It’s the last day to enter the November Thunder Bay 50/50 draw, and the jackpot is already over $500,000. Tickets can be purchased online at www.thunderbay5050.ca until 11:59 pm tonight.

The Thunder Bay 50/50 is a monthly raffle in support of Thunder Bay’s Hospital, with a new Grand Prize draw on the last Friday of every month. Over $5.5 Million has been awarded in prizes since the 50/50 launched in January. Proceeds go towards purchasing vital, highest priority equipment needs for the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre.

“The success of Thunder Bay 50/50 Draw has helped us purchase so much vital equipment for our hospital since we launched in January,” says Glenn Craig, President and CEO of the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Foundation. “Funds have helped all areas of the hospital, from the Cancer Centre, to the Emergency Room, Urology Department, and Adult Mental Health, just to name a few. Plus, we have also helped purchase equipment for some of the smaller regional hospitals in Dryden, Kenora, Fort Frances, Terrace Bay and Marathon!”

Tickets are available online only at www.thunderbay5050.ca:

• $10 for 5 numbers
• $20 for 30 numbers
• $50 for 150 numbers
• $75 for 300 numbers (Best Value)

** Must be purchased by 11:59 p.m. ET on Thursday, November 25 to be eligible for the Grand Prize draw on Friday, November 26, 2021.

Questions about the draw can be sent to info@thunderbay5050.ca. Participants must be present in Ontario and 18 years old or older at time of purchase. Lottery licence RAF1199631.

Between November 9th and November 25th, Hospital employees can order computers and other electronic devices from ACO Services of Thunder Bay and have the payment come off of their pay cheque.

You can view their catalog and order online from the following link:

https://www.flipsnack.com/acoservices/tbrhsc-employee-purchase-plan-catalogue-2021.html

Contact ACO Services online at acoservices.ca or by telephone at (807) 623-7807 for more information.

World Antimicrobial Awareness Week (November 18-24) is hosted annually by the World Health Organization (WHO). The 2021 theme, Spread Awareness, Stop Resistance, calls on health stakeholders, policymakers, health care providers, and the general public to raise global awareness of antibiotic or antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

AMR is one of the top ten global public health threats facing humanity and it threatens the very core of modern medicine. The overuse and misuse of antimicrobials increases AMR. Here at our Hospital, the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program and Microbiology Laboratory work collaboratively on the frontlines to promote appropriate antimicrobial use and fight AMR. Some of the local initiatives include Procalcitonin (PCT) Testing and Guidelines, Maldi-Tof and respiratory PCR testing, Microbiology cascade reporting, antibiogram and the Firstline antimicrobial assistant app (which all Hospital staff can download for free on the App Store and Google Play: www.firstline.org).

One of those initiatives is antibiogram. An antibiogram is a summary of the cumulative susceptibility of bacterial isolates to formulary antibiotics during a specified period. It represents the proportion of each bacterium that is susceptible to a given formulary antibiotic.

Antibiograms are frequently used to highlight local (e.g., institutional) susceptibility data. They are usually published annually. They can also reveal the frequency of isolation of certain organisms.

Antibiograms typically represent isolates from an entire institution, but more specific antibiograms may be created for areas within an institution, or for infections with different resistance patterns if enough isolates are available (e.g., specific to intensive care units [ICUs] or oncology wards, urinary isolates, respiratory isolates from patients with cystic fibrosis).

Test your antimicrobial and stewardship knowledge with our local Firstline in-app World Antimicrobial Awareness Week Trivia Challenge (you could win a free Robins gift card!)

Also try the fun “Which antibiotic are you?” personality quiz by visiting https://quiz.tryinteract.com/#/59e68e3a8ecd1200126656e8

To learn more about how you can be a Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Awareness champion, visit https://bit.ly/WAAW-2021-WHO or contact Charlene Wilson, Antimicrobial Stewardship Pharmacist at wilsonch@tbh.net.

World Antimicrobial Awareness Week (November 18-24) is hosted annually by the World Health Organization (WHO). The 2021 theme, Spread Awareness, Stop Resistance, calls on health stakeholders, policymakers, health care providers, and the general public to raise global awareness of antibiotic or antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

AMR is one of the top ten global public health threats facing humanity and it threatens the very core of modern medicine. The overuse and misuse of antimicrobials increases AMR. Here at our Hospital, the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program and Microbiology Laboratory work collaboratively on the frontlines to promote appropriate antimicrobial use and fight AMR.

One of those initiatives is Procalcitonin (PCT) Testing and Guidelines. Procalcitonin is a substance produced by many types of cells in the body, often in response to bacterial infections but also in response to tissue injury. The level of procalcitonin in the blood can increase significantly in systemic bacterial infections and for sepsis. PCT helps to streamline antibiotic use and ultimate benefit patient care. For more details, download the Firstline Antimicrobial Assistant app for free on the App Store and Google Play: www.firstline.org.

Test your antimicrobial and stewardship knowledge with our local Firstline in-app World Antibiotic Awareness Week Trivia Challenge (you could win a free Robins gift card!)

Also try the fun “Which antibiotic are you?” personality quiz by visiting https://quiz.tryinteract.com/#/59e68e3a8ecd1200126656e8

Please join us for a free online presentation and panel discussion. Part of National Ethics Week (November 1-7)

---

Date: Tuesday November 2nd, 2021
Time: 12:30 pm – 2:00 pm EST

What: Mandatory Vaccination: An Ethics Perspective

Who: Al-Noor Nenshi-Nathoo, Executive Director, Clinical Ethics Service, Alberta Health Services
Jocelyn Downie, Professor of Law, Dalhousie University
Bashir Jiwani, Executive Director, Health Ethics And Diversity Services, Fraser Health Authority

Join us for free on Zoom:
https://albertahealthservices.zoom.us/j/92839352106?pwd=L0FyZmhqRkhHclpoamZVcXpneHg5Zz09

For more information about this and other National Health Ethics Week events, click here.
Please note that this presentation and panel discussion will be in English only.