From the Burgundy Chairs

Episode 5: Dr. Naveed Mohammad on a Path Forward for Ontario’s Hospitals

Building capacity in Ontario’s hospitals has been a core pillar in the province’s COVID-19 response. More than three months after the provincial government declared a state of emergency, the question is, how are our hospitals holding up? How are they navigating this next — somewhat uncertain — phase in Ontario’s health care transformation plans? In this episode, Dr. Naveed Mohammad, President and CEO of William Osler Health System, sits down with Dan Carbin to discuss system capacity, health equity, and hallway health care amidst the pressures of a global pandemic. Dr. Naveed Mohammad was appointed President and CEO of William Osler Health System in April 2020. Osler is one of Canada’s largest community hospital systems, serving 1.3 million people living in a fast growing and culturally-diverse region. Dr. Mohammad joined Osler in 1997 as an emergency physician at Etobicoke General and has held a number of progressively senior physician leadership roles. Most previously, Dr. Mohammad was Osler’s Executive Vice-President, Quality, Medical and Academic Affairs.

Episode 4: Susan Fitzpatrick on What’s Next for OHTs

Almost a year and a half ago, Ontario introduced its large-scale plan to integrate health care providers with the goal of creating a patient focused and streamlined system. However, the COVID-19 pandemic hit the province just a few months after the first Ontario Health Teams (OHTs) were announced in December 2019.

In this episode, Keltie Gale, Senior Consultant at Santis Health, and Susan Fitzpatrick explore what Ontario's health transformation agenda might look like with the pressures of COVID-19. How will OHTs support the province’s COVID-19 response? How will ongoing issues, including system capacity and virtual care, be addressed?

Susan Fitzpatrick has over 30 years of experience in Ontario’s health care system. She was appointed Interim Chief Executive Officer of Ontario Health and as the inaugural CEO, Susan led the province’s newest health agency through one of the largest mergers in recent health history. In 2015, Susan was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Toronto Central Local Health Integration Network and just a few weeks ago, Susan joined the Santis Health team as a Senior Advisor. 

Episode 3: Dr. Samir Sinha on Seniors and COVID-19

We know older adults are at a higher risk for developing more serious complications from COVID-19 — so why are we seeing outbreaks in senior populations? In this episode, Dan Carbin and Dr. Samir Sinha explore the systemic vulnerabilities and the “double standard” in curbing the spread of COVID-19. Dr. Samir Sinha is a longtime advocate for the needs of older adults. He currently serves as the Director of Geriatrics at Sinai Health System and the University Health Network in Toronto and as the Peter and Shelagh Godsoe Chair in Geriatrics at Mount Sinai Hospital. In 2012, he was appointed by the Government of Ontario to serve as the expert lead of Ontario’s Seniors Strategy. Dr. Sinha is also an Associate Professor in the Departments of Medicine, Family and Community Medicine, and the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto and an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Episode 2: Maureen Taylor on COVID-19

In this episode, we called Physician Assistant and former journalist, Maureen Taylor, to discuss the lessons learned from the 2003 SARS outbreak and how Canada is responding to the COVID-19 pandemic 17 years later. Maureen Taylor is a Physician Assistant specializing in infectious diseases at Michael Garron Hospital in Toronto. She has worked at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre as a Physician Assistant in Emergency Medicine, and was named Physician Assistant of the Year by the Canadian Association of Physician Assistants in 2016. Prior to this, Maureen was an award-winning broadcast journalist for 25 years, including seven years as the health reporter for the CBC.

Episode 1: Ontario's Mental Health and Addictions Strategy

Veronica Said, a Consultant at Santis Health, sits down with Dr. Sarah Jarmain and Adrienne Spafford to discuss Roadmap to Wellness, the Ontario Government's recently announced mental health and addictions strategy. In this episode, we discuss the current state of addictions and mental health care in Ontario, what the strategy gets right, where the strategy could improve and how the sector is responding. Dr. Sarah Jarmain, MD, FRCPC is the Site Chief Mental Health Care, Chair Medical Advisory Committee and Director Medical Quality at St. Joseph’s Health Care London and an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, Western University. Adrienne Spafford is the Chief Executive Officer of Addictions and Mental Health Ontario (AMHO). Prior to joining AMHO, Adrienne held senior roles in both government and membership associations.