The Thunder Bay community continues to create new events to support local health-care through the Thunder Bay Regional Health Science Foundation!

Upon the most recent extension of the Ontario lockdown, a unique event was launched: Hungry Hearts – a collaboration of four local restaurants, offering exclusive locally-sourced take-out dishes created by some of the city’s best chefs.

Partnering with farms and suppliers in the region, participants will experience a culinary creation designed specifically and exclusively for Hungry Hearts. In addition to supporting our local restaurants, a portion of the ticket price will be donated to the Our Hearts at Home Cardiovascular Campaign through our Health Sciences Foundation. The funds will be directed specifically to help purchase an intra-aortic balloon pump to save the lives of cardiac patients.

Hungry Hearts will provide a delicious selection of dishes for two from four local restaurants in Thunder Bay: Bistro One, Bight Restaurant, Giorg Cucina e Barra, and Tomlin are excited to bring this new and innovative event to the Thunder Bay community, who have been so supportive during the pandemic.

Tickets are now on sale for this exclusive culinary event! They can be purchased for $150 at www.healthsciencesfoundation.ca/hungry until Sunday May 30th. Limited spots remain, so reserve yours while you can! Plus, for every ticket a $50 charitable tax receipt will be issued in the purchaser’s name.

The take-out event will take place through June and July. Each participant will be able to choose their pickup times from a set schedule.

See restaurant menus for Hungry Hearts in the attachments.

One lucky person will finish off this short week with a big win!

The Thunder Bay 50/50’s May jackpot has passed $400,000 cash, and will continue to grow until ticket sales end this Thursday night! Over two million dollars has been won since the 50/50 launched in January.

Each Thunder Bay 50/50 ticket helps fund the highest priority equipment needs at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre. Recently three specialized ICU beds, a BiPAP ventilator, and a defibrillator were purchased thanks to supporters of the raffle. The higher the jackpot raises, the more equipment can be funded to bring better healthcare to your friends and family – not only from Thunder Bay, but from across Northwestern Ontario, who come to our Hospital for care.

When asked why they support the Thunder Bay 50/50, ticket purchasers shared that the cause is close to their hearts:

“I am not a regular lottery ticket buyer but this is local and all proceeds are going to our regional hospital. I like to support local even if it is in a small way.” – Kathleen C.

“I think it’s a great way to fund and update medical equipment. My Mother was a cardiac patient and was able to have stents put in after a heart attack. It gave us a few more years with her. She loved buying raffle tickets.” – Nancy M.

“This is our regional hospital. I reside in Geraldton and much of our/my medical care is received at/thru the hospital. My ticket purchases are a fun way to support future medical needs. Good luck to all!!” – Susan V.

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

• $10 for 5 numbers
• $20 for 30 numbers
• $50 for 150 numbers (best value)

** Must be purchased by 11:59 p.m. ET on Thursday, May 27th to be eligible for the Grand Prize draw on May 28th, 2021.

Questions about the draw can be sent to info@thunderbay5050.ca. Ticket purchasers must be present in Ontario to purchase and 18 years old or older. The Thunder Bay 50/50 continues each month with the Grand Prize drawn on the last Friday of the month. Net proceeds support the highest priority equipment needs at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre. Lottery licence RAF1199631.

Wishing all physiotherapists working across the province’s health care system a happy National Physiotherapy Month 2021. As an integral part of a patient’s health care team, we thank you for your hard work and dedication, especially during the pandemic.

(Via TBNewswatch.com)

Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre could receive up to five COVID-19 intensive care unit patients from neighbouring Manitoba.

Hospital president and CEO Dr. Rhonda Crocker-Ellacott on Thursday said they’ve already admitted three patients transferred from Ontario’s provincial neighbour to the west, and could take as many as two more in the coming days.

Northern Ontario hospitals, including Thunder Bay, Sault Area Hospital, North Bay and Health Sciences North are expected to take as many as 20 patients through Shared Health Manitoba, which on Wednesday said there were 131 patients in provincial ICUs.

The pre-COVID ICU capacity was 72 beds.

The province on Thursday announced 402 new COVID-19 cases, as well as four deaths.

“We’ve been working together with Manitoba Shared Services and with our Northwestern Ontario hospitals to collaborate and provide some support for intensive care over-capacity needs in Manitoba,” Crocker-Ellacott said on Thursday afternoon.

“The fortunate part is given the low case counts of COVID-19 in our region, we are in the position that we can provide additional capacity and supports to Manitoba in their time of need.”

Crocker-Ellacott said an incident command structure has been set up, chaired by Dr. Michael Scott, the medical director of the intensive care unit at Thunder Bay Regional, to co-ordinate any future transfers.

“He identifies which hospitals across the whole north have capacity and capability to take ICU patients in order to help Manitoba with their surge,” Crocker-Ellacott said.

“We’ll take our first five and then it will move down the road to whomever has the capacity capability and staffing to support the next few transfers will take (them) and we’ll do that in a co-ordinated way until we reach our max capacity within the north – and then there’s a potential for it to go further if there’s still a need in Manitoba.”

Crocker-Ellacott said her hospital has limited intake to five patients in order to be able to offer timely care to those living within their catchment area.

“The idea is we wouldn’t want it to impact care and services to those living in Thunder Bay or in Northwestern Ontario. In no way is accepting these five patients impacting care within our community and within our region.”

Thunder Bay Regional on Wednesday announced it had four COVID-19 patients in hospital and two in intensive care. The overall hospital capacity was at 80 per cent.

Businesses and people in our community have consistently come forward with generous offers of donated treats, food and meals to thank our Hospital’s hard working staff and professional staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sean Spenrath and Uride continued that custom by delievering bottles of Heartbeat Hot Sauce’s newest flavour (Scorpion) to our Hospital’s ICU day shift staff on Tuesday, May 18th.

This all started when Sean challenged Heartbeat to sponsor his spontaneous 100km run that took place last Saturday. Heartbeat was honoured to sponsor the run and have Sean join their family of extraordinary athletes that includes Dustin “The Diamond” Poirier. After completing his challenge, Sean and Uride handed out sauce to 100 front line workers to put some smiles on the faces of our city’s hard working community members.

Registration Link: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/pals-renewal-paediatric-advanced-life-support-renewal-course-tickets-155653191887

Our organization is committed to the highest standards of care delivery. One of the ways we demonstrate this commitment is through accreditation – a rigorous process that confirms we have met the best practice standards for acute care across Canada.  

Clinical and non-clinical staff were asked to complete surveys. Information collected from these surveys is used to help identify opportunities for improvement, which is essential to informing ongoing quality care for patients and a healthy work environment for our staff. Those that completed surveys had the option to be entered into a prize draw. See below for a list of the weekly and grand prize winners.

Grand Prize Winner ($25 gift card to Chapters/Indigo): Brittany Muldoon
Weekly Prize Winners ($10 gift card to Robin’s Donuts): Lesley L, Shannon Schiffer, Curtis Ball, Devon Sokoloski, and Rose Harding.

Congratulations to all of our prize winners, and thank you to all staff, both clinical and non-clinical for completing accreditation surveys and for your ongoing commitment to quality improvement.