“For life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one.”
– Khalil Gibran

Today’s culture is one that suggests we can fix anything and make it better. As doctors, those expectations are amplified. Last week, NOSM lost one of our students Braden Peters as well as a dear friend to NOSM, Dr. David Gass. The shock was immense and rippled across the school.

As doctors we are all too familiar with death. We offer comfort and support to families and friends who have experienced the loss and show empathy and compassion. Although we can relate on a human level, there are professional boundaries in place to prevent us from getting too emotionally involved. Those boundaries disappear quickly when a colleague dies, especially when it is unexpected. So, how are we left individually and collectively to respond?

Julia Samuel, a psychotherapist specializing in bereavement and the author of Grief Works, calls a “conspiracy of silence” surrounding death—a conspiracy that, she finds, can do far more harm than the loss itself. Workplaces are often inhospitable to people suffering loss and they become silent to avoid it.  It deprives people of the support that work could offer in times of mourning, erodes collegial bonds, and drains working lives and workplaces of meaning.

We need to acknowledge loss and talk about the impact that these people have had in our lives. We have to honour them and their family. We have to remember them and try to help others who struggle when they face the fact that they are gone. And most of all we should not silence our feelings.

Grief is overwhelming and one of the most painful emotions we encounter as humans. While the pain of grief is the same whether the death is sudden or anticipated, a sudden loss is shocking and reduces our ability to cope with and understand what has happened.

Take the time to deal with the loss. Be kind to each other. Compassion and empathy are part of being a human. Embrace these values. You are entitled to your feelings; you are not invincible. It’s okay to grieve your colleagues, family members; it is okay to grieve personal losses. Ask for help when you need it. Take time to find peace—for your sake and your friends, family and colleagues. And remember, we can’t fix everything.

Your wellbeing is most important. I’m here to plead that everyone check in on their classmates, colleagues, and friends, even when they say they are doing fine. And even more than that, check in with yourself. Isolation, inadequacy, competition, and failure are no strangers to us and even more difficult in a pandemic.

I want all of you to know that NOSM is a close-knit family. We have shown that we care these few weeks, we will not enter a conspiracy of silence and we will take the time to remember Braden – the dedicated student and a lovely person, friend and colleague.  Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and loved ones.

Many students are leading efforts to remember Braden in several ways. A whole-school event is planned for March 26 at 8 a.m. to remember and pay tribute to him. Please check your email for the details. A memorial fund has also been setup to honour Braden, to contribute please visit the NOSM website.

We offer our deepest condolences to Dr. Cathy Cervin and her family on the loss of her partner and a close friend to NOSM, Dr. David Gass. Dr. Gass served as the Chair of Family Medicine at Dalhousie University and as chair or member of several CFPC committees, most recently the Advisory Committee on Family Practice, Ethics Committee, and Family Medicine Specialty Committee. He was also an active member on the NSCFP Board of Directors. If you would like to contribute to the Dr. David Gass Memorial Fund, please visit the College of Family Physicians of Canada website.

Please be supportive and respectful of each other.

“Remember that people are only guests in your story – the same way you are only a guest in theirs – so make the chapters worth reading.” ― Lauren Klarfeld

Whole school web event – Remembering Braden Peters, March 26 at 8:00 a.m.

A heartfelt thank you.

A special thank you to Dr. David McLinden, Sue Featherstone, faculty, staff and colleagues in Huntsville, Dr. Jason Shack, Dr. Lee Toner, John Friesen and the Learner Affairs Officers for your caring support during a difficult time.

Emotional and psychological support resources

Resources available to NOSM Staff and Faculty:

“Philanthrōpos” is a Greek word that means love of humankind. It brings people together and has the power to unite groups in a collective manner, inspiring improvements based on social accountability.

In many ways this is NOSM’s mantra as we embark on a new strategic path and renew our commitment to social accountability. NOSM is more than a medical school; it is a government strategy to address the health needs of Northern Ontarians, improve access to quality care, and contribute to the economic development of Northern Ontario. Your medical school –in the north, for the north, by the north– was established with this social accountability mandate.

Thanks to the upsurge of people who’ve supported NOSM for almost 20 years, we have a lot to show for our short history. NOSM has developed strong relationships and engagement with remote rural, Indigenous and Francophone communities. We have partnerships and collaborations with more than 100 organizations, in more than 90 communities, and more than 1,700 clinical, human and medical sciences faculty dispersed across all of Northern Ontario – otherwise known as NOSM’s campus.

Support to NOSM has come in all forms, from the many people and communities who have embraced NOSM learners, to those who advocate for improved health services in the region and thousands of donors and philanthropists who have placed their trust in our School.

Philanthropy investments have a powerful effect on the performance of a medical school. You’ve not only helped NOSM to perform, but you’ve also positioned our medical school to continuously outperform itself in the delivery of our mandate.

Financial pressures on learners
Philanthropy enables organizations to leverage not only their own resources, but also the existing efforts and infrastructure of others who share a mutual vision. This year, in addition to funds collected towards the NOSM Student Emergency fund, medical learners financially affected by COVID-19 received relief from a grant program through the Canadian Medical Association Foundation. Under normal circumstances, our learners cope with heavy financial burden but the pandemic has exacerbated the situation. In fact, on average, Canadian medical graduates report a debt of $84,172 for medical-school expenses and $80,516 of non-education related debt.

Government funding and tuition cover some of the operating costs for medical schools, but without philanthropy the majority of student support initiatives would die on the vine. This distinguishes NOSM as a medical school that can support and sustain its students when they need it most, while attracting students with promise who otherwise couldn’t afford to attend.

Student bursaries are the foundation of our philanthropy. At NOSM there are several cases where a single bursary changed the trajectory of a person’s life.

Innovation in education and training
Delivering health-care services is a challenge in any environment, but it is one that becomes particularly daunting in a setting like Northern Ontario. We see the direct benefits of charitable giving, notably its huge impact on innovation in education and training.

Through a recent donation from Dr. Hugh Robertson of $1.2 million, NOSM will be able to broaden the scope of our social accountability outcomes several years sooner than planned. Increasing our focus on Northern Ontario communities, partnering on innovative population-health research and engaging in cutting-edge education will advance the work that we are doing and will help establish sustainable solutions to health care in Northern Ontario. Some of this donation will go towards the establishment of a new one-of-a-kind Center for Social Accountability that will tackle issues that create inequitable health care in the North such as poverty, water insecurity and climate change.

Transformative gifts are game changers 
Financial challenges are a commonality among the majority of medical schools in Canada. Many lack the resources to significantly improve their educational, research, and clinical programs.

Recently, a $250 million gift was received by the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Medicine to support Artificial Intelligence, biomedical research collaboration and equity—this is a game changer. The investment also included $10 million for the Dean’s COVID-19 priority fund. This record-high donation by the Temerty family triggered the naming of the third of six medical schools in Ontario named in recognition of philanthropists.

While there are some notable exceptions, major medical school donations are usually designated gifts. Rarely are donations made to a medical school’s general fund that allow for much discretion on the part of administrators. Donors to educational institutions understand the needs of the School and direct their gifts to align with their personal philanthropic goals while contributing to the strategic direction of the institution.

Who is giving to NOSM?
Since NOSM’s inception, 91% of donations to the School have supported financial aid for learners. These donors are companies, service organizations and individuals, like you and me.

We are doing well for a small Northern medical school. We intend to do better by building a culture of philanthropy from both within and outside of NOSM. We have so much to offer in terms of opportunity in the academic medical community, and we welcome ideas of giving to our School. This year alone, support for the Rural Generalist Pathway and larger physician workforce strategy, and the critically important initiatives in Indigenous Health, learner wellness and the establishment of our one-of-a-kind Center for Social Accountability are amazing contributions envisioned by incredible citizens.

In partnership with donors, municipalities, Northern-based organizations, and government, NOSM has created a community-wide coalition with a vested interest in enhancing the provision of health-care professionals. This vision brings with it a huge impact for the regional economy and it has transformed the education environment in Northern Ontario. In 2019, NOSM had an economic impact between $129 million and $142 million. Overall spending in 2019 was estimated to support 817-898 full-time equivalent jobs in the region.

The presence of a medical school in Northern Ontario, and recognition of what NOSM has accomplished to date, are both sources of considerable pride for many members of the community.

I and the NOSM Board of Directors are monitoring the insolvency of Laurentian University which has impacted NOSM’s Endowment/Bursary funds. These Endowment Funds were donated to NOSM in order to provide bursaries to NOSM students as well as for making improvements to the medical facilities at NOSM. We have had several meetings with our NOSM Board of Directors, to brief them on the impact on NOSM and the financial and academic risks. I want to assure you that we are doing our best to manage the situation.

In the meantime, we continue our important work in creating access to quality health care for all Northern Ontarians and encourage you to follow our progress at www.nosm.ca.

To learn how you can lend your support to this cause, contact advancement@nosm.ca or visit nosm.ca/donate.

If you have any feedback or comments, please reach out at dean@nosm.ca and follow me on twitter @ddsv3.

Good luck to our clerks now in the interview period for the Canadian Residency Matching process!

Most of our graduating class are now well into the interview period for CaRMS. This year has been extraordinary for this class with no access to electives in other centres and reduced exposure to highly competitive opportunities due to the pandemic. They have been incredibly resilient and are the best graduating MDs in the country. I know they will do well, and wish them all the best over the next 3 weeks.

Congratulations to Dr. Janet McElhaney

Dr. Janet McElhaney has received the prestigious Jonas Salk Award from March of Dimes Canada. Dr. McElhaney is a NOSM Professor, geriatrician, immunologist, and researcher who is recognized for her seminal research into aging, the immune system and the potential of vaccines to prevent disability. Learn more by watching her presentation on Vaccine Preventable Disability and my VITALiTY (Vaccine Initiative to Add Life to Years) research program.

NOSM Supports Ornge with Operation Remote Immunity

For more from Dr. Verma, subscribe to Northern Routes.