Message to the Community from Eric Vandewall, President & CEO - May 13, 2021

This week is National Nursing Week, where across the country nurses are being honoured and recognized for the lifesaving work they undertake every day. This year’s theme for National Nursing Week is We Answer the Call. I cannot think of a better way to describe how our nurses have all worked over the last 365 days, providing compassionate and exemplary care and responding to the needs of our community. Day in and day out, in the face of adversity, our nurses have met the challenges of the COVID-19 Pandemic and have risen to the occasion in the interest of caring for patients. Our nurses have demonstrated resilience and dedication to their profession – our nurses always answer the call.

One of our ICU nurses, Lori Paton, was recently featured in a heartwarming story about how she goes above and beyond in her care of patients. You can see her story here: Burlington ICU nurse continues to answer the call to action.

I am grateful every day for our nursing teams and I am very appreciative of the extraordinary contribution our nurses have made to caring for patients from across the region, and from the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).

On behalf of the Joseph Brant Hospital and the community, I would like to thank our nurses for the work they do each and every day. I am incredibly proud of our nurses – they are our healthcare heroes.

I continue to have cautious optimism about the current COVID-19 situation, as we witness decreasing regional infection rates and an increase in COVID-19 vaccinations. In terms of our hospital’s capacity, today JBH is at 83% capacity. We are currently caring for 10 patients with confirmed COVID-19 as well as 20 under investigation and 14 resolved cases – 7 of our confirmed COVID-19 patients are in Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

I am pleased to report that since March 12, the Halton Region COVID-19 Vaccination Clinic at Joseph Brant Hospital has administered over 20,000 vaccine doses to our community members.

Protecting the public while continuing to practice safe physical distancing, lockdown, and public health measures is what will push us through to the other side of this pandemic.

Please continue to look after each other. We will get through this third wave together. Stay safe, and thank you for your unwavering support of your community hospital.