Employee Recognition Week Continues with Long Service and Walk the Talk Awards Ceremony

Our Hospital’s celebration of Employee Recognition Week continued with the Long Service and Walk the Talk Awards ceremony on Tuesday, January 14th at the Victoria Inn Hotel and Convention Centre.

Congratulations to all of the award winners and nominees, and special thanks to staff who have dedicated their careers to providing care for patients and families in Northwestern Ontario.

Professional Staff Award

The recipient of the Professional Staff Award is selected by our Hospital’s Chief of Staff. It goes to an individual who demonstrates excellence in their practice while influencing change, promoting quality and safety in care, and is a leader of teaching principles to all students, practicing professionals and inter-professional teams.

This year’s Professional Staff Award goes to Dr. Ranjit Baboolal.

Dr. Baboolal goes above and beyond for all his patients, while exhibiting compassionate and supportive bedside manner. Dr. Baboolal receives calls for emergencies that require his expertise by other physicians when a very difficult situation occurs, and without hesitation, always offers his assistance and often takes the lead. In addition to his strong leadership skills, Dr. Baboolal is a great teacher and always challenges learners to think ahead while teaching them something new. He often engages with his interprofessional team to make sure everyone’s input and concerns are heard. Congratulations Dr. Baboolal.

Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Foundation Award

The Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Foundation Award goes to an individual or team that supports and helps to advance patient care initiatives. This year, the Foundation Award goes to the Cardiovascular Surgery Tour Team, comprised of Christine Erickson, Jolyne Fadyshen, Terri Gurney, Dawn Korol, Wayne Taylor and Arlene Thompson.

Over the past 2 years, these individuals have volunteered their time to provide monthly behind-the-scenes tours for donors and potential donors of our current and growing cardiovascular surgery program. Their expertise and passion for their jobs have inspired our donors to give generously allowing us to put the tools and equipment in their hands so that they can save limbs and lives.

Together, this tour team has helped the Health Sciences Foundation to raise millions for the Our Hearts at Home Cardiovascular Program to help make the vision a reality. Congratulations to this wonderful team. Your efforts have truly made a difference.

Respect Award

The Respect Award is presented to an individual or team that honours the uniqueness of each individual and their culture. The winner of this year’s Respect Award is Matthew Saj.

Matthew began his career with our Hospital as a Purchasing Buyer in 2009. He was promoted to a Purchasing Contract Procurement Specialist in 2016, and moved up to his current role as the Manager of the Supply Chain in September of last year. Matthew treats his colleagues with the utmost respect while listening, communicating, and caring about their concerns. He’s a man of action and always follows through. Most of all, Matt is known to provide great guidance and advise. He fosters a welcoming environment for his team, bringing out the best in his staff and recognizing them for their strengths, accomplishments and dedicated work. Congratulations Matthew on this well-deserved award.

Accountability Award

The Accountability Award is presented to an individual or team that is committed to social and fiscal accountability to internal and external stakeholders and for the delivery of services to our patients. The winner of this year’s award goes to Sandy Brooks.

Sandy was hired at the Port Arthur General Hospital as a housekeeping aide in 1994. In 1996, she was promoted to a Housekeeping Supervisor. In 2015 she accepted additional responsibility, when her department was in need, as an acting Laundry Linen Manager. At the same time, she started her current role as Laundry Supervisor. Sandy is a valuable asset to our Hospital, especially when it comes to her wealth of knowledge and many years of experience in these areas working with our housekeeping and laundry departments. These departments are constantly faced with large daily demands to support the needs of patient care, and their importance to our Hospital cannot be underestimated. Sandy uses her expertise to help resolve any problems or adversity without hesitation and always maintains a high level of professional conduct and respect while working with her colleagues. Congratulations Sandy on receiving this year’s Accountability Award.

Patients First Award

At our Hospital, Patient values guide all decisions and actions. The Patients First Award is presented to an individual or team that is respectful of and responsive to the needs and values of our patients, families and communities. The winner of this year’s Patients First Award is Paul Sabotig.

Paul began his career at our Hospital in 2013 as a graduate nurse. After his student placement, he moved to 1A as a Registered Nurse where he stayed until 2017. Paul is currently a member of our Emergency Department. Paul’s nomination for this award highlighted his professionalism and the genuine kindness that he shows when caring for his patients. He uses his lighthearted approach and sense of humour to help patients feel at ease, and always seems to respond to aggression with his trademark grace and calmness. Paul prioritizes the needs and dignity of his patients, ensuring that they receive the best care possible during their stay at our Hospital. Congratulations Paul on receiving this well-deserved award.

Excellence Award

The Excellence Award is presented to an individual or team that fosters an environment of innovation and learning to advance a quality patient experience. The winner of this year’s Excellence Award is Georgia Carr.

Georgia began working at our Hospital in 2006 as a Registered Technologist. In 2010, she transferred to a coordinator position within the Laboratory administrative department. Then, in 2014 she transferred to her current role as the Technical Manager of Laboratory. As we all know, the health care sector can be a challenging, unpredictable, and stressful field of work. In such a fast-paced, results-driven environment, individuals capable of coupling outstanding job performance with a positive attitude are important to have on your team. Kindness is often an undervalued quality; one that can distinguish excellence in the workplace. Georgia is known for her kindness, and no matter how dire or challenging an issue arises, in collaborating with her, she never fails to ensure you feel valued, appreciated, and respected as a colleague and human being. The positivity she demonstrates in her day-to-day interactions inspires those around her to strive for the same. Congratulations Georgia on receiving this award.

Volunteer Award

The Volunteer Award is presented to an individual who inspires other volunteers, observing rules of confidentiality, demonstrating a positive attitude, and is cheerful and friendly to patients, families, visitors, staff, physicians and other volunteers. This year’s Volunteer Award goes to Dennis Hildebrand.

Dennis has been an outstanding volunteer with Volunteer Services at our Hospital since 2016. He volunteers as a courier on Monday mornings. He also delivers newspapers, collects, cleans and transports wheelchairs and does a variety of light deliveries around the building. Throughout the winter, when our Hospital typically experiences a shortage of volunteers, Dennis is always the first to step up and take on additional volunteer duties during the week. On top of his work as a courier, Dennis often volunteers to help with the mock code drills at our Hospital. He takes this role very seriously and does an exceptional job to ensure the drill feels realistic. Dennis is a great resource and we are very lucky to have him as a Volunteer. Congratulations Dennis on your well-deserved award.

Board of Directors Award

The Board of Directors Award recognizes the outstanding contribution of a team who has performed its responsibilities in an exemplary manner under extraordinary circumstances or has demonstrated excellence in achievement, innovation or service. The Board Award is selected by the Hospital’s Board, from the nominations shortlisted by our Patient Family Advisors. The year’s Board of Directors Award goes to the Stores Department.

The Stores Department is responsible for ensuring the day-to-day availability of 3.5 million products used by the programs and services in our Hospital, with a total annual value exceeding 12 million dollars. Many of these products are vitally important to direct patient care. When a critical product such as IV solution is back ordered by the vendor, the Stories Department works with Clinical practice, Pharmacy and pertinent staff to find alternatives so that patient care is not affected. Recently, the Stores Department has worked tirelessly in order to change a large number of the Hospital’s special order items to stock items. This may sound like a simple task, but it’s far more complicated than it sounds. Each item had to be identified and changed in a computer system, labels had to be made for each item, items had to be located among thousands of items in the department, and new inventory levels were assigned and are continuously maintained. A whole separate stock room was also created to house the items. Thanks to this new system, the chances that a critical item will run out is very low. In the event that an item is running low, the department is able to find out in a reasonable time. This means that each patient who undergoes surgery receives the best product intended to provide the best outcome for surgery. This removes the worry for our health care providers, and allows our physicians, surgeons and nurses to focus on their patients. Congratulations to the Stores Department on receiving this year’s Board of Directors Award.

President’s Award

The President’s Award of Excellence recognizes staff members who inspire other employees to act in a positive and courteous manner towards patients, families, volunteers and coworkers. The recipients must demonstrate a commitment to patient care, the team and the Hospital, act as a mentor for new employees, support and advance the strategic directions, demonstrate excellence in contributing to the mission, vision, and values, and act as an ambassador of our Hospital. The President’s Award is selected by the President and CEO, from the nominations shortlisted by our Patient Family Advisors.

This year’s President’s Award of Excellence goes to two very deserving individuals: Tyler Van Ramshorst and Larry Bertoldo.

Tyler began his career with our Hospital 10 years ago, when he arrived as a new Nurse working in the Emergency Department in the spring of 2009. Tyler has been a mainstay in the Emergency Department throughout his tenure here, working as a Nurse, then as a Charge Nurse, followed by his time as a Coordinator. Since July 2018, he has been the Manager in the Emergency Department. Tyler is well known among many in our Hospital for displaying a calm and confident demeanor (especially during challenging situations) and for his exemplary leadership skills. Tyler has devoted his career to caring for patients and families in a challenging and often chaotic work environment. He is a highly respected leader among his peers, co-workers, physicians and staff because he ‘walks the talk’ by doing things such as voluntarily spending an entire night shift helping out in the “pit” when the ED is short staffed, and he is the embodiment of going above and beyond for his patients and his colleagues. He often brings new ideas to the table, and his dedication and positivity have pulled the Emergency Department team together after a recent summer filled with challenges. Tyler continuously shows staff what it means to be supported; whether it is staying late to help out, debriefing after a code or managing high patient volume and bed shortages. Tyler’s leadership, innovation and dedication has shaped the Emergency Department staff into the strong team they are today.

Larry has worked in health care for more than 26 years, beginning his career as a Pharmacist in 1993 at the McKellar site. In 2011, he was promoted to Pharmacy Clinical Lead at our Hospital. Larry is viewed by many of his colleagues as an exceptional pharmacist whose knowledge and work ethic exceed expectations. He strives to provide the best care for every patient he is in contact with. Larry is passionate about his profession as a pharmacist and continues to move the practice of pharmacy forward within our Hospital. Much like his fellow President’s Award winner tonight, Larry always puts patients first and goes above and beyond in his role, all while maintaining a professional, cool and calm demeanor, even in stressful situations. His peers view him as an extremely valuable and knowledgeable resource. Larry often comes in early and stays late and makes himself available for after-hours support even when he isn’t on call. He’s also the go-to person for anything related to medication administration and provides moral support to staff in complex and unfamiliar cases.

Congratulations to Tyler and Larry for receiving this year’s President’s Award.