Q2 SP2026 Highlight: Patient Experience

We all play a vital role in helping to advance our strategic priorities and in achieving our vision of Exceptional care for every patient, every time. In order to increase awareness and help everyone understand how we are progressing on Strategic Plan 2026, we have developed and are distributing these quarterly strategic initiative highlights.

The full list of each “Quarterly Strategic Initiative Highlights” can be found on the intranet.


In our high-pressure environment, clear communication and patient trust are critical to safety. To strengthen person centred communication across our organization, we are expanding on the established best practice of NOD (Name, Occupation, Do). To foster more meaningful patient staff connections, enhance trust, and promote a compassionate and empathetic care environment, PFCC proposed expanding NOD to NODDING (Name, Occupation, Do, Develop trust through Interacting, Noticing, and being Genuine).

This is a core patient safety tool. Building patient trust quickly is proven to improve patient compliance with care plans, help reduce errors and preventable readmissions. The alignment with existing practice increases the likelihood of successful implementation. It reduces resistance to change, promotes consistency, and makes it easier for staff to integrate enhanced empathetic behaviors into their routine workflows.

NODDING offers a scalable and practical tool to embed these values across the organization and elevates what is already known, fostering sustainability and long-term engagement.

What’s next: Implementation will begin with a pilot in a selected unit to evaluate feasibility, staff engagement, and impact on patient experience. Insights from the pilot will be used to guide refinements and inform broader organizational rollout.

Registration Now Open – 2026 Showcase of Health Research

Shared on behalf of St. Joseph’s Care Group


The Showcase of Health Research is an annual event highlighting research, evaluation, and quality improvement initiatives that advance the health and well-being of Northwestern Ontarians. The event features podium and poster presentations, along with opportunities to network and engage with health professionals, researchers, analysts, students, and scientists from across the community and the region.

The 2026 Showcase of Health Research is free to attend, and a lunch will be provided. However, registration capacity is limited and fills every year, so we encourage early registration to secure your spot.

Registration deadline: Wednesday, January 28, 2026
Register: cahr.sjcg.net/registration
Learn more about the Showcase of Health Research: cahr.sjcg.net/about-showcase

Please share this invitation with coworkers, colleagues or others who may be interested in attending.

Chance to win $1500 Prepaid Mastercard

Want to Win a $1500 Prepaid Mastercard?

The 2026 Employee Recognition Week is approaching fast starting February 27, 2026, to March 6, 2026.

All employees are automatically entered to win the big prize, but there are more ways to get extra entries.

You can get an extra entry for the following initiatives:

  1. iCare Impact Awards Nominees and Nominators
  2. Long Service Recipients
  3. Flu Vaccine Participants
  4. Those who complete their e-learning by December 31, 2025

The winner will be announced on the Daily Informed Newsletter and the Hospital’s social media pages on Friday, March 6, 2026.

AMH Staff Reaffirm Commitment to Reducing Stigma

The Adult Mental Health team at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre gathered in the outpatient department for the annual Purple Giving Tree Lighting Ceremony, reaffirming their commitment to harm reduction, trauma-informed care, and anti-stigma practices.

The ceremony opened with welcoming hand drummers, followed by the lighting of the Purple Giving Tree, which symbolizes the harms and overdoses associate with substance use in our community.

Staff were invited to place pledge bulbs on the tree, reflecting personal and team commitments for the year ahead.

The event coincided with an Adult Mental Health donation campaign in support of the Regional Food Distribution Association. Staff contributed non-perishable food items, with over $1,900 raised to date.

Adult Mental Health team.

File Clean Up Ahead of M365 Transition

Shared on behalf of the Help Desk


The transition to M365 involves moving our local files to the cloud with OneDrive and SharePoint. With over 1,000,000+ files in our local storage, this transition involves a lot of file preparation work.

Learn the new system limitations to properly prepare your files:

  • Special Character Restrictions: The following characters cannot be used in file or folder names: ” * : < > ? / \ | % .
  • OneDrive Storage Limit: 10GB for Office Workers/2GB for Frontline Staff for personal file storage.
  • File Path Limits: All file paths should be ≤256 characters and have a maximum file depth of five to seven folders.
  • Office File Incompatibility: Old Office 97-2003 files and templates must be converted to newest formats.

Remember to:

  • Delete old files and convert old formats.
  • Rename long file names and remove special characters.
  • Reduce folder depth to five to seven folders.

For more information, click here.

If you have any questions, please contact the Help Desk at Help.Desk@tbh.net.

Capital and Facility and Support Services Annual Food Drive

Staff from TBRHSC’s Capital & Facilities and Support Services departments collected more than 680 lbs of non-perishable food items for the Dew Drop Inn.

Staff at TBRHSC embody the spirit of the season with their annual food drive in support of St. Andrews Dew Drop In. Food was delivered yesterday (December 17), and the volunteers at St. Andrews Dew Drop Inn were thrilled see the team and how much food was being donated, and continue to express their appreciation of TBRHSC staff’s efforts year after year. The Capital & Facilities and Support Services departments have had a friendly food drive challenge for five years now.

Thank you everyone who brought in donations, your generosity will help provide meals to community members in need. A big congratulations to staff in ICP Admin, who took the weight win for this year!

Amount of Food Collected (By Department)

Switchboard – 73.7 lbs

Capital Planning – 22.4 lbs

ICP Admin – 238 lbs

Housekeeping/Portering/Laundry –  111 lbs

Purchasing – 21.3 lbs

Stores – 17.2 lbs

Nutrition and Food Services – 141.2 lbs

Maintenance – 44.2 lbs

TOTAL = 687.9 lbs of non-perishable food items for St. Andrews Dew Drop Inn

Temporary Passenger Pick-Up Update

As part of our commitment to patient and family centred care, we are pleased to offer a warmer, more comfortable way to wait for pick-up from the temporary passenger pick-up area.

A monitor has been installed in the West entry that displays a live feed of the pick-up zone. Patients may wait indoors and exit the building once they see their ride arrive.

Did you miss December’s Town Hall? Don’t worry — we’ve got a recap for you

town fall

This month’s Town Hall took place on Wednesday, December 17 via Microsoft Teams. See below for a video recording of the session and a copy of the presentation slides.

If you have questions you would like answered, please send them to TBRHSC.GroupNews@tbh.net and we will do our best to address them at a future Town Hall.

If you’d like to access a recording or presentation from a previous Town Hall, visit the archive.

Thank you for your commitment to staying informed and engaged.

Reflections From the Front Lines (New Episode!)

Reflections From the Front Lines provides our health care professionals with an opportunity to share stories and experiences about their role in providing exceptional care for every patient, every time.

We feature these each month during our Town Hall — a virtual venue designed to keep staff, professional staff, volunteers and leaners informed about what’s happening at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre and Thunder Bay Regional Health Research Institute.

Check out our previous episodes below (or on the Hospital’s YouTube channel), and be sure to tune in to future Town Halls for more stories.

In this episode, we hear from James Stevenson, a member of the Security team here at our Hospital. James shares a touching story about how he helped contribute to a positive outcome for a patient in Adult Mental Health.
In this episode, we hear from Savanna Boucher, Indigenous Care Coordinator and Annette Klement, Traditional Wellness Coordinator who will share a story about the positive outcome they saw when they incorporated Traditional Medicine into a patient’s care plan.
Desiree Towedeo, Indigenous Care Coordinator, shares a story about how she provided culturally safe care to a patient that led to improved health outcomes during their stay, and how meaningful her role as an Indigenous Care Coordinator is to her.
In this episode, we hear from Megan Valente, Coordinator of Volunteer Services. Megan shares a patient story that highlights a new initiative and showcases how volunteers play a crucial role in the patient experience.
In this episode, we will hear from Michelle Opaski, a Mammographer who works on the Screen for Life Coach. Michelle shares a patient story that highlights how bringing cancer screening services closer to home allows individuals to prioritize their health and detect cancer early.
In this episode, we hear from Nikki Cooper, and Kelti Matson – both Registered Nurses from the Peritoneal Dialysis Renal team. Nikki and Kelti have a patient story that highlights how providing education, compassion, and respect, along with cross-department collaboration, allowed for exceptional patient care.
In this episode, Lyllian Stavropoulos, Co-ordinator of Specimen Collection and Dispatch in Laboratory Services at our Hospital, shares a patient story with us.
In this episode, Ashley Hill, a Registered Practical Nurse in the Emergency Department, speaks about her experience with the cultural safety training called, Repairing the Sacred Circle. Repairing the Sacred Circle was designed, developed and launched by N’doo’owe Binesi at St. Joseph’s Care Group in 2022 with the support and guidance of the Ogichidaa Onaakonigewin – Elders Council.
In this episode, we hear from Dr. Laura Power, an ObGyn at our Hospital. Dr. Power provides us with a look into the interprofessional and comprehensive care available at the Maternity Centre for patients in Thunder Bay and across the region.
In this episode, Mike Heerema, the Critical Care Staffing and Wellness Coordinator in our Intensive Care Unit, tells us about the Tokens of Love initiative for patients and families.
In this episode, we hear from Jessica and Jolene from the Regional Cancer Program at our Hospital.
In this episode, Danielle McLean, a Registered Nurse from the Intensive Care Unit at our Hospital, shares a patient story with us.

Pay Day Change – New Year’s Day

Please note that Thursday, January 1, 2026, is New Year’s Day, a statutory holiday, and banks and financial institutions will be closed. As a result, employees will be paid one day earlier on Wednesday, December 31, 2025.

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