Shared on behalf of on behalf of Dr. Rhonda Crocker Ellacott, President & CEO, TBRHSC and CEO, TBRHRI

Hello, Boozhou, Bonjour.

I’d like to begin this month by stating how incredibly wonderful it has been to walk around our Hospital campus and see your smiling faces that have been behind masks for three years! With spring here and the weather warming, the timing couldn’t be better.

As we continue to see lower rates of COVID-19 in our community, we were happy to move forward with Phase 3 of our transition out of pandemic response activities. I can appreciate this may cause anxiety for some people but appreciate this was done under the best specialist advice and that TBRHSC was one of the last hospitals in Ontario to remove these restrictions. A number of precautions are still in place that you can read about here in case you missed the information shared.

It has been a long three years for all of you including many months where restrictions remained in place inside the Hospital while the community moved on to a sense of normalcy. I want to thank you for your patience, endurance and professionalism during this time.

In other news, it has been a busy month with a lot of activity on site and in the community. There were many days and weeks for recognizing our staff, professional staff, learners and volunteers. All are crucial to our vision of Exceptional care for every patient, every time and I was glad to connect with many of you through the month and share in the festivities.

As well, we had the Foundation Reception for donors and visits from our Federal Minister of Health and the Provincial Solicitor General. Each visit enabled our teams to demonstrate our many challenges and priorities, yet what is top of mind is the profile on program innovations, accomplishments, and building on our successes. The professionalism and commitment of our teams, dedication to quality and caring, and support for going above and beyond was palpable. Together we will continue to advance discussions, address priorities, and work to address the unique needs and the differences of our population across Northwestern Ontario. In the meantime, please know that your work is being noticed, your commitment is appreciated, and your expertise is what will drive us to be better. Looking forward, I believe it is time to reset our narrative…how we are perceived.

The pandemic was about changing fast, reacting to difficult situations, and simply being there for our communities. We were drinking from the firehose, as they say, and you all did an amazing job day in and day out to get us through it. However, I believe it is time to return to talking about what makes us excellent as a regional Hospital.

Like all hospitals in Ontario, health human resources are a significant challenge and we are not immune to this. However, we have opportunity and TBRHSC is positioned to further establish itself as a place of excellence and attract top talent as we have been doing. We have a newer, more modern facility, a Health Research Institute, a medical school and a community that offers an affordable place to work and raise a family. The reality is we have hired more than 550 people in the past year and many of those had multiple offers yet made Thunder Bay their destination of choice. This is something solid to build upon.

With that in mind, we are indeed building our team to support both our current staff and new recruits. Many of us have or will be attending graduations over the coming weeks and for many of these graduates their schooling over the last few years has been different due to COVID-19. This year’s ceremonies will be a refreshing change compared to the last few years and I hope you have opportunity to reflect on your own graduations, and the excitement that surrounds the event.

As we welcome many new graduates to our Hospital and Health Research Institute, I encourage you to connect with them and provide them a sense of belonging and mentorship. I think we can all learn from each other no matter where we are in our careers. It is also a good opportunity to gain a better understanding on what we need to change or do better to attract more graduates. 

I look forward to seeing everyone next month at the All Staff Appreciation BBQ on June 20th. Further details will be provided to you soon. Have a fantastic month!

As always, please feel free to reach out to me if you have comments on this blog or connect with me for any other matter. You can reach me at: rhonda.ellacott@tbh.net.