Shared on behalf of Wayne Taylor, Director Cardiovascular, Medicine and Regional Renal Program
I am pleased to announce that Yvonne Cashman has accepted the position of Administrative Assistant, Cardiovascular Surgery Program Management & Cardiovascular Services. Yvonne brings a proficient and professional skill set to this position, having spent 15 years as a Legal Assistant. Yvonne also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Lakehead University.
In this position, Yvonne will be responsible for the administrative duties supporting the Cardiovascular Services at TBRHSC as well as providing administrative support to the project team tasked with the development of the Cardiovascular Surgery Program. With her strong organizational and communication skills, she will be a valuable asset to our busy teams.
Please join me in congratulating and welcoming Yvonne to her new role, effective March 24, 2025.
Shared on behalf of Jennifer Wintermans, VP Clinical Services, Quality and Corporate Affairs
I am pleased to announce the appointment of Cara Chambers to the Director, Diagnostic Imaging (DI) and Pharmacy position, effective March 24, 2025. We look forward to Cara’s contributions and the positive impact she will have to our operations through her wealth of experience and expertise.
Cara is a registered Medical Radiation Technologist with over 15 years of management and senior leadership experience within a hospital setting and air ambulance services. Cara has an extensive background in budget planning, project development, operational management within unionized environments, and navigating legislative and regulatory environments. Through her work with Ornge and Atikokan Hospital, she has gained additional skills and certifications in infection prevention and control practices, risk management, staff education and patient safety, in addition to her clinical experience.
As the Director of Diagnostic Imaging and Pharmacy, Cara will provide leadership for both programs and set service goals and objectives to ensure operational needs and operational management is directed towards our overall vision. Through this position, Cara will also ensure accountability for pharmacy and diagnostic imaging services through their management teams to support overall service needs that have a focus on patient experience.
Reporting to the Vice President, Clinical Services, Quality and Corporate Affairs, Cara will have oversight for Diagnostic Imaging and Pharmacy Services. Direct reports will include both Diagnostic Imaging Managers and the Manager of Pharmacy. Cara will also collaborate with Department Chiefs, Medical Program Directors and Leads to ensure pharmacy and diagnostic imaging services are meeting organizational needs to advance quality patient care that supports the patients and communities we serve; all while ensuring organizational effectives and fostering a supporting and positive staff experience.
Please join me in welcoming Cara to our Hospital, effective March 24, 2025.
March is Kidney Health Month, and we want to raise awareness about kidney disease and its impact on the people of Northwestern Ontario. Throughout the month, we will be featuring members of the Renal Team, and highlight the incredible care they provide for renal patients across our region.
“Being a Peritoneal Dialysis nurse is very rewarding. I am able to teach a patient to do dialysis in order to get them home safely to their own community. While on home visits in Pikangikum, I found it very fulfilling to be able to see the patients we trained performing dialysis on their own and be able to stay within their community while supporting them from afar. If we could not provide dialysis at home, they would have to relocate their entire family out of their home community to receive the treatment they need. It is very important to us to keep them as close to home as possible.” – Michelle Debesys, Registered Nurse, Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre (TBRHSC) Peritoneal Dialysis Team
“The Renal Biomedical Engineering Technologists are responsible for maintaining equipment in three dialysis units within Northwestern Ontario: Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre (TBRHSC), Sioux Lookout Meno Ya Win Health Centre and Riverside Health Care Facilities in Fort Frances. Additionally, the team is responsible for the TBRHSC Home Hemodialysis program. This includes an assessment of a patient’s home, coordinating plumbing and electrical services, installation of a dialysis machine and a portable reverse osmosis unit into a patient’s home, followed by maintenance of the equipment. With a catchment area the size of France, access to these patients uses all forms of transportation; planes, trains, automobiles, boats, skidoos and quads”.
– Mike Smit, Senior Renal Biomedical Engineering Technologist, TBRHSC
“Home Hemodialysis (HHD) nurses first meet with patients and their families to provide HHD information. This meeting helps guide the patient through their decision-making process and to assess if HHD is the right dialysis option for them. Once a person has chosen HHD, the nurses provide approximately eight weeks of training which includes education on renal disease, self-physical assessments, diet, medications, and all aspects of independent/supported dialysis care.
The goal of HHD is to help patients stay in their home or repatriate to their home community where they can live within their spiritual, cultural and traditional lifestyle surrounded by their support system while meeting their dialysis needs.”
– Lauri-Ann Vester, Registered Nurse, TBRHSC Home Hemodialysis Team
TBRHSC’s Home Dialysis Team on their recent trip to Pikangikum FNA complete hemodialysis setup in a Northern CommunityThunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre Home Hemodialysis program staff.
For people living with addictions, every journey is different. St. Joseph’s Care Group offers a continuum of services that, as of Monday, March 10, 2025, will include 7 new Safe Sobering beds.
Located at 500 Oliver Road, Safe Sobering will operate alongside Withdrawal Management. “Our staff have been hard at work since the announcement of $2.9 million in September,” said Andrea Docherty, Vice President Clinical & Community Health. “It is a collaborative effort, involving staff, clients and partner organizations to make sure we have the right supports, processes, and environment in place. They have done an exceptional job in a short period of time.”
Safe Sobering provides a new voluntary option for people aged 16 or over who are under the influence of alcohol or other substances, but do not require the level of care provided in the Emergency Department or Withdrawal Management.
Everyone who accesses Safe Sobering will be treated with dignity and respect. Wraparound supports include connections to treatment, mental health supports, traditional healing practices, and other social services. N’doo’owe Binesi, St. Joseph’s Care Group’s Indigenous Health division, will provide Traditional Healing, system navigation, counselling, and connection to Elders and ceremony.
“Today, we are closing a gap in addictions services,” said Janine Black, President & CEO of St. Joseph’s Care Group, reflecting on the recommendations of the Coroner’s Inquest into the deaths of Roland McKay and Donald Mamakwa, and the contributions of over 30 organizations in developing a model for Safe Sobering. “These spaces represent our collective responsibility to people in crisis, offering the support needed without defaulting to emergency rooms or jail cells, which were never meant to be the front lines of addiction care.”
Construction at the site continues. Upon completion, the total number of Safe Sobering beds will be 15, with the final 8 coming online in late spring 2025.
For more information about safe sobering or to inquire about the referral process, please contact St. Joseph’s Care Group at 807-768-4455.
Backgrounder
St. Joseph’s Care Group (SJCG) combines tradition and innovation in providing a broad range of services and regional leadership in Mental Health & Addictions, Rehabilitative Care, Long-Term Care Homes and Supportive Housing. N’doo’owe Binesi is a innovative Indigenous Health department rooted in Anishinaabek culture that provides education and training, as well as Nanaandawe’ewin (Traditional Healing Program) and Indigenous Health Team supporting clients across SJCG.
Our approach is wholistic people-centred care, meeting the people of Northwestern Ontario where they are on their wellness journey and supporting them to achieve their highest quality of life.
Safe sobering is a voluntary service that provides a safe place for individuals under the influence of substances, such as drugs or alcohol, for up to 24 hours. The average length of stay is 4-8 hours.
Funding for 15 safe sobering was announced on September 19, 2024.
It was subsequently determined that Withdrawal Management and Safe Sobering would be co-located at 500 Oliver Road. Co-locating safe sobering and withdrawal services means that client needs can be stepped up or stepped down when needed.
The first 7 Safe Sobering beds will open on March 10, 2025. Construction will continue, and the remaining 8 Safe Sobering beds will open in late spring 2025.
International Women’s Day is an opportunity to recognize the incredible achievements of women and girls while acknowledging the ongoing work needed to achieve true equality among all genders. As we strive to #AccelerateAction towards gender equity, we foster healthy, strong, and vibrant communities that benefit everyone.
As health care workers, we can further our commitment by educating ourselves about the uniquehealth needs of women. It is essential to recognize that a gender health gap remains, causing disparities in health outcomes and access to health care between genders.
Today and every day, we celebrate the remarkable women at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre and Thunder Bay Regional Health Research Institute.
Together, let’s work towards gender equality and a brighter future for all.
On Wear Blue Day (March 7), staff at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre’s Regional Cancer Care wore blue to raise awareness for colorectal cancer.
If you are between 50 to 74 years of age, and have no family history of colon cancer, you should complete a fecal immunochemical test (FIT) kit every two years.
To get your FIT kit, talk to your health care provider. If you don’t have a health care provider, you can get a kit by calling Health811 at 1-866-828-9213 or by making an appointment on the Screen for Life Coach by calling 807-684-7777. Learn more here.
Our team is extraordinary! Each employee at Thunder Bay Regional Health Science Centre plays a vital role in providing exceptional care for patients and families in our community and across the region.
Since today is Employee Appreciation Day (March 7), join us in thanking these amazing members of our team for everything they do, day in and day out.
Kevin is a certified millwright at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre. A millwright is a skilled tradesperson who installs, maintains and repairs industrial machinery, ensuring proper functionality. From heat valves in patients’ rooms, to air compressors for laundry, to HEPA filter exhaust fans in the Intensive Care Unit, to the MRI cooling system, there isn’t an area at our Hospital that Kevin doesn’t support.
Kevin and the Maintenance team have to carefully plan their projects, often coming in early or staying late, to support a positive experience for patients and ensure staff can work with minimal interruption. They collaborate internally and with contractors to ensure essential Hospital equipment is ready to go.
Check out these photos to see Kevin in action. You might be surprised at what you see!
Did you know that there is a fourth floor of the Hospital? Kevin works up in the Penthouse, maintaining the Hospital’s enormous air exchange systems.Kevin inspects the air handling units that keep our air clean and fresh.There are dozens and dozens of fan coils located all over the Hospital. They serve various functions, from cooling server rooms to maintaining a comfortable temperature for patients, and Kevin looks after them all.
Kevin maintains the Hospital’s hot water heating pumps…
… and chilled water pumps.
When the weather turns warm, the Hospital’s cooling towers get to work, taking heat out of the building to be cooled and returned as cool air.Kevin maintains the deionized water systems, which are essential for our Medical Device Reprocessing Department’s processes.Kevin and Amanda Swazey, Supervisor, Food and Nutrition. Amanda and her team call on Kevin to service various equipment. Kevin even machines and fabricates parts that are needed.Kevin not only supports Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, but Thunder Bay Regional Health Research Institute too! The fume hoods and other equipment in the lab sometimes needs Kevin’s finesse. (L-R): Melissa Hacio (Clinical Research Services Research Assistant, TBRHRI), Viktoriya Dyukaryeva (Ortho Research & Development Officer, TBRHRI), Tanya Niederer (HR/Operations Coordinator, TBRHRI) and Kevin (Lead, Millright, TBRHSC)
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 119 babies born at our Hospital during the month of February. Congratulations on the new bundles of joy!
