There are openings for COVID-19 vaccines on Fridays for the month of November in Occupational health and Safety department.

The last day to obtain your COVID-19 vaccine is November 29. After that the vaccine can be obtained through the Health Unit or your local pharmacies. Please call 807-684-6212 to book your appointment.

Reminder – every Thursday staff can drop in for their Influenza vaccine.

Everyone that receives their flu shot will have their name added to the draw in December for a 6 month free parking pass.

Outside of Thursdays, staff can also book an appt for their flu shot by calling the OHS department.

Providing all workers with personal preparedness guidance is a new Accreditation Canada requirement. To support this, earlier last month we welcomed local Canadian Red Cross volunteers into the Hospital to help us promote best practice in personal preparedness. They provided an info booth at various times throughout Fire Prevention Week (October 6 to 12) and also provided a lunch time presentation open to all staff.

Some materials are attached for your reference below (including in English, French, Ojibway) to share with those you care about to help us all be better prepared for emergencies at home and in our community.

A draw was held for several giftcards and the winners were as follows: Drew Gawranski, Michelle Finner, Christine Jones, and Rajshree Deokaran Dat. Congratulations!

A hearty thank you to everyone who took the time to stop by and talk with the volunteers, particularly those who attended their “Be Prepared” talk.

If you have questions, or would like additional information, please visit the following Red Cross Be Prepared website or reach out to Mēsha Richard, Emergency Preparedness Lead (ext 6552) or mesha.richard@tbh.net.

Canadian Red Cross Resources

The Maternity Centre at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre (TBRHSC) provides prenatal care for the residents of Thunder Bay and surrounding region. Our team is committed to providing evidence-based maternity care that is safe, respectful and culturally sensitive.

No referrals are necessary to access care at the Maternity Centre.

During pregnancy, you are welcome to call the Maternity Centre to schedule an appointment with one of our prenatal care providers. All of our programs are accessible with your Ontario health card.

TBRHSC’s Maternity Centre welcomes the 113 babies born at our Hospital during the month of October. Congratulations on the new bundles of joy!

Find out more at our website bit.ly/TBRHSC-Maternity-Centre.

In recognition of Medical Radiation Sciences Week, check out the daily trivia posted on the intranet.

---

It’s Medical Radiation Sciences Week (November 3-9) and we’re celebrating Medical Radiation Technologists (MRTs) and Diagnostic Medical Sonographers (DMSs) who play an integral role in patient care.

Medical radiation technologists (MRT) and diagnostic medical sonographers (DMS) perform diagnostic imaging examinations and administer radiation therapy treatments. So, if you have ever had an x-ray, CT scan, MRI, nuclear medicine procedure, ultrasound or radiation therapy, you have been in contact with an MRT or DMS. They can be found in emergency departments, operating rooms, mobile breast screening vans as well as diagnostic imaging departments and clinics.

MRTs and DMSs provide service to both the public and private sectors within the Canadian health care system.

Their key role is in diagnosis and treatment, and they serve as advisors to radiologists, radiation oncologists and other healthcare providers. Because they deal with patients on the front lines, they also serve as patient advocates and educators. Some of them are also health care researchers, technical and therapy specialists, and interdisciplinary consultants. MRTs and DMSs play as part of the health care team – an essential link delivering care through technology.

(Thunder Bay, ON) – You are now a millionaire! That’s the news Health Sciences Foundation CEO Glenn Craig delivered today to Philip Duke of Thunder Bay, the grand prize winner of an incredible $1,660,795 in the October Thunder Bay 50/50 draw. “No way! That’s crazy!” Philip exclaimed, as he took in the news Glenn just shared.

“I bought the ticket at the beginning of the month and completely forgot about it,” Duke explained. Philip, who is currently an Engineer in Training, added, “I had the afternoon off and glad I did, because I don’t think I would have been able to work after receiving this news.”

“I know when I buy lottery tickets, I always dream about what I might do if I won,” Craig said. “Do you have anything on your bucket list?” Philip replied that he would like to pay off his student loans. “I never really thought about buying a house, but now I can probably look into that,” he added. He also mentioned that his brother has been bugging him about a trip to Japan, and might actually do that – it’s a little bit more feasible now.

With spooky season coming to an end and the holiday season soon upon us, Philip Duke’s incredible win serves as a reminder of the excitement and possibility that can arise from participating in the Thunder Bay 50/50 draw.

This month’s winner now marks our 14th consecutive millionaire.

The Thunder Bay 50/50 is more than a lottery; it’s a crucial support system for health care in our region. Every ticket purchased helps fund vital equipment for our hospital, ensuring exceptional care when we need it most. So far, over $48 million in prizes has been awarded across Ontario.

November Draw Now OpenAs the chill of the cooler weather settles in, we are warming things up with our draw schedule for November!

1)    There are $75,000 in total EARLY BIRD PRIZES to be won throughout November.

2)     $50,000 in EARLY BIRD PRIZES to be won in just the FIRST WEEK!

** Tickets must be purchased by 11:59 p.m. ET on Thursday, November 28th, 2024 to be eligible for the Grand Prize draw on Friday, November 29th at 11:00 a.m.  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. (2024 Lottery Licence RAF1413948)

Shared on behalf of Nicole Moffett, Manager, Emergency Preparedness, Switchboard, Security

---

To better meet the needs of our staff, we are introducing a new process for purchasing parking at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre (TBRHSC).

Effective November 1^st, 2024 staff will have two options:

A)   Payroll deducted, unlimited parking ($49-$52/month, based on lot assignment).

B)   Purchase and apply exit credits directly to your ID card at one of the five ‘pay on foot’ terminals located across the Hospital campus ($3/exit, existing lot assignments still apply). Exit credits do not expire, and can be purchased in any quantity.

Please be advised 8 and 12 exit payroll deducted parking options will no longer be available to staff registering for parking, effective November 1^st, 2024. Those that are presently enrolled in 8 and 12 exit payroll deducted parking will receive a letter providing information on how to proceed.

Pay on Foot terminals are found in the following locations: main (west) entry; emergency department entry; 1040 Oliver Rd (Health Services Centre) entry; 984 Oliver Rd (Medical Centre) entry. 

Actions Required:

There are no actions required for those already enrolled in unlimited payroll deducted parking that wish to remain.

If you wish to proceed with option (A) and enroll in unlimited payroll deducted parking, you will be required to complete and submit the SC-38 Parking Application-Change Form to the Security window at the main, west entrance by Friday, November 22^nd in order to be registered for unlimited parking by December 1^st.

If you are presently enrolled in payroll deducted parking and wish to proceed with option (B) and purchase exit credits at your convenience, you must advise of your intent to migrate to this option. Complete and submit the SC-38 Parking Application-Change Form to the Security window at the main, west entrance by Friday, November 22^nd in order to be removed from payroll deducted parking by December 1^st. You will be able to purchase exit credits at Pay on Foot stations starting December 1^st.  

For all other staff that wish to park at the Hospital (e.g. casual and part-time staff that pay for parking at patient billing; those who have never had a parking account, etc.), please register to have your parking account activated/reactivated by completing and submitting the SC-38 Parking Application-Change Form to the Security window at the main, west entrance. It will take five business days to process your form following receipt, at which time you may begin to add parking exits to your ID card.

General Parking Reminders:

• Parking lots A3, B1, C1, C2 and Dare for patients and visitors only.
• During emergencies, construction, snow removal or special situations, it may become necessary to temporarily suspend or otherwise modify parking regulations and locations.  All staff may access Lot I as an alternate Lot.
• All staff members are required to park in their assigned staff parking lots. Lots are assigned on a departmental basis. Users found parking in lots designated for patients and families may be subject to the loss of parking privileges and/or discipline (Policy HR-t-04 – Discipline).
• If you have circumstances where you park on site very rarely, i.e. you bike to work most days and would like to purchase a daily rate pass ($7/day)) instead of registering for a parking account and pre-purchasing exits ($3/exit), you are to park in lot B2 or lot I only as these are multi-use lots.

The ADMIN-36 Internal Parking policy will be updated to reflect these changes.

Please visit the Parking page on the intranet (https://informed.tbrhsc.net/departments/emergency-preparedness-and-security/parking) for Parking Application-Change and Parking Cancellation forms, FAQs, and visual instructions on how to use the Pay on Foot terminals to purchase parking credits.

If you have any questions about your account, please connect with Ashley Hindman, Assistant, Security and Parking, by email at Ashley.hindman@tbh.net or by phone at extension 6534.

It’s Canadian Patient Safety Week and what better time than now to congratulate two winners of the quarterly ‘Good Catch’ Awards – Tiffany Phan and Laura Wilson!  

Good Catch Awards highlight individuals, groups or departments who demonstrate their commitment to keeping patients safe by reporting a near miss. A ‘good catch’ (or near miss) is an event or situation that could have resulted in harm, but did not reach the patient because of chance or timely intervention. Reporting these events can help to identify gaps in order to prevent future adverse events from happening.

Tiffany, a Pharmacy Technician who works at the In-Patient Pharmacy, noticed that the medication list for a patient on the 3C Surgical In-Patient unit mistakenly had a discontinued medication selected for administration to the patient.  She promptly contacted the Pharmacist and a new BPMH (Best Possible Medication History) was requested, ensuring the patient did not receive incorrect medicine. Well done!

Prior to an MRI scan, Laura was performing a safety screening on the patient when he notified her that he had a craniotomy for an aneurysm but did not have anything implanted in his body and the requisition from the ordering physician also indicated no surgical aneurysm clips were present.  As this is rare, Laura investigated further and saw three clips in a previously scanned image. She was then able to determine the safety of these clips and was able to proceed with scanning the patient safely. Good initiative!

Thank you to both for your diligence and dedication to safety!  Each recipient has been awarded a certificate and gift cards to local businesses.

New winners will be selected every quarter. Continue submitting your near misses for a chance to win! Near miss reports are submitted through the Incident Learning System (patient safety incidents). Click on the ‘safety reporting’ icon from your Novell home page or go to the iNtranet and choose ‘Safety Reporting’ under ‘Informational’.

For more information, contact Terry Fodë, Patient Safety Improvement Specialist (terry.fode@tbh.net).

Hello, Boozhoo, Bonjour.

Let me begin this month by speaking to the increase in respiratory and influenza type illnesses we are already seeing and expect to see more of. To further assist with patient flow, and to be proactive in preventing outbreaks in our in-patient units, this week we introduced new masking protocols. The staged move is to help us combat the increase in respiratory and influenza type illnesses that have been far too prevalent this year within our city and northern communities. The increased requirements are temporary and you will likely see changes in protocols throughout the next few months as the amount of illnesses fluctuates. Please familiarize yourself and patients with the new protocols, which can be found here.

On the positive side, I do have to say October saw our people celebrating many successes and I was fortunate to take in some of the events that really highlighted your many talents and passion to do things better. The Quality Huddles and Sharing and Caring Together are just a few things that come to mind, but I know there are many other operational activities that are unit specific and are making a positive impact on patient care. While I am acutely aware of the system-wide challenges we continue to face each and every day, it is essential to recognize the great work by so many within our Hospital and Health Research Institute.

As mentioned, the Sharing and Caring Together event was a real success this year and we had departments from across our organizations taking part in the events and displays throughout the exhibition. I thoroughly enjoyed hearing the exhibitors explain their efforts to improve patient engagement and experience. Thank you so much for your efforts and for bringing awareness to our core philosophy of care. It was also great to see such amazing community support and contributions from many businesses and volunteers to make this event so spectacular. I truly hope you had a chance to take in some of the activities and it re-energized your commitment to Patient and Family Centred Care. Like many focused within this video your work is so important to ensuring a positive patient experience.

As mentioned back in August, a Clinical Decision Unit (CDU) was implemented in the Emergency Department over the last few weeks. To date, the CDU has been successful in reducing unnecessary hospital admissions by applying short-term monitoring, investigation and treatment assistance to patients. This has resulted in the improvement of patient flow within the ED and beyond.

Dr. Rosie North, Medical Director, Emergency Department Operations was instrumental with the implementation and ongoing operations of the CDU and monitors the admission criteria used for patients that are admitted to the unit to ensure patients are benefitting from the CDU approach. With pre-printed direct order sets and the specialized CDU team, we are meeting our compliance needs and providing beneficial and efficient care to patients. Thank you to the team and Dr. Rosie North for your leadership.

I would like to acknowledge and recognize the impact of Meditech downtime and the extra work created for you. I am pleased to hear that throughout the month of October, we made it through this cycle of upgrades without too much inconvenience. Don’t get me wrong, I know it did affect clinical operations in various ways. However, I believe it was handled well through frontline clinical staff – so please know your extra efforts and patience were the reason for notable success. We know these upgrades are essential to bringing you closer to a more streamlined and efficient Electronic Medical Record. Thank you all for the extra work.

If you have the time in your busy work and personal schedules, I hope you take the opportunity to attend the private viewing of “A Sobering Story”, a documentary about substance use in Thunder Bay. The event is being held at SilverCity Cinema and will include an opportunity for Q&A after the viewing. The story narrative is one that is far too familiar across our community and I am pleased with all the efforts and activities that continue to be done within our Hospital to reduce and eliminate stigma with substance use and addictions.

We are all leaders in healthcare as we support our community and those who need care. It does not matter what your role is within our Hospital and Health Research Institute as together we are focused on the same vision. To help us build our future, please do not forget that “Take Our Kids to Work Day” is coming up on November 6^th. This day is an opportunity to inspire and attract our future healthcare workers. Please support this day and encourage today’s kids to focus their mindset as a healthcare professional. Recruiting can never be too early and we welcome all of our participants this year across our Hospital and the Health Research Institute.

As always, I invite you to provide me your feedback on these blogs or on any other matter. You can contact me at: rhonda.ellacott@tbh.net. I enjoy hearing from you.