Hello, Boozhou, Bonjour,

This fall has been a very busy one. So, let me just jump right into this month’s blog by thanking everyone involved in the Sharing and Caring Together events that took place this past week. The events were well attended and provided us many reflections on our Patient and Family Centred Care (PFCC) philosophy that we have grown throughout the years and the many ways we have advanced and extended the program and our ongoing commitment to PFCC.

To further celebrate and emphasize our philosophy, this year the Foundation’s Family CARE Grants submissions coincided with the PFCC events. I was impressed and motivated when hearing about the numerous submissions that described innovative approaches to improving care and making it a better experience for patients and families.

The number of applications truly demonstrates that each and every one of us is keenly aware and committed to the importance of putting patients and families at the centre of our work. Thank you all for your ideas and your passion – no doubt the review committee will have their work cut out for them when making the decisions about the grants. 

This month it was a pleasure to have many of you involved as we welcomed Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones to our Hospital. Throughout the Minister’s visit, we toured various areas of the Hospital and provided an overview on areas where more support is needed. Overall, the visit provided us the opportunity to showcase our Hospital and at the same time enlighten the Minister on our uniqueness, our innovations and our challenges in providing health care in Northwestern Ontario. 

Huge kudos to everyone involved as Ontario Health (Trillium Gift of Life Network [TGLN]) presented our Hospital this month with an achievement award for its dedication to open communication about organ and tissue donation. Our Hospital has been honoured with the Provincial Eligible Approach Rate Award, an award presented to hospitals who exceeded TGLN’s target of 90 per cent in having organ and tissue donation discussions with eligible patients and families. This is the first year that our Hospital has received this award, reaching an eligible approach rate of 97 percent. Great work!

Given the stress and pace of your everyday jobs, I would like to take a moment to talk about self-care as it relates to the risks of stroke. World Stroke Day was this past weekend (October 29). It’s a day to raise awareness of the serious nature and high rates of stroke, talk about prevention and treatment and ensure better care and support for survivors.

One in four of us will have a stroke in our lifetime. Ninety percent of those strokes could be prevented by addressing a small number of risk factors including high blood pressure (hypertension), irregular heartbeat (atrial fibrillation), smoking, diet and exercise. If you want to learn more, visit https://bit.ly/WSD-Campaign-2023. For more information about stroke care in our region, visit www.nwostroke.ca.

As you know, earlier this month, we launched our internal flu campaign as an important step in protecting patients, families, ourselves and our loved ones. There are many ways you can get the flu shot throughout our city, including right here in our Hospital’s flu clinics and roaming carts. I encourage you all to roll up your sleeves and get that added layer of protection.

Speaking of protection, please continue to be vigilant with wearing masks in designated clinical areas and as required throughout the Hospital. As well, adhering to good hand hygiene practices are a must and support a healthier workplace while protecting more than just ourselves. I can’t stress that enough and appreciate all those who continue to practice proper hand washing technique and masking protocols. Let’s keep it going as we have entered respiratory illness season. 

Looking ahead now, please take note that next month we are launching our 2023 Employee and Professional Staff Engagement Survey. You will start to hear more about this in the coming weeks. We hope you will take part in this important activity that will allow us to get a better understanding about your work preferences and ideas that will contribute to making our Hospital and Health Research Institute community the best place to work, grow and thrive.

Finally, this month we celebrated Thanksgiving, a time to reflect and appreciate all the good we have. In the spirit of gratitude, please know that I am grateful for all the work you and your teams do and the collective efforts that have an end result of providing exceptional care to our patients in the communities we serve. Thank you for your ongoing professionalism, compassion and endurance.

I appreciate you reading these blogs and invite you to share any topics you would like included in upcoming blogs. As always, I can be reached at Rhonda.Ellacott@tbh.net for any questions about this content or any other matter.