What is considered an eligible health condition?

The Ontario Ministry of Health has identified health conditions that may increase an individual’s risk of illness due to COVID-19. Vaccine will be offered to those with conditions deemed to be the highest risk first. Additional medical conditions will be added to the list as this group is vaccinated and vaccine supply allows. Please visit www.tbdhu.com/WhoIsEligible for more information on eligibility.

I have a health condition that is not mentioned in the list on the Thunder Bay District Health Unit (TBDHU) web page. When will I be able to get vaccinated?

Not everyone listed in the Phase 2 vaccination plan will be offered vaccine immediately. While there are a large number of health conditions included within this plan, only those with the highest risk conditions are being offered appointments at this time. The pace at which vaccines are offered to additional groups is based on vaccine supply as well as the number of individuals within the group currently being vaccinated. Please follow our website and social media for regular updates on vaccine eligibility.

How can individuals who are eligible but homebound get vaccinated?

A. TBDHU is leading the vaccine rollout in the community and will be providing vaccine to this group. Please visit www.tbdhu.com/WhoIsEligible for further information. There is an online form available at the TBDHU website to complete if you fit within this category.

My doctor gave me a letter and instructed me to get a COVID-19 vaccine because I have a health condition. However, my condition is not on the high-risk list. Am I eligible to be vaccinated? Who do I talk to about booking an appointment?

Only those with the health conditions listed on our website are currently eligible. Please contact us at vaccinationclinic@tbh.net for consideration of exceptional circumstances.

I have a high-risk health condition. Can my caregiver/spouse get vaccinated?

One essential caregiver per patient within the Highest and High Risk groups are eligible for vaccination. The definition of an essential caregiver is someone providing direct, frequent and sustained in-person personal care and/or assistance with activities of daily living to the individual. Essential caregivers will receive their second dose 16 weeks after their first dose, regardless of whether or not the individual they provide care for qualifies for a second dose at 21-28 days.

Who is determining who can get a COVID-19 vaccine and when?

Vaccine eligibility is based on the Ontario Government’s three-phase distribution plan. Individuals with high-risk chronic conditions and one essential caregiver are currently part of Phase 2 of this plan. How the plan is then rolled out within our community is determined by TBDHU.

Do I get a choice in which vaccine I will receive?

The Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre (TBRHSC) Vaccination Clinic only offers the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine at this time.

How do I book an appointment?

If you are eligible, you can schedule your COVID-19 vaccine appointment by visiting https://tbrhsc.net/vaccinations/ or by calling (807) 935-8100.

Where do individuals with eligible health conditions go to get vaccinated?

Vaccine appointments for individuals with eligible health conditions will take place at the Bora Laskin building on the Lakehead University campus.

I am a high-risk individual living in the District of Thunder Bay. Where do I go to get vaccinated? Do I have to come to Thunder Bay?

Patients in the District of Thunder Bay may book an appointment to attend our clinic or contact their local Family Health Team/Community Health Centre to book an appointment within their community.

When will I receive my second dose?

All second doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in Ontario will be provided 16 weeks after the first dose is administered with the following exceptions:

• Residents of long-term care and retirements homes as well as assisted living
• Solid organ and stem cell transplant recipients
• Individuals with cancer who are receiving active and stable treatment (chemotherapy, targeted therapies and immunotherapy)

Friendly reminder: The blue coloured side of your mask faces out, and the lighter – often white – side faces in.

If you notice staff or a patient wearing a mask with the white side facing out, politely remind them of the proper order.

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

On April 22, 2021 at 9:00 am, IT will be migrating its email security appliance from NetGovern Clearswift to a new vendor and product, Cisco Email Security.

The email security appliance receives all of our incoming external mail and detects and blocks a wide variety of email-borne threats, such as malware, spam and phishing attempts. Users may notice more email being caught as spam – this is because there are many more granular virus and spam definitions in this software that will catch SPAM emails. We are continuously configuring and optimizing the settings, so bear with us as we work through these changes with you.

Please note, incoming external mail may be delayed during that time as we make the changes.

Any users in the Trusted Senders list in your current Clearswift quarantine will NOT be migrated over. If you wish to keep these addresses so you can add them to the new Cisco spam quarantine, please copy the entries to a word document and save the file to your network drive prior to April 22. You can then add these addresses to your Safelist in the new Cisco ESA SPAM Quarantine when it is live.

Anything you may need in your current SPAM quarantine must be released prior to April 22, 2021 @ 9:00 am – once we go live there is no way to retrieve quarantined messages from the Clearswift system. Please review the guides below on How to access and use the new SPAM Quarantine, and what new changes this new software will bring. You can also find these documents on the iNtranet under the IT Department’s Self Help page.

Please contact the Helpdesk for any questions or concerns.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the Help Desk at 684-6411 or via email at help@tbh.net

Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre and St. Joseph’s Care Group Health Records departments are excited to offer the MModal Fluency Mobile App to active dictators with android and iOS devices.

The app makes dictation easier, allows you to pause and edit your dictations and much more.

To start using the app or for more information please contact Pam in the Health Records department at 684-6642 or chypyhap@tbh.net

Happy Medical Laboratory Week!

Our Hospital’s Lab team is featured as the Medical Laboratory Professionals’ Association of Ontario (MLPAO)’s Lab of the Month. Three team members, consisting of Georgia Carr (Manager, Laboratory Services), Jim Uliana (Senior Technologist, Biochemistry), and Lyllian Stavropoulos (Specimen Procurement & Dispatch Coordinator) were interviewed about their pandemic experience on a recent episode of the Dish podcast.

Visit http://bit.ly/DishPodcast-TBRHSC-Lab to listen to the full interview.

See below for the TBRHSC poster and click here to view all the poster awards from Association of Medical Microbiology & Infectious Disease Canada (AMMI).

To register, please email Joy Halfkenny at halfkenj@tbh.net
To learn more about Shirlee Sharkey and to view her Thought Leader video in advance of the session, please visit comms.tbrhsc.net/stratvideo/shirlee-sharkey

Shared on behalf of Prevention & Screening Services

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Thank you to everyone who attended Cathy Paroschy Harris’ virtual retirement party!

Just a reminder that you can sign the virtual guestbook for Cathy by sending your message in a Word document to Ann-Marie Cline (clinea@tbh.net).

If you are interested in contributing to a gift, please contact Mudassir at 684-7320 to make arrangements.

Please send any messages or contributions by Monday, April 19, 2021.