Helping each other
At the start of my term, I spoke of what an honour and privilege it is to be president of the OMA, and how I hold the duties of leadership and spokespersonship, at a time when so many are looking for answers and support, sacred. I have been privy to members’ gut-wrenching stories. Physicians reach out because they see in me a colleague, someone like them they can trust with the pain. They also reach out for help, from the president of the OMA. Too often though, they reach out hoping solely that their story and their pain will help others. But that’s who physicians are—even at our darkest points—we worry about others. Today, I want to tell you that I am worried about physicians: you, me, our colleagues, all of us.
A recent report from Statistics Canada indicates that as we exit COVID-19 (which we will, no matter how unlikely that feels right now), mental health will be the biggest problem before us. It is a problem for which society is unprepared, and we know that the burden will fall on doctors. Doctors will be expected to tackle population-wide mental health, while simultaneously tackling the new backlog of care, the old systemic inefficiencies, and increasing patient complexity. Doctors are already struggling, and this new challenge of unmet mental health needs will weigh on us all, although certainly, some specialties will feel it most heavily.
But I am not using this space to warn about impending system collapse. Most of us are already looking to the future with dismay and concern. I am using it to remind you that physicians are also patients and are certainly among the 40 per cent who will need help. There are things that the OMA is doing to support physicians: daily meditations, lunchtime group counselling, the BIT program; engaged members on the burnout task force looking to system level solutions; and an industry-leading $10,000 coverage for psychotherapy with OMA Insurance. But none of this will suffice. We must reach out as individuals and help support each other.
A perfect example of where we can support our colleagues involves our public health doctors. These are physicians who graduated medical school alongside the rest of us. They completed postgraduate residencies to prepare for precisely the issues we are seeing in this pandemic. These are our colleagues who suffer from the unique conflict inherent in their employer being political; colleagues who receive an inordinate amount of criticism from the public, from the politicos, and unfortunately, from other physicians. There must always be room for scientific debate, but our public health colleagues deserve the same civility and respect for their training and judgment that we all routinely offer each other.
But that’s just one example. In general, I am pleading with you, my colleagues, to recognize each other’s training and limitations; to recognize the role the system, and systemic inefficiencies, play in creating potential for conflict; to acknowledge the struggles we all face and to look for the solvable “whys,” rather than focus on the objectionable “whats.” I know we can do this because I have seen members step up to support each other and build communities. Members have led on confronting misinformation spewing from politicians. Members have highlighted social inequity in some of the hardest hit COVID-19 areas. Members have lifted each other up with cooking events and online humour. Members are currently coming together around town halls and roundtables to drive the future of medicine.
We are always strongest when we come together. As I near the end of my term, and as board and governance changes provide many more opportunities for us to collaboratively effect positive change, I urge you all to recall how fragile our community of physicians is right now, and how we will always prioritize others’ well-being first. Simply put, be kind to each other. Take care of each other. We are all more alike than we realize.
Dr. Samantha Hill
OMA President