Board Chair Message - March 2008

March 31st marks the end of the fiscal year for Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre. The financial planning process for an Academic Health Sciences Centre of our magnitude is complicated. Even though our focus is on caring for people, it is also about managing the resources that are entrusted to us so that we have the right services available to care for our patients. It takes advanced technology and it takes skilled people to make this work for everyone. Members of the Board of Directors are committed to providing resources for our healing environment that ensures care is offered as seamlessly as possible.

As I review our activities for this last year, it is worth noting how much of our Strategic Plan 2010 has been accomplished. It was a major achievement to be designated as an Academic Health Sciences Centre. It was a time of great celebration when we introduced Angioplasty service to the residents of Northwestern Ontario and, a couple of days after the first procedures, introduced the ecstatic patients who received the procedure. As well, all levels of government recognized our public and private research status and generously granted millions of dollars to enhance the activities of the world-class Thunder Bay Regional Research Centre. In addition, we began preparations to receive our first students from the graduating class of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine. These, and numerous other initiatives, confirm the progress TBRHSC and its healthcare partners are making.

As the flu season takes its toll on the people we serve, I want to congratulate our Infection Control Teams for their excellent work during our recent Enteric Outbreaks. Even though we were in a constant state of Code Gridlock, the healthcare teams came together and worked out strategies to isolate the carriers. During these times, the need to protect patients from visitors was publicly embraced, and in a few days, things were back to normal. I want to commend our people for developing flexible plans that allowed most surgeries to go ahead even though the facility was overflowing with patients. It is another example of how our healthcare professionals demonstrate their competencies by assisting each patient along their personal pathway of care. Well done, everyone!

In conclusion, I want to commend all those people from TBRHSC, who collectively received numerous awards for our “leading edge” programs of care. In particular, I want to state again how we are being recognized for our outstanding leadership. Our Board of Directors is proud to acknowledge that this year, our President and CEO, Ron Saddington, was named as the first recipient of a global award for leading a world-class healthcare facility.

It has been a great year. Thanks, everyone, for your continued support.

Thank you for your support.

Ron Nelson, Chair
Board of Directors

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