Board Chair Message - March 2009

March 31st marks the end of our corporate fiscal year. Our numbers look good, and we trust that our recently signed Hospital Service Accountability Agreement with the Local Health Integration Network will enable us to continue to deliver world-class acute care.

This is an administratively busy time of the year because it is during this phase of reporting that we cast our budget projections for the next two years. As you might expect, forecasting patient needs and related healthcare costs is a complex undertaking.

Our Emergency Department (ED) is a good example of this as we try to assess the impact of external forces beyond our control. Emergency Department pressures must be clearly understood as they drive patient care issues deeply into TBRHSC.

So, how are we doing in the ED? Recent “wait-time” data revealed that TBRHSC has the busiest Emergency Department in all of Ontario. We were also informed that we perform better than all other provincial Emergency Departments on over 90% of visits, including complex conditions. We are proud to report that we continue to exceed required standards of performance. Congratulations to our teams of healthcare workers. You do amazing work! As evidence, patients and families leave many messages of gratitude.

On another matter, just a couple of weeks ago, we celebrated our 5th Anniversary at our new site. So much has been accomplished since our relocation. We should not be surprised that we have gone far beyond what was originally envisioned, because we believed that we could do great things. To make the point, a hospital consultant with impressive healthcare clients from all over North America recently visited TBRHSC for the first time. He was effuse with his comments regarding our facility. He wondered if people living here understand the magnitude of our accomplishment to have such an incredible healthcare facility with so many great services. We have only been here five years, and the future looks bright.

As an example of our continuing quest to provide great service, the Cardiology Team celebrated the official reception of funding for the second Catheterization Lab. Last fall Angioplasty service began at TBRHSC and already hundreds of people have had their lives changed and health restored with procedures performed in the single Lab environment. Hopefully, within the year, we will have the second Lab completed, and additional Angioplasters hired to attend to the growing patient need in Northwestern Ontario.

One other note, I have seen some of the plans for the new Patient and Family Centred Care Model. When implemented, the changes will bring impressive advances to the way we inclusively care for people. Most medical models of care are not as comprehensive as they could be. We believe this is “leading edge” thinking and it matters a lot that we do it right. Congratulations to all the teams of healthcare professionals who are committing themselves to making this another one of our corporate strengths.

Thanks to our Physicians, Staff, Volunteers, and healthcare enablers in our community and region for making this last year a highly successful one at TBRHSC.

Thank you for your support.

Ingrid Parkes, Chair
Board of Directors

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