Thunder Bay Fire Rescue (TBFR) will provide onsite training in alternative evacuation techniques (e.g. blanket drag) coordinated by Interprofessional Education and Emergency Preparedness.

No registration is necessary. Staff are invited to stop by January 21 between 2:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. in Auditoriums A and B by for some hands-on learning.

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, January 22, 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. 

Lakehead University’s Office of Indigenous Initiatives invites you to join us for Indigenous Leadership and Community Resilience with Mike Metatawabin, at Lakehead University on January 19, 2026 from 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. in the Agora.

Join Mike Metatawabin, a respected leader and advocate for Indigenous communities, as he discusses the importance of community resilience and leadership in addressing issues like addiction and homelessness.

An influenza outbreak has been declared on 3B Surgical Inpatient Unit, as of Monday January 12, 2026. 

All restrictions are in place.  

Please share this information with the appropriate staff. As always, our number one priority is the safety of patients and their families, staff and visitors. All patients identified as having an exposure to this outbreak will require isolation with appropriate additional precautions. 

The department of Infection Prevention and Control encourages everyone to keep applying the routine practices of hand hygiene, proper use of PPE, equipment cleaning, and the appropriate admission screening of all patients.

Please set an example for staff and students and assist us by maintaining compliance and due diligence.

For more information, contact Infection Prevention and Control at extension 6094.

A suspected Influenza A outbreak has been declared on 3B unit as of today, January 7, 2026.  All restrictions are in place. 

3B-Outbreak # 2262-2026-00006

Please share this information with the appropriate staff. As always, our number one priority is the safety of patients and their families, staff and visitors. All patients identified as having an exposure to this outbreak will require isolation with appropriate additional precautions. 

The department of Infection Prevention and Control encourages everyone to keep applying the routine practices of hand hygiene, proper use of PPE, equipment cleaning, and the appropriate admission screening of all patients. Please set an example for staff and students and assist us by maintaining compliance and due diligence. 

For more information, contact: Infection Prevention and Control at extension 6094.