Medical Matters: wishing you the best in 2022

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Happy New Year! I would like to start by welcoming Ms. Stacey Strilchuk as our 2022 CPSA Council President. I’m excited to work with her and I encourage everyone to read her introductory article in this issue of The Messenger. I would also like to thank Dr. Louis Hugo Francescutti for his commitment, dedication and hard work over the past year as CPSA Council President. There was nothing easy about 2021 and I thank him for his support of CPSA and the profession as a whole.

It’s hard to believe we’re coming up on two years since COVID-19 was recognized formally as a pandemic. I suspect there were very few of us who expected COVID-19 would have such a significant impact on society for so long; however, I think we’ve come to realize that COVID-19 will be with us for some time to come. For all those who are on the front lines managing the fifth wave, thank you so very much for your hard work, professionalism and dedication.

When COVID-19 emerged in 2020, CPSA adjusted to meet the immediate needs of the pandemic. 2021 was more focused on sustaining our activities to ensure we met our mandate during the pandemic. This year will be a chance for us to emerge and continue planning for a successful future. That doesn’t mean we’re ignoring the pandemic or the reality that COVID-19 will be with us in some capacity for years to come. Rather, it means we are going to take everything we have learned over the past few years and focus on the opportunities the future holds.

This year, CPSA Council will be finalizing our new strategic plan, which will determine CPSA’s strategic direction for the coming years. This is an important step for CPSA because, as a regulator, we must continue to evolve alongside the needs of Albertans.

I’m happy to report that CPSA Council is taking their role in developing this strategy very seriously and have discussed many salient issues, including racism and discrimination, Indigenous health care, the impact of technology on health care and CPSA’s role in providing Albertans with the care they deserve. I’m looking forward to the opportunities this new strategy will bring and the work we can all do together to help our profession look after the health and care of all Albertans.

Despite the reality that we’re deep in the fifth wave of COVID-19 and the Omicron variant is spreading at incredible rates, it’s important for us to not only deal with today, but look toward the future. I look forward to 2022 being the year we start emerging from a pandemic and envisioning our new normal. I wish everyone all the very best for 2022.