Celebrating Volunteers at TADH
Last year, 115 volunteers donated over 2,570 hours to help patients, families and visitors at the hospital. They were thanked at an event, on April 29, to mark Volunteer Week.
Timmins, ON – This Mental Health Week (May 5 to 11) know that help is just a call away. If you or someone you know are feeling overwhelmed and experiencing a mental health crisis, consider calling the Timmins and District Hospital (TADH) Crisis Line at 705-264-3003 or 1-888-340-3003.
The TADH Crisis Team Staff, which includes registered nurses and social workers, help people (and those who support them) find solutions to the issues they are facing, provide brief counselling, and referral to programs, agencies and health providers who can help them.
“For me, Mental Health Week is about increasing awareness of services available, so people know where to turn to for help,” said Morgan Ellerton, Unit Manager of TADH Mental Health Services including the Crisis team.
Operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week the Crisis Line took a lot more calls in 2024 – responding to 2,149 altogether. In contrast, for 2023 it received 1,546 calls. Despite the increase in calls of about 39 per cent last year, it’s not the highest number it has ever received. Since tracking statistics began more than a decade ago, the most received calls occurred in 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic, with 3,319 calls.
People in crisis call for all sorts of reasons including feelings of hopelessness and being overwhelmed. Recently, the team members received training on supporting victims of human trafficking from Timmins Area Women in Crisis.
TADH’s Crisis team members also provide Crisis Services in the Emergency Department, staff a Mobile Crisis unit based at the Timmins police station, and beginning last August provide Ontario Telemedicine Network Crisis Services to the Matheson-Iroquois Falls-Cochrane group of hospitals during the weekday.
Since 2019, Mobile Crisis team members have provided mental health training to police officers, and joined them on mental health related calls, which has helped to reduce the rate of apprehensions of people experiencing mental illness.
“The strength of our Crisis team includes the partnerships and connections it has made and continues to make in community to help people in need of mental health services,” said TADH President and CEO Kate Fyfe.
Our commitment: TADH operates within the traditional lands of the Mattagami First Nation, located in Treaty 9 territory. Our team is committed to building strong, lasting relationships with Indigenous communities as we acknowledge the diversity, history and heritage of Indigenous Peoples in the North.
Photo Caption: Crisis team members Kaytlin Ketchabaw, David Burtch and Rebecca Ann Robitaille are here to help.
For more information contact TADH’s Communications Team: 705-267-2131 Ext. 2409 or communications@tadh.com
Last year, 115 volunteers donated over 2,570 hours to help patients, families and visitors at the hospital. They were thanked at an event, on April 29, to mark Volunteer Week.
The theme of this year’s Patient Experience Week (April 28-May 2) is celebrating the people who make a positive impact.
On, April 19, it’s time to give your liver some love, knowing that healthy changes and choices made today can reverse years of damage and cut liver disease risk by
The role of Nurse Practitioners (NPs) is expanding at our hospital– helping to enhance the patient experience and meet the growing demands for complex patient care.
