New Chair, Bright Future for the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Foundation
Published Tuesday, October 1, 2024
Message from Dr. Stephen Adams
Chair, Board of Directors, Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Foundation
Hello, everybody. I'm Dr. Stephen (Steve) Adams, a dentist and life-long resident of Thunder Bay. I've been on the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Foundation Board of Directors for over 10 years now and have played an active role including on the Exceptional Cancer Care Campaign and the Our Hearts at Home Cardiovascular Surgery Campaign cabinet. It was an honour to be nominated and elected as the Board's new Chair earlier this month.
I've worked closely with the two previous Board Chairs, Parker Jones and Kyle Shaen, for many years and plan to carry on their incredible legacy. They've already made it easy for me with the great work they've done, especially during the pandemic. Fundraising is so personal and so one-on-one – we really did get the rug taken out from under us. They both set the Board up well to keep functioning during social restrictions, ensuring we were still able to raise the funds needed to improve patient care at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre.
Of course, the Thunder Bay 50/50 Draw was a turning point. Its success is everyone's success, because we are able to Do More, Faster. One of the most difficult parts of sitting on the Foundation Board is to review grant requests. Don't get me wrong – it's a great feeling to help the Hospital get the equipment they need, from large purchase items like MRIs to relatively small items like infant ventilators that made a big difference. On the other hand, saying no to some grant requests because we don't have the funds available is not a great feeling at all. Thanks to the support of our donors and everyone who purchases 50/50 tickets, we can say "Yes" more and more. That means good things for our patients.
I'll get to know more of you better in the near future, I'm sure. I'll be saying Grace at the Tbaytel Luncheon of Hope on October 4 at the Superior Inn. It will be my first time back in a few years. It's always a great event though, full of laughs and full of tears. Feel free to come up and say hi – I'd love to talk to you.
I'm looking forward to my time as Chair. The Foundation is in the best position it's ever been to help the Hospital get the funding it needs for equipment, program, and research. The real heroes though are you, our generous donors. You are the people who are saving lives and making a difference by funding more healthcare services for Thunder Bay and Northwestern Ontario. Closer-to-home care is so important in a region like ours where distance to the next hospital is measured in hours, not minutes. Thanks to you, we're becoming more and more self-reliant every day.
- Dr. Stephen Adams