From the desk of Dr. Michael Gardam, Health PEI CEO
Hi everybody,
Happy Administrative Professionals Day!
I hope, across the system, everyone is thanking those team members in these roles that keep our train moving. Administrative professionals include administrative/executive assistants, receptionists, and other administrative support professionals who help ensure our services run smoothly.
In health care, some of these professionals are also at the very front of patient and client services, welcoming, calling, scheduling and acting as the first point of contact for many patients and clients. When people talk about health care, they often talk about the need for boots on the ground – to me, and I hope to all of you, administrative professionals are key team members on the ground who ensure we achieve our goals. We need more of these team members.
On a personal level, I couldn’t do my job without the excellent support I get from Kelley Power, and I know the rest of Executive Leadership feels the same about the administrative professionals working with them.
National Immunization Awareness Week
Judging by the rates of COVID-19 vaccinations across the system and the commitment you as healthcare workers have to preventative health measures I don’t need to tell you this, but here goes: vaccinations are a big deal.
This was clear during the COVID-19 pandemic, which could have been much worse without the availability of vaccines. While CPHO has the overall mandate to promote vaccinations to the public, I do want to take the opportunity to ask all of you to be good advocates for vaccinations. I also want to give a big shout-out to our teams, particularly those in Public Health, who deliver vaccinations to the public and have been a huge part of our pandemic work. Without the teams delivering vaccines to the public, as well as those delivering vaccines in clinics to our staff and to patients and clients as needed, we’d be in much worse shape and less healthy as a population.
Organ and Tissue Donation Week
This is an important week to recognize how important organ and tissue donations are to patients on PEI and across Canada. Approximately 4,400 Canadians are waiting for a lifesaving organ transplant and many more are waiting for tissue transplant. The sad reality is that on average, 250 Canadians die each year waiting. Canadians are encouraged to join forces with healthcare providers, governments and Canadian Blood Services to help create a day when no one in Canada dies waiting for a transplant.
During this week, Health PEI facilities and Island municipalities will be lighting landmarks and buildings with green lights to remind us of those who have died waiting for a life-saving transplant and to express gratitude to organ and tissue donors and their families for being donors.
Thanks,
Michael
Please send questions, comments, or submissions for these notes to emclean@gov.pe.ca, subject line “Notes for Michael”.