Click HERE to complete today’s Sharing and Caring 2025 trivia question.
Each submission will be entered into a draw to win prizes! Winners will be announced next week in Your Daily Informed Newsletter.
Remember to check out the Sharing and Caring 2025 Schedule of Events for all the activities happening this week.
Last week, we came together as a Hospital community to shine light on mental illness, challenge stigma, and encourage open conversations. What an impactful week it was!
The Mental Health Awareness Committee created spaces for connection, education, and reflection. Here’s a quick recap of the week’s highlights:
Monday – Music, Mind and Mingle set the tone with live acoustic music and meaningful conversation from local guitarist, James Wilkinson.
Tuesday – Critical Incident Conversations with Psychological Associate, Sherri Capulak-Tinnes, offered insight into healing after experiencing high-stress events and supporting mental wellness.
Wednesday – Our Mental Health Expo brought together organizations to share information related to their resources and support networks.
Thursday – The Mental Illness Awareness Week Trivia Night tested our knowledge (and sparked laughter) while supporting our learning with mental illness. Congratulations to our winning team – Nahid Anee, Kristine Knauff, Erin DeGiacomo, Kim Gross, and Ashley Pitton.
Friday – We closed the week with Uncovering Mental Illness: Facts, Not Fiction, a pop-up trivia experience that challenged stereotypes and encouraged learning on the go.
The Mental Health Awareness Committee would like to thank all those that participated in our activities.
We look forward to seeing you at our next event!
Each year on October 18, Canadians mark Persons Day, which commemorates the 1929 court decision that recognized women as “persons” under Canadian law. This landmark ruling by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council allowed women to be appointed to the Senate, and was a turning point in Canada’s history of gender equality.
The victory was achieved through the efforts of the Famous Five—Emily Murphy, Nellie McClung, Louise McKinney, Irene Parlby, and Henrietta Muir Edwards—who challenged the exclusion of women from public life. Their perseverance helped open doors for women’s participation in politics and leadership.
However, as Women and Gender Equity Manitoba notes, the Famous Five’s vision did not include all women. Their advocacy efforts although significant, were not extended to racialized, Indigenous, 2SLGBTQQIA+, and low-income women, nor women with disabilities, whose struggles for equity continue to this day.
Indigenous activists, including as Mary Two-Axe Earley, Jeannette Corbiere Lavell, and Sandra Lovelace Nicholas later fought to end discrimination embedded in laws such as the Indian Act. Indigenous women have long played a vital role in advancing equity across Canada, overcoming systemic and social barriers, and demonstrating resilience and courage in the fight for justice and women’s rights. You can learn more about several remarkable Indigenous women who have, and continue to shape women’s rights here: https://www.gov.mb.ca/wage/persons-day.html
Persons Day is both a celebration of progress and a reminder that the pursuit of equality is ongoing. It calls on all Canadians to continue building a society where everyone—regardless of gender, race, or background—is recognized, valued, and included.
To learn more about Persons Day, please go to: https://www.canada.ca/en/women-gender-equality/commemorations-celebrations/womens-history-month/persons-day.html
You can also view a gender equality timeline here: https://www.canada.ca/en/women-gender-equality/commemorations-celebrations/gender-equality-week/gender-equality-timeline.html
Emily Stowe
Emily Howard Jennings Stowe was born on May 1, 1831, in Norwich Township, Ontario. Raised in a Quaker family that valued education, she and her five sisters were home-schooled and learned herbal medicine and tinctures from their mother and family friend and homeopathic physician, Joseph J. Lancaster.
At just 15, Emily began her professional life as a teacher in Summerville, Ontario. When Victoria College denied her admission solely because she was a woman, she instead enrolled in the Normal School for Upper Canada in Toronto, graduating in 1854 with first-class honours. She went on to become the principal of a school in Brantford—the first woman to hold such a position at a public school in Ontario.
In 1856, Emily married John Fiuscia Michael Heward Stowe. When her husband contracted tuberculosis in 1863, her interest in medicine grew stronger. While continuing to teach, she apprenticed in homeopathic healing and herbal medicine, later traveling to the United States to attend the New York Medical College for Women, as no Canadian medical schools admitted women at the time. She earned her medical degree in 1867 and that same year opened a private practice in Toronto specializing in the health of women and children.
Because of licensing restrictions in Canada for both women and internationally-trained physicians, Emily practised without a license for many years. Alongside Jennie Kidd Trout, she was among the first women permitted to take classes at the Toronto School of Medicine, though full licensing remained out of reach. However, Emily’s persistence paid off in 1880 when the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario granted her a medical license.
Beyond her ground-breaking medical career, Emily Stowe was a passionate advocate for women’s rights, championing access to higher education, better working conditions, property rights, and the right to vote. Emily Stowe’s legacy lives on as a pioneer who opened doors for women in healthcare and beyond. Her trailblazing achievements were recognized in 2018 when she was inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame. You can learn more about Emily Stowe here: https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/emily-stowe
Today, we join people across Canada and around the world in marking Spirit Day — a day to stand up against bullying and show support for 2SLGBTQQIA+ youth.
Founded in 2010 by Canadian teenager Brittany McMillan, Spirit Day is now observed annually on the third Thursday of October. The name “Spirit Day” comes from the purple stripe in the Pride flag, symbolizing spirit.
Youth who are bullied experience long-term impacts to their physical and mental health, including stress-related illnesses, low self-esteem, and suicidality (BullyingCanada, 2025).
Many 2SLGBTQQIA+ young people face bullying, discrimination, and exclusion — both in person and online. According to BullyingCanada, gender- and sexually-diverse youth are more likely to experience bullying than their heterosexual peers (BullyingCanada, 2025), an issue that is compounded for 2SLGBTQQIA+ youth with intersecting identities, such as racialized youth, and those living with disabilities (BullyingCanada, 2025).
Wearing purple on this day sends a message that everyone deserves to feel safe, supported, and valued.
To learn more about Spirit Day, please go to: https://cphs.ca/going-purple-this-spirit-day/
You can learn more about supporting youth who are experiencing bullying here on BullyingCanada at: https://www.bullyingcanada.ca/
The next Town Hall is live on Wednesday, October 15! All staff, professional staff, learners and volunteers are invited to tune in to stay informed on what’s happening at our Hospital and Health Research Institute.
Date: Wednesday, October 15, 2025
Time: 2:00 p.m.
Location: Via Webex
This month:
The Town Hall also provides an opportunity to have your questions answered and comments heard about any of our operations, strategic priorities or other areas of interest.
Submit your questions by:
Submitting questions in advance ensures the right people are available to respond.
We look forward to having you join us!
Shared on behalf of Medical & Academic Affairs
Medical Affairs is excited to announce that Dr. Elham Talachian has joined the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre as a Pediatrician with the Department of Paediatrics.
Dr. Elham Talachian brings over 25 years of experience in Pediatrics and Pediatric Gastroenterology. She completed her medical degree and pediatric training at Iran University of Medical Sciences, followed by subspecialty training in Pediatric Gastroenterology at Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Her academic excellence includes ranking first in the National Pediatrics Board Examination and second in the national pediatric subspecialty exam.
Dr. Talachian served as a Professor of Medicine and faculty member at IUMS, where she also led the Pediatric Gastroenterology Department. Her leadership roles have included CEO of Ali Asghar Children’s Hospital and adviser to the Chancellor of IUMS on Women’s Affairs. She also pioneered Iran’s first subspecialty training program in Pediatric Emergency Medicine.
In addition to her extensive clinical expertise and experience in pediatric gastrointestinal procedures, Dr. Talachian has authored book chapters and peer-reviewed publications. She is deeply committed to child health advocacy, nutrition, and community outreach, and has volunteered extensively in pediatric health charities.
Please join us in warmly welcoming Dr. Talachian. We are excited for the expertise and compassionate care she brings to our patients and families, and we look forward to her many contributions to our community.
We are excited to announce that nominations for the 2025 iCare Impact Awards are now open!
The iCare Impact Awards are a peer-to-peer recognition program, aimed at highlighting the behaviours and initiatives that support our mission, vision, and values and strategic directions. The iCare Impact Awards recognize outcomes and impacts, and the people who made those outcomes possible. The program is open to all employees, professional staff, Patient Family Advisors, and volunteers of Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre and Thunder Bay Regional Health Research Institute.
Don’t miss the opportunity to recognize and celebrate the outstanding efforts of your colleagues. Nominations will close on October 20, 2025.
Submit your nomination today at icare-awards.tbrhsc.net.
