Celebrating Pandemic Donations
Published Friday, May 22, 2020
Quarantined for Birthdays; Local Families Donate Funds for PPE
Pictured are (L-R): Ramneek, Harbinder, Harleen, Harnoor and Ajitpartap
Many people are finding themselves at home and unable to celebrate their birthdays with friends and loved ones. For Harnoor Singh, his 13th birthday happened to be in March, just as the province was beginning to shut down, and no party could take place.
“Harnoor is very well connected with his extended family and with friends on sports teams. It’s been hard to be apart,” said his father, Harbinder Singh.
However, Harnoor didn’t want his birthday to go by without any celebration and his cousin Harleen, who was also celebrating a birthday in quarantine, wanted to help as well. With the help of family they both decided to raise funds to purchase Personal Protective Equipment for front-line workers at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre.
With the support of family, friends and the Thunder Bay Sikh community, including the Sikh Motorcycle Club of Ontario, together they raised $1,100!
“April also happens to be Sikh Heritage Month in Ontario, and we celebrate the festival of Vaisakhi,” said Harbinder. “Making this donation helped us feel happy even though we’re not gathering with the rest of the Sikh community right now. We’re proud to help during this trying time.”
Harbinder concluded, “We’re hoping this will inspire other families to use this opportunity to help our Hospital and the people working there.”
Impala Canada Donates $25,000
Impala Canada, through its Lac-Des-Îles Mine, just north of Thunder Bay, recently made a very generous donation.
“Courageous frontline health care providers are putting their lives on the line every day to care for others. They deserve our support and we are answering the call with a $25,000 gift to the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Foundation’s COVID-19 Response Fund. From our team to your team, our heartfelt thanks. We all remain in this together,” said Bryan Wilson, General Manager, Lac des Iles Mine.
Many who work at the mine hail from Thunder Bay and area, so making the donation to the COVID-19 Response Fund was an important and easy decision for Impala Canada.
Glenn Craig, President and CEO, Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Foundation was jubilant. “A huge thank you to the Impala Canada team! Every day seems to bring a new challenge but also heart-warming demonstrations of people pulling together to get through this pandemic.”
Virtual Visitation
It was early in the pandemic when the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre restricted visitors to the Hospital. Local company, Strasser & Lang, saw an opportunity to do something to help patients and families continue to communicate
Knowing many patients wouldn’t have personal access to a device that allowed them to video chat with family and friends, the company, with permission from the IT department at the Hospital, purchased and donated 7 iPads to be used for virtual visitation. The iPads recently arrived and have been used as planned; that is to help loved ones connect from afar
Strasser and Lang are proud join multiple other businesses and individuals in Thunder Bay who have so generously donated personal protective equipment, food and other supplies to the Health Sciences Centre.
Sewer’s Skills Provide Support
Typically, you can find Iris Maxwell sewing a quilt. However, her skills recently shifted gears to sewing much-needed scrub caps and headbands for healthcare professionals.
“It all began when my niece, who’s a Nurse Practitioner, was looking for a scrub cap and couldn’t find one,” said Iris. “So I offered to make her one.”
As soon as word got out, Iris was flooded with requests and has now made close to 200 caps!
“Friends and family helped me figure out how to get the caps into various Units in the Hospital like 3A, 3B, 2A, the Cancer Clinic and Cancer Clinic Pharmacy,” she said.
“Along with the caps, I’ve also been making button headbands, also at the request of another friend who’s a Registered Nurse. I started with making 50. They’ve been so well-received that I made another 82,” she laughed.
Iris provided all the material herself and called on a few friends to help her when she was running out of supplies, like buttons. “The need for the caps and headbands has slowed down a bit now,” she said, “so I’ve recently started making cloth masks as part of the group – Masks for Thunder Bay Health Care Workers.”
For her part, Iris said that everything really came together so naturally. “I like to sew, and now that I’m retired from teaching, this was an easy way for me to contribute to our community’s efforts in this pandemic.”
Lunch for Frontline Staff
"We sent box lunches to Front Line workers at the hospital on Monday and to the EMS unit on Wednesday of last week. These beautiful lunches were made by Bay Village Coffee.
It was our pleasure in contributing to thank all the FrontLine workers who are taking such good care of us during this time.
Take care!!" - Nadin Contracting
Tech Donation Keeps Families in Touch
With visitor restrictions in place at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre due to COVID-19, it’s made staying in touch more difficult for patients and their families.
It’s a situation Michael Comuzzi recognized very early on, and along with his wife, Suzanne, he decided they wanted to help. “It started when I was watching an exchange on Facebook,” said Michael. “It made me think of how difficult it would be to be a patient at the Hospital and not be able to have visitors.
"When my mother was in Hospital earlier this year, my sisters and I would take turns visiting. I can’t imagine not having that ability and I realized that the technology we have available could be used to provide the chance for people to connect.”
Michael spoke with the IT department and, with their permission, sourced 40 iPads, which were donated to the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre and St. Joseph's Care Group.
“We’re delighted we could unite patients and their families,” he said.
Sweet Treat for Staff
Employees at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre recently got a sweet surprise thanks to Rocky Mtn Chocolate - Thunder Bay, locally owned and operated by Rob Kowalchuk and Sam Taw.
Approximately $7,500 of delicious chocolate was delivered to Flavours Cafeteria for Health Sciences Centre employees to enjoy. “With all the pressures of their jobs, I know Easter took a back seat to what is going on. We wanted to support the front-line staff and make sure they still had a 'normal' way to celebrate the Easter holiday,” said Rob. We just want to say a big thank you and stay safe.
The Thunder Bay store was opened in Intercity Shopping Centre in 2016 with generous support from the community. All products are handmade, many of which you can see being made right on site. “Both Sam and I are chocolatiers and take great pride in what we make,” said Rob. “We’re also proud to be part of a company that operates coast-to-coast.”
Altogether, Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory donated over $500,000 of Easter merchandise across Canada.
Thank you Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and Rob and Sam for this delectable donation!
Easter Donations
We'd like to give a big 'thank you' to Joe Bruno at Party City for generously donating Easter treats for our Hospital staff.
Volunteers at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre are making Easter a bit brighter for our patients, especially since they won't be able to welcome visitors during the #COVID19 pandemic. Volunteers have crafted some adorable felt bunnies and Easter eggs to help decorate the patient food trays. They've also wrapped their utensils in pastel colours and added some festive decor to the carts that are used to deliver the food trays. Thank you to our wonderful volunteers for keeping patients in mind!
See even more donation Thank Yous on our Facebook page!
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