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Colleagues,
This will be my last update as your President. The year has gone by both faster and slower than I thought possible, and tomorrow, Dr. Samantha Hill will assume the role of President. I will continue to support you and advocate for you as the immediate Past-President and as a Board Director for the OMA. I will not stop speaking out (I have too big a mouth for that anyway).
As many of you who attended the President’s Tour know, I didn’t aspire to the role of President. Wasn’t on my bucket list. I wasn’t even an elected delegate of any sort until four years ago. I got involved because I was concerned that there was a disconnect between what many docs call “OMA Central” and frontline physicians. My grandfather (who is for many reasons my hero) taught me that it was not enough to complain, you had to try to effect change.
So I got involved, and by some twist of fate here I am (me and fate need to have a looooong talk about this).
Have things changed at the OMA? I think much has actually.
The OMA has started to show much more focus to the needs of physicians in the past couple of years. Some examples:
- Advantages Retirement Program by OMA Insurance — which provides a best in class program for your retirement (click here for more information).
- OMA staff showed their dedication to physicians by distributing (so far) 24,000 masks, 500 gowns and 500 face shields to the community.
- An incredibly strong response to the COVID19 Pandemic, both influencing health policy, and providing support to our members.
- An ongoing media campaign that advocates for doctors across multiple platforms — see our ads here.
- A reduction in the number of Board committees from over 50 to 4 (seriously!)
- Something that I don’t think would previously have been possible — a collaboration with MyChart from Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, to build a patient portal that allows for secure third party billing to help you with the business side of medicine, and forms a potential foundation for improved health systems IT going forward (click here to register for more information when it becomes ready).
These are just a few of the many changes that have happened, and represent the kind of programs that a member-focused organization SHOULD do.
Additionally, the OMA, and indeed all of us, have gotten used to a world where arbitration exists. This is a tool that has many benefits, including the rights arbitration aspect. Rights arbitration of course refers to when two sides have different interpretations of the language of an agreement and need an arbitrator to rule on who is correct. We will be using rights arbitration as needed to explore all options to benefit members in the future.
Most importantly - I don’t think 4 years ago it would have been possible to imagine that the OMA Board would voluntarily vote to reduce itself in size from 25 physicians to 11 (8 physicians, 3 non-physicians). Or, that OMA Council would vote to restructure itself into a General Assembly that is only half the size of the current Council. While the bylaw changes to implement these changes have been delayed due to the COVID19 Pandemic (they were to be reviewed this weekend), these changes must be seen to their conclusion because…
What hasn’t changed is that we continue to find ourselves at odds with a government. While the issues may be different, the seemingly constant butting of heads needs to stop. The OMA needs to continue to get stronger to prevent this. It needs to continue to be more nimble and more agile. It needs to be more modern. We’re going in the right direction, but we are not there yet.
Lastly, I want you to know what kept me going this past year through some very difficult times. It was all of you. I met hundreds of physicians during my President’s Tour of the province and witnessed the dedication, passion, grace and empathy with which you practice medicine. I saw how you went to work even though you were tired, and had symptoms of burnout. I saw you volunteer and dedicate your time to communities (such as with the OHT working groups). I saw you speak out when patient care was threatened. I saw you change your style of practice for COVID19, and I saw you put yourselves at risk for the same pandemic, just so you could ensure that patients got care.
Watching you gave me strength to fight for what was right. Seeing you inspired me to want to want a better OMA for you. Listening to you made me want to be a better President, because you deserve the best OMA and the best leadership.
Your patients have noticed your dedication as well. Here are just a few of the many pictures from yesterday’s #ShineALightForThem campaign. These are all spontaneous photos of people who simply want to acknowledge you, and thank you for all you do. Seeing these made me very very proud to have the opportunity to represent you this past year.
I would conclude with my thanks to you, but instead, I’ll let my four sons (who I’m looking forward to spending more time with) say it for me…
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