Department Head Blog

| 28 January 2021

Inside “The Green Room”

January 2021 marks the start of the second year of The DFM Monitor and my Green Room blog.

This year has seen unprecedented challenges, with the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic and all of the many personal and professional consequences for all of us here at the Department of Family Medicine; for our communities; and for relatives, friends, and colleagues around the world.

Ontario is well into its second provincewide lockdown, and after weeks of steadily increasing cases, hospitalizations, and deaths, the province is finally showing some positive signs in the past week, with cases and now, more recently, hospitalizations starting to decline. Hope for a better summer and fall is also on the horizon, with the rollout of the Pfizer-BNT and Moderna mRNA vaccines and the prospect of others like the Oxford/AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson/Jansen fridge stable viral vector vaccines joining them in the near future.

Short-term challenges like the instability in the initial supply of vaccines and questions about prioritization have generated stress and uncertainty among many in both the health-care community and the general public. The tragic and significant impact of COVID-19 in hard hit, often vulnerable, populations like those in long-term care and people with unstable housing or in higher-risk essential occupations, and concerns about new and more rapidly spreading variants make this anxiety palpable and understandable. Many of us are facing increased levels of stress — stress related to disruptions of home life as schools open and close to in-person learning; financial hardships for many whose livelihoods have been impacted by shutdowns; the additional burdens related to supporting our patients, learners, and peers whose mental health has been adversely impacted by the pandemic; and, for those in areas hardest hit, bearing witness to the impact on those COVID-19 has infected and the fear of becoming ill or bringing COVID-19 home to their families.

Now, more than ever, Priority 4 from our strategic plan is an essential focus for us here at DFM: ”Queen’s DFM will be recognized for being a workplace of choice at Queen’s University. The department will work to create an environment that cultivates and supports all members, where all members feel respected, valued, and supported in their roles and for their contributions, and where the health and well-being of all members is paramount. We will also ensure expectations and goals are reinforced through shared accountability, leadership, teamwork, and support.”

We are committed to fostering resilience and supporting staff, learners, and faculty through this difficult time and into a more hopeful future.

I’d like to particularly thank our wellness leads and committees for their efforts in finding ways for us to connect and support each other remotely. We will be undertaking additional activities across the department over the coming weeks and we would love to hear how we can help you and how you would like to connect. (And don’t miss Queen’s HR’s “Thrive Boost” Feb. 8-12.)

Finally, I’d just like to say thank you once again for persevering through all of this. Dean Philpott and others have recently written about COVID-19 as a “call to service,” a call that I see all of you answering in your own settings and roles. Your dedication and commitment to providing the best clinical care to our patients and education to our learners, and maintaining research to keep advancing knowledge despite the limitations we have faced this year is amazing, and is what makes my job as department head so rewarding. Every day I am reminded that even under these circumstances, “We are Family Medicine. For Learners. For Patients. For Communities.”

Dr. Michael Green

Department Head Blog

Publish Date

Thu, 01/28/2021 - 08:24

Department Head Blog

Department Head Blog

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