Join Annette Klement, Traditional Wellness Lead, for a special Lunch and Learn event with Elder Melissa Ahmoo. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to learn and deepen your understanding of what an Elder is, their importance and how they can provide guidance.

Where: ICP Main, Room 2178 (2nd floor)

Date: Thursday, March 12, 2026

Time: 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. 

Bring your appetites as pizza will be provided. To register, please email Annette Klement, Traditional Wellness Lead at Annette.Klement@net.

We look forward to seeing you there!

At Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre (TBRHSC), the Patient and Family Centred Care (PFCC) philosophy guides everything that we do, with the goal of delivering exceptional care for every patient every time.

The PFCC department is continuously evaluating strategies to support the delivery of quality patient and family centred care at TBRHSC. These strategies include the use of standardized patient experience surveys (PES) to monitor and evaluate the patient experience. The PES was developed by the Ontario Hospital Association and is utilized to drive quality improvement initiatives for leaders and decision makers at TBRHSC, as well as compare the organization’s performance relative to peer hospitals in Ontario. To garner its effectiveness, the use of PES data at TBRHSC is highly dependent on how accessible and comprehensible the resulting reports are for leaders and decision makers.

Using a survey of coordinators, managers and directors at TBRHSC, PFCC was able to gather feedback on the usefulness of the current patient experience reporting process to understand how this data is used in practice. 24 leaders and decision makers were surveyed to report on the effectiveness of dashboards showing real-time data of performance indicators, bi-weekly reports on text comments from discharged patients, and quarterly score cards showing results from PES questions.

On February 6, 2026, PFCC’s Hafsa Siddiqui (Data Specialist) and Joanita Nakimuli (Discharge Transition Lead, Patient Advocate) had the pleasure of presenting the outcome of this project at the St. Joseph’s Care Group Centre for Applied Health Research Showcase. The survey of participating leaders showed that dashboards and patient feedback reports are timely, easy to interpret and easy to explain to others. Of note, participants identified competing organizational priorities as a potential barrier to this strategy.

Overall, a survey of hospital leaders and decision makers indicated that patient experience data is useful for setting quality improvement priorities and monitoring progress over time, aiding in the focused undertaking of key performance indicators.

Shared on behalf of Ryan Sears, Director, Capital & Facility Services

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Please be advised the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre (at the 980 Oliver Road location only) will execute a planned impairment of its entire Overhead Paging System and Fire System on Thursday, March 12, 2026 for approximately eight (8) hours – starting at 11:00 PM to facilitate project related work for the MDRD Renovation. 

Our Facilities and Security teams will be enacting and overseeing our Fire System Impairment and Fire Watch procedures, as included in the Fire Plan for our site. 

During this impairment, no Hot Work will be authorized. Further, any high risk work that could result in an elevated risk of fire, heat, or smoke should not be planned – please review this within your department and plan to discontinue high-risk activities (i.e. construction, repairs, hot showers, etc).  Should you observe activities that may be of concern during the impairment, contact your Supervisor or Manager to discuss. 

While the Hospital’s Overhead Paging System is out of service, alternate measures will be applied to notify the organization of Emergency Codes and Alerts. Staff will continue to activate all Codes using extension 55. Please see the attached policy for guidance.  

Key things to remember during an outage:

1. Regularly monitor email for emergency code and alert notices issued by Switchboard.
2. Respond to emergency codes and alerts through alternate communication measures, e.g., paging, radios, emails, runners, etc., as appropriate – and activate response as required.
3. Be vigilant in reviewing department activities during the period of fire system impairment.
4. Clinical leads are encouraged to collaborate with their teams to consider alternatives to paging patients back to units, such as collecting Patients’ mobile phone numbers.

Further, in event of fire during this impairment, please execute all steps as outlined in Code Red Policy (EMER-30) and your area sub plan. Should you discover a fire – “REACT”:

R – Remove persons in immediate danger
E – Ensure doors are closed to confine fire or smoke
A – Activate the fire alarm by pulling the nearest pull station
C– Call Switchboard at Ext 55 to report the location of the fire
T– Try to extinguish the fire if trained to do so or continue to evacuate 

The contractor for the fire system work is Troy Life & Fire Safety. The Building System Operator is onsite and reachable at cell number 807-629-7005. Further support will be provided by Security (684-6509) and the on call Facility Manager (cell number 807-629-3119) as required. 

If you have any questions or concerns regarding the above, please contact Ryan Sears. 

Shared on behalf of Quality and Risk Management

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On Sunday, March 8, 2026, at 2:00 a.m., clocks will move forward one hour to 3:00 a.m. as we transition to Daylight Saving Time.

Accurate timekeeping is essential for maintaining safety and operational efficiency at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre. Precise time is critical not only for scheduling procedures and staffing, but also for accurate charting and medication administration.

At 2:00 a.m., all electronic clocks connected to the centralized system (including those in areas such as NICU, ICU, etc.) will automatically advance by one hour. Any final system adjustments are expected to be completed by 5:00 a.m. If any of these clocks have not updated by 8:00 a.m., please contact the Maintenance Department (ext. 6344).

Each department is responsible for updating the time on battery-operated clocks within their areas. Computers will automatically update to the correct time.

Please ensure that your personal watches and devices are updated accordingly and that any clocks within your area are adjusted promptly.

Congratulations to February’s Patient and Family Centered Care (PFCC) Shout Out Winners, Kristie Baxter and Emily Komoski.

Kristie Baxter, Rehab Assistant

Kristie Baxter is a rehab assistant with the Physiotherapy department and has been recognized for keeping patients’ needs at the forefront of her care. Kristie goes above and beyond to ensure her patients’ mobility goals are met, and encourages other members of the team to work collaboratively with patients and families. Her kindness and care are evident in the interactions she has with all patients, whether big or small.

Emily Komoski, Porter/Renal Aid

As a member of the Patient Porter team, Emily Komoski often interacts with patients and families while transporting them to and from tests or procedures. Emily has been recognized for her compassion towards each person she meets, keeping patient comfort and confidentiality at the core of how she participates in their care at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre.

We would also like to acknowledge all other TBRHSC staff who were nominated for this month’s PFCC Shout Outs. Congratulations to Rita Tosolini (RN, 2C), Jessica McAnulty (SW, Cancer Centre), Marissa Fazzari (2C/RAVE Coordinator), Lauren Hendren (NP, Cancer Centre) and Shijo Jose Prakash (RPN. TCU). Your care and compassion for our patients and families exemplifies PFCC within our organization by showing a commitment to communication, collaboration, dignity, and respect for all patients/families, enabling them to remain key participants in their own health.

Do you know someone in our organization who consistently demonstrates exceptional Patient and Family Centred Care (PFCC)? We want to hear about them!

Simply send a PFCC Shout Out email to TBRHSC.PFCC@tbh.net and include the staff member’s name, department, and a brief description of what they did that deserves recognition.

Let’s celebrate the people who make this a truly patient and family centred organization.

Shared on behalf of Capital and Facility Services

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Beginning on the evening of Friday, March 6, through to afternoon of Saturday, March 7, new LINAC equipment will be moved into the Cancer Centre, from the west side patient drop-off loop, through the Cancer Centre doors.

Please proceed with caution in this area. Do not cross barriers or use the exterior Cancer Centre entrance. Security Guards will be present to guide pedestrian and vehicular traffic.

All employee are automatically entered into the Big Prize draw to win. Human Resources will add an extra entry for participation in each of the following initiatives: iCare Impact Awards nominees and nominators, Long-Service recipients, and flu vaccine participants.

The winner will be announced on Friday, March 6.

Shared on behalf of the Lakehead University Relay for Life Committee

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Relay for Life is back in town! On March 6, 2026, Lakehead University Relay for Life Committee is hosting its second Relay for Life! Relay for Life is a walk-a-thon-like fundraiser for raising awareness of cancer research, treatment, and advocacy. We are an official fundraiser in support of Canadian Cancer Society. All funds raised from our event are contributed to support various national CCS programs.

Last year, we raised nearly $7,000 after hosting our first ever event since the pandemic. This year, we are hoping to raise $10,000, and we need your help to achieve this goal together!

This year, our event will be held at the Lakehead University Hangar (955 Sanders Dr.) from 5 p.m. – 12 a.m. Participants do NOT have to stay for the entire duration! Participants are free to visit, and leave based on the schedule that works the best for them! We welcome everyone from our community, and participants do NOT have to be Lakehead student.

There is a $20 registration fee, which includes the event-access, food, and a t-shirt. This $20 fee also contributes toward our overall donation amount.

We also welcome cancer survivors, patients, and/or caregivers to join our event! We dedicate our events to everyone in our community who has been impacted by cancer, and we would love to have you at our Relay for Life event. 

If you are interested in registering, or you would like to make a donation, please visit our website at relayforlife.ca/lakehead. If you have any questions, or are interested in making a cash donation, please contact us at relayforlifelakehead@gmail.com.