordinator at the The Children’s Aid Society of the District of Thunder Bay by calling (807) 343-1313 or by email at Christmas@thunderbaycas.ca.

Thousands of clinicians across Ontario are already taking advantage of the Ontario eServices Program’s eReferral offering. This funded provincial initiative is making eReferral available to senders like you, and the sites you refer to, improving your overall workflow.

Now available on eReferral: The Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre is now accepting eReferrals for Musculoskeletal and Spine. Although these are the hospital’s first referral destinations to be available on eReferral, more destinations are coming soon!

Here a few of the many benefits of eReferral:

• Integration with most EMRs allow you to send referrals quickly and receive updates within your EMR

• Easy and secure in-solution communication reduces administrative tasks, such as the need to make follow-up calls

• Patients are included: they can choose to receive email notifications, which include referral status and appointment details, as well as enable them to confirm their appointments online

Join today!

Getting started is easy. Simply complete the online quick form and a Change Management Specialist will work with you, at no cost, to get you set up. If you have questions, email the Ontario eServices Program team at eReferral@ehealthce.ca.

The Go-Live date is December 13th, 2021

• Please fax all Urology and Prostate DAP referrals to (855) 975-2418 (toll free)
• Please use the attached revised referral form (CS-1062_Nov 2021) or a detailed letter can be sent in lieu of this form provided the letter clearly contains all the necessary information requested on the form
• A revised Prostate DAP form has been provided for your use
• Please include relevant diagnostic reports, and attach the CPP Health Profile with current medication list from your EMR.

What will happen to faxes not sent to the Urology Central Intake?

• Faxes sent direct to surgeon will be returned to the requestor accompanied by a face sheet with instructors on how to refer to the Urology Central Intake.

What if the referral has missing information?

• Please try to provide as much relevant information as possible.
• If basic information required for proper triage is not complete, the referral will be returned with a face sheet identifying the missing components.

Please note: All Urologists are part of the Urology Central Intake. Requests for first available or a specific specialist will be honoured. Please contact Erin Jenner at 807-285-9289 with any questions or concerns.