Happy New Year everyone!

As I reflect on the year that has passed and the one ahead of us I came across a quote - “Tough times don’t last…Tough teams do.” I think it sums up 2020 well as our tough teams in the DoM have not only risen above all the challenges of 2020 but also managed to grow and find many new opportunities.

Welcome to our first Newsletter of 2021!

There is much to be hopeful for. Our COVID epidemiology continues to be favorable because of all the hard work that we have been doing. Thanks to so many of our department members for the continued planning and a particular shout out to our Division of Infectious Diseases for supporting the lab, clinical planning and surveillance (Lisa Barrett and the pop-up rapid assessment clinic teams)! Nova Scotia Health and the Department of Health and Wellness have started to roll out our vaccine program and phase zero (the initial roll out) is almost complete. I want to thank Shelly McNeil (Division of Infectious Diseases), the Vaccine Task Force and the Province for the tremendous work they have put into the logistics planning of this role out. All of the health care workers identified as highest priority in phase zero will have completed their vaccinations by the end of January. About 140,000 doses are expected in the province by the end of March for the first phase of a three-phase immunization plan, and another million doses are expected to be delivered between April and June. We are now entering phase one of a three phase plan. Many of our department members have already received vaccine in phase zero and phase one will see most of our department members vaccinated by April, with many occurring in January and February. Within each phase the task force will continue to prioritize sub groups of health care workers and people at highest risk to help facilitate the quickest and most effective use of the vaccine. Dr. Boutilier shared an excellent outline of the three-phase rollout in her provincial physician update this week.

Our Equity, Diversity and Inclusion working group will have its first meeting in January and our wellness champions are developing some opportunities with Dalhousie and other partners. I am excited to see what new learnings and opportunities these activities will bring to our department.

We will soon release our annual report, which reflects on the many accomplishments we have made together as a department and with our stakeholders in the 2019-2020 year.

I want to take this opportunity to thank Paula Bond for her amazing work as VP Operations for the Central Zone. She has been a great support to our department and all of Central Zone during her over 10 years with Nova Scotia Health and we will miss her greatly in this role. I am excited that we will be able to continue to collaborate with her, in advancing patient care and research, as she embarks on her new role as Associate Deputy Minister Clinical at the Department of Health and Wellness in February.

Enjoy the newsletter and don’t hesitate to contact us with stories and items for next month.

Keep well,

Christine

Christine Short, MD, FRCP(C), FACP