Handling the Covid-19 pandemic with grace and strength
TO THE EDITOR:
One year ago, we settled into the unknown.
Our Public Health team across Nova Scotia started to disperse to different COVID response efforts, adapting to virtual care, building new relationships with team members they've never met, and embarking on a journey never to be forgotten.
"Nova Scotia Strong" represents the community strength and resiliency, allowing us to come together to mitigate the risks of COVID-19, while maintaining a quality of life that we value, appreciate, and honour. Every week we heard from our leadership to "stay the blazes home" and to stay strong - and that we did.
Now, it's time for the next step: to get out and to action our immunization efforts across the province, and to no surprise, Nova Scotians are stepping up.
(Recently) we kicked off our final COVID-19 vaccination site in the Western Zone. In two months, we have successfully offered health-care worker clinics and community clinics in the Annapolis Valley, South Shore, and Tri-County areas. With the recruitment efforts of NSH, we have built immunization teams that are working towards a common goal, and what most people describe as "the beginning of the end."
I want to acknowledge that the efforts of many do not go unnoticed and continue to be appreciated. And I want to get loud about a few things that make my heart happy and continue to make me proud.
Public Health staff have faced many challenges during the past year: adapting to new work, shifting to new schedules, utilizing skills and abilities to their full capacity, getting innovative, and travelling on a path that offers a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel. The leadership at all levels of Public Health has been motivating and reassuring. We continue to learn and grow, taking an analytical and evidence-based approach while remembering that we are all human.
We have connected with others across the province that we would never have connected with before. Partnerships have been strengthened, while new ones are being built. Public Health staff working the clinics have left their work behind, while others are holding down the fort for when they return. Staff work diligently with timely case management and contact tracing, mobilizing efforts to meet the needs of communities, ensuring our staff have training and resources to ensure quality and safe patientrelated care.
While a majority of our resources have gone to COVID response, we continue to have Public Health practitioners who are supporting community partnerships, working to support families at an individual, family, and community level in aspects of health promotion and protection, equity, related to the early years, communicable disease and broader public policy. These staff are putting their hearts and souls in securing a sense of normalcy for when the rest of us return home.
Above all that, our immunization team continues to blow me away. Their leadership in the eye of the public is admirable and can't be unseen. Working together in a supportive and caring way - welcoming new staff, stepping up to new challenges, laughing, crying, and ultimately making a difference. I'm proud to say that our staff continue to demonstrate an understanding of community and barriers that individuals face, while using a patientcentered approach. Our staff are smiling, they care, they are proud, they are tired, and they are oh so strong.
I want to thank all those who continue to come together to help make the light a bit brighter. And today, I want to add a special shoutout to our Public Health team in Nova Scotia.