Hi everyone,

It is hard to believe the summer months have flown by and we are settling into our fall work flow. I hope everyone found some time away from work to recharge and enjoy family and friends. With most of us fully vaccinated we enjoyed a little bit more freedom of movement this year. Let’s continue to model all the practices that have kept our numbers low in Nova Scotia, so we can help avoid a large 4^th wave.

I want to again welcome all of our new learners and hope you find the Department a warm and welcoming place to learn.

We have experienced great change this week with the swearing in of our new Government and significant changes at the highest levels of our health care leadership. Change can be stressful, however, if we approach this change together with open dialogue, we will successfully navigate it while harnessing the opportunities to be active in advancing our goals in optimizing patient care and achieving our academic mandates.

Amidst this change, I want to extend a huge thank you to Dr. Brendan Carr for his support of the Department in our clinical and academic work during his time as CEO, as well as his leadership throughout the COVID Pandemic.

Once again, we have lots to celebrate and we have noted some recent departmental awards below. A particular shout out to Dr. Tommy Brothers and Dr. Ashley Miller on their CMA awards. Both of these awards were initiated through our new awards and recognition group and are the first CMA awards our Department since 2015 when Dr. Paul Charlebois won the John McCrae Memorial Medal. This shows the value of being intentional to ensure our members get recognized for the great work they are doing.

In celebrating our department members and building our culture of belonging it is important for us to get to know who we are beyond the workplace. We are introducing a new feature in our newsletter titled “Did You Know?”. The purpose of this feature is to celebrate what our members do when they are not at work. It takes many unique individuals to make up a great Department and we really want to share those special stories with everyone. In addition to being an excellent physician, our first featured department member is also a writer and has recently published a children’s book. Read her story below. If you have a story you would like us to feature in Did You Know?, please contact Anne Veinotte (anne.veinotte@nshealth.ca).

On September 30, 2021, we will celebrate the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. We are not yet sure if our province will recognize this as a work holiday or a day of recognition on which we continue to work. Either way, this will be an important day for all Department Members to reflect on our past so we can make a better and more inclusive future for all Canadians. We can be leaders in this and other aspects of equity, diversity, inclusion, anti-oppression and anti-colonialism if we take the opportunity to recognize and commemorate our history. The official symbol of September 30 is to wear orange to raise awareness of the tragic legacy of residential schools, and to honour the thousands of survivors. To encourage Department members to wear orange, we are having an orange t-shirt giveaway. We have 170 t-shirts in a variety of sizes (men’s small to extra-large) to give to department members. If you would like to put your name in for a shirt, follow the link to submit your name, email and shirt size. We will complete the draw on September 22^nd and get in touch with winners as to how they can get their shirts.

I hope you enjoy all the content of this newsletter. Don’t forget to send your story ideas to us at anne.veinotte@nshealth.ca.

Keep well,

Christine

Christine Short, MD, FRCP(C), FACP

This fall, the DoM is undergoing our 5 year Departmental Review with the Faculty of Medicine and Nova Scotia Health.

As part of the process, the Department will submit a package of pre-survey documents and complete a pre-survey self study.

The Review will make recommendations that will help support the work of the department over the next 5 years and your participation is critical and I really want as many voices of the department represented in the self-study as possible. I hope you will take a few minutes to answer this short survey.

If you prefer you can email me any comments or ideas directly at christine.short@nshealth.ca.

Starting September 2021, we are launching a feature called "Did You Know?"

The purpose of this feature is to celebrate what our members do when they are not at work. It takes many unique individuals to make up a great Department and we really want to share those special stories with everyone.

Dr. Amanda Vinson, Transplant Nephrologist, Researcher, Mother, Author and Illustrator, published her first book, "Perry at a Parrot Party" on November 27, 2020.

Amanda wrote and illustrated this 32-page children's book for her son while on mat leave.

Creating the illustrations was a new endeavour for her. This labour of love was designed to encourage infant and child development. What a wonderful role model!

Check it out:

Dr. Ashley Miller won the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) Award for Young Leaders (Early Career) at the Annual General Meeting in August 2021.

This award is intended to celebrate the efforts of young physician leaders of tomorrow for their efforts today.

The CMA presents the Award for Young Leaders to two students, two residents and two early career physician members who have demonstrated exemplary dedication, commitment and leadership in one of the following domains: political; clinical; education; research; or, community service.

Dr. Thomas "Tommy" Brothers won the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) Award for Young Leaders (Resident), at the Annual General Meeting in August 2021.

This award is intended to celebrate the efforts of young physician leaders of tomorrow for their efforts today.

The CMA presents the Award for Young Leaders to two students, two residents and two early career physician members who have demonstrated exemplary dedication, commitment and leadership in one of the following domains: political; clinical; education; research; or, community service.

Rapid testing began in Nova Scotia in November 2020 under the leadership of Dr. Lisa Barrett and Todd Hatchette at the beginning of our 'second-wave' and helped keep that wave small and short-lived.

PRAXES Medical Group provides asymptomatic COVID testing, both PCR and Rapid Antigen, for travel or work purposes. PRAXES also developed the software being used at the rapid testing sites.

Almost 3,000 volunteers of all ages and working backgrounds, including high school students, retired, and currently working health care workers, university students, IT specialists, political figures, administrators, police officers, hairdressers, engineers, bakers, financial field, brewers, and many others from across the province stepped up in our time of need.

A heartfelt thank you goes to everyone involved!