December 14, 2007

Message from: Ron Nelson, Chair, Board of Directors, Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre

TBRHSC is making good progress on another funding agreement with the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care that will allow us to prepare our site for “resident” students arriving from the Northern Ontario Medical School (NOSM). Congratulations to everyone involved in making this happen. The agreement will be a milestone achievement for us as we take our position among other elite Academic Teaching hospitals in the province. Renovations will enable us to receive the students, professors, and support workers next spring. It is exciting to think that the graduating class of NOSM will be honing their skills and working with preceptor physicians at the bedsides of our patients.

As you can imagine, we want to maximize our opportunities with these students to ensure they realize that the services of our state-of-the-art facility and specialists are available to assist with patient care no matter where the physician is located in Northwestern Ontario. The celebration of the first graduating class is going to give us all a great sense of accomplishment. We will have played a significant role in their success. We trust that these new physicians will stay to look after the citizens of Thunder Bay and Northwestern Ontario.

One more budget consideration: we know that negotiations are underway at the provincial level with various unions and governing bodies. The high expectations of the unions do not bode well for a quiet round of negotiations with the Ministry of Health. The outcomes are binding on hospitals and without corresponding funding that matches the agreement(s), there will be difficult decisions made around which services remain and which will be dropped in order for hospitals to keep a balanced budget. There will be more discussion around this in the coming months.

There is more good news regarding the Angioplasty service that we recently began. Another round of patients received their successful treatment and left TBRHSC with a different set of expectations about life, than when they came in. Angioplasty is minimally invasive and consistently maximizes a patient’s outcomes for a restored, vigorous lifestyle. Angioplasty is another example of great patient care at TBRHSC. As we make service changes, we will often be talking about our research arm, Thunder Bay Regional Research Institute. The phrase, “bench to bedside and beyond” will often be heard. Our Molecular Research in Cardiac, Cancer and Neurosciences is expected to directly impact patient care strategies. It is exciting to be on the forefront of medical discovery.

The holiday season is upon us. For many of us, it will be a time of getting together with our family and friends. For others who may unexpectedly need our care, I want to thank all our physicians, staff and volunteers, committed to working through the holidays to care for patients. I recognize that our continuing challenge with “Code Gridlock” impacts everyone greatly.

On behalf of the Board of Directors, I wish you the best of the holiday season.

Ron Nelson, Chair
Board of Directors