Surgeon General’s Message
Video / August 4, 2021
Transcript
(LS) Good morning, Major-General Bilodeau and to all the whole group of personnel, military and civilians that are listening. I'm Chief Petty Officer Simpson, and here today, I'm having a discussion with Major-General Bilodeau, our Surgeon General. The discussion is based on points generated by our personnel, brought forward by the local chains of command over the last few months. Sir, during the pandemic, our workforce has continued to provide in-garrison care to local patients across the CAF and overseas and have deployed in operations to support Canadians, civilian healthcare systems. They have done so despite the possibility of infection, fear of transmission to their own families and friends. Time and time again, I have heard you mention the need to talk about coming back to the new normal and that time would be needed to reconstitute and recover from the pandemic. Sir, why this video now?
(MB) Yes. Good morning, all. Thank you, chief, for the question. So, I think there are two main reasons why I think this is important that we communicate with our people now. First reason is that there are changes happening currently in the health services' leadership team. For those of you who are not aware, Rear-Admiral Patterson has been requested to join the Chief of Professional Conduct and Culture organization. The new organization that will address the culture changes that are required in order to make our workplace more welcoming and more inclusive of different minorities but also more respectful. So, Rear-Admiral Patterson obviously will bring her talent into that new role. What it gives us is an opportunity to keep moving forward with our modernization effort and bring Brigadier-General Malcolm as the division commander allowing us to refocus our efforts on the frontline and on everything you all are doing on the daily basis to provide safe and effective care to our members, whatever if it's in-garrison or in a deployed setting. The second reason for that video is we need to celebrate. We need to celebrate the huge accomplishment over that last year and a half that every single one of you have done in response to the pandemic. This has been a huge stress on our organization, but you raised up to the challenge and you've delivered excellent care to all of our members as well as you supported Canadians that were suffering through that crisis. So I'd like to thank you personally for that commitment over the last year and a half.
(LS) Sir, the pandemic has had many side effects on our workforce. And as a result of the order to keep the Force healthy, more people have contributed to continue working from home, but nevertheless, it has created a reduce communication flow. One of the ways to improve the NCM communication directly with the health services' senior leaders has been with health services board which have instituted a new NCM working group in order to address the new policies, the standards and directors and the effects it will have on the troops in their own voices. Sir, what is the plan to amplify our communication within the health services group?
(MB) Yes. So, chief, we want to communicate better. Better doesn't mean more, but better means more effectively. And I think we're starting to do more of it with released communiques, written communiques over the last few weeks. This video is part of this new way of communicating. We're going to hopefully start doing town halls, both physically present and virtual town halls in the next few months. And we're open to any other ideas that you may have that will make our communication more effective. Communication goes both ways, you know. It goes from us to you, and from all of our members to us. And not only we need to communicate, but we need to listen to each other. And that listening piece is critical in order for us to take the right action at the right time.
(LS) Sir, always, and more during this pandemic, not only the Canadian Armed Forces but Canadians have observed our people's commitment, professional expertise, courage beyond expectations and their integrity to fight COVID-19. Whether they deployed or took on additional responsibilities and duties working longer hours to cover off, and the list goes on. This stepped up to whatever challenge they were faced with and did so with less resources, leaving our workforce fatigued, stressed, and some in need to take a more permanent break. Sir, what is the plan for recovery and reconstitution, and what is your recommendation on coping during the pandemic?
(MB) Yes. So this is the biggest challenge that we're facing now. It's how are we going to reconstitute and recover for that year and a half of high speed, high-tempo activities that all of us have been going through. So my intent is to make sure that we're taking a break this summer. That every single one of us has an opportunity to take leave and to relax and to reconnect with their loved ones and recharge our batteries. We have to do it. We have to invest in that specific aspect of our individual wellness, and that's the only way we're going to be able to start and recovering from the crisis. So while we're doing that, we've received very good news that we're going to be able to staff new positions in our clinics. New case managements, positions as well as occupational therapists and physician positions. So this will help improving our workforce and be able to better meet the demand of tomorrow. At the same time, we're strengthening some of our governance decision-making process at the headquarters level, which is improving our credibility in front of the rest of the CAF, and hopefully will be able to help us securing more resources as we move forward. So those are all key elements of how we're going to move forward. And I'm trying to keep it simple for myself when I make my decision about where to go as an organization. And I've created a simple acronym that I'm going to use, you know, as a reminder for me of how I can prioritize my efforts. And that acronym is based on a very common theme that you've heard over the last several months. And it's the theme of hero. I've heard so many times how much of heroes you all have been throughout the pandemic and the way you responded to the call for duty, both at the clinic level but also in operational settings. And I'm using the acronym HERO as a way to remind myself. The H is for the health of our workforce. The health of you all. Your health and wellness. Your ability basically to keep delivering on the mission and stay healthy through that. And obviously, we're going to need to invest some efforts there. The break this summer is a first start. And then, we're going to need to look at how we can prevent burnout in our organization. Because that's a big issue and we have systemic challenges that are preventing us from addressing that. The E of HERO is about engaging our patients and our chain of command in our decision-making process. Having them part of the decision-making process but also making sure that they are part of that sharing of the workload if you will, from a health perspective. They have a big role to play in their own health and the health or their subordinates, and we need to share that responsibility. The R is about reinventing ourselves, is about creating something new, is about looking at our existing processes and trying to simplify those, trying to make them more efficient. The most obvious one of all of that is the periodic health assessment process and the way we do physical examination on our members on a regular basis. We can do better. We can become more efficient, decrease low value-added activities, and ultimately improve our ability to deliver on our mission. And finally, the O of HERO is about operational excellence. This is our raison d'être as a military healthcare organization. It's to support military operations and support the mission that the government is giving us. So we can't ignore that. We need to keep that in mind and it has to remain our focus to be able to support military operations.
(LS) Sir, over the past couple of months, health services have gone through a series of training and serious conversations regarding culture change. Every member and civilian within our organization has to own the facts that we need this culture change and everyone has a part to play in this. Sir, what is your direction on this topic?
(MB) So, that's obviously a very important topic, chief, and you know well what I think about it. So, I think we need to listen more to each other, and we started doing that. We started having those listening sessions, very intense listening sessions with our members, between each other, trying to understand better everyone's position there and trying to take action based on what we learned through those listening sessions. Because I believe we can together make a difference. And culture change goes well beyond the sexual misconduct allegations that we're hearing in the media. It goes about what is unique to our health services culture. The fact that we're putting our patients ahead of us for example and we don't focus enough on ourselves is a challenge and is a part of a culture that we need to address. We need to start taking care of ourselves as well as taking care of our patients. I know it's challenging for healthcare professionals, because we've been trained and raised to take care of others. But if we don't do that, we won't be able to change the systemic factors that are creating the burnout that we're currently seeing.
(LS) Sir, any last words?
(MB) So, yes. As a few last words, chief, I'd like to remind our people about the fact that the leadership changes that we're currently making are to better support all of us, all of our people delivering care on the frontline on a daily basis. So sending up the division under Brigadier-General Malcolm is basically allowing us that refocus on the care delivery piece of our organization that is so critical obviously in our mandate. I also want to refocus my personal role in being our spokesperson, the health services spokesperson in front of the Canadian Armed Forces leadership and be able to defend what we do, make sure that people are aware of what we do, but also make sure that we're securing the resources to keep doing our job moving forward. And finally, I'm going to rely on you, chief, to keep me honest and make sure that I'm keeping an eye on the morale of our people. Because you're my main advisor regarding that morale piece that is so critical in keeping a healthy and well workforce.
(LS) Sir, thank you again for this opportunity.
(MB) Thank you, chief. And to all of our people, I really look forward to see you in person in the near future. You are our heroes. And don't forget. Even heroes need a break once in a while. So please, take care of yourself.
(LS) Thank you, sir.