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Board meeting marks the beginning of a new and exciting chapter for NOSM

Due to ongoing restrictions on mass gatherings in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, NOSM’s Board of Directors and Annual Meeting of Members was held virtually on Wednesday, September 30, 2020.

Juliette Denis, Métis Elder and board member, opened the meeting with a reflection and prayer in recognition of “Orange Shirt Day” providing guidance and inspiration to the meeting.

The Board announced the addition of six Directors: Craig Abotossaway, Virginia May (Mae) Katt, Suzanne LeBeau, Mark Hartman, Dr. Shemer Ratner and John Stenger.

  • Craig Abotossaway has more than 25 years of experience working on a variety of First Nations health initiatives. As a former elected Chief of his First Nations community of Aundeck Omni Kaning, Abotossaway brings extensive political knowledge of both the provincial and federal levels of government and health issues facing First Nations people, both regionally and nationally.
  • Mark Hartman has worked as a radiation therapist, Director of the Cancer Centre capital expansion project, and Administrative Director of the Regional Cancer Program. In 2018, he was appointed to the role of Senior Vice President, Patient Experience and Digital Transformation at Health Sciences North.
  • Suzanne LeBeau is the CEO of Red Lake Margaret Cochenour Memorial Hospital, where she brings a variety of hospital, community and education sector experience to the role.
  • Virginia May (Mae) Katt is Ojibway from Temagami First Nation. She is a Nurse Practitioner with diverse experience in mental health and substance use, adolescent health, maternal and child health and community health.
  • Dr. Shemer Ratner is a Nephrologist and Internist in the Nephrology Department at Health Sciences North who serves the Northeastern Ontario region. Ratner brings his medical expertise and years of postsecondary education that has taken him all over the world, including to parts of Africa, Europe, Asia, United States and South America.
  • John Stenger is a seasoned financial professional with a strong financial background and over 30 years of experience in health care, private enterprise and business and economic development, residing in Elliot Lake.

While the Board saw the introduction of new members, it also thanked several dedicated Directors whose terms were completed; Gary Boissoneau, Ken Boshcoff, Pierre Dumais, George Payne and Lori Flinders were recognized for their contributions and service.

“We are grateful to the outgoing members for the passion and dedication they brought to their roles,” says Dr. Robert Haché, Chair. “Each has made valuable contributions to NOSM’s corporate governance and we acknowledge the time, effort and commitment that they so generously put forward.”

In recognition of service, the Board approved the creation of a Board of Directors Leadership Award. The award will honour a fourth-year student in the MD program who fosters social accountability and demonstrates excellence in leadership by engaging and guiding others in promoting emerging healthcare professionals and living NOSM’s vision, mission, values.

The Governance Committee presented a new Naming Opportunity Policy for approval. This policy will guide NOSM in recognizing donors and other partners whose philanthropic contributions to the School have helped advanced its strategic mandate.

The audited financial statements for the year ending April 30, 2020 and the auditors for the fiscal year ending April 30, 2021 were approved.

Dr. Sarita Verma, Dean, President and CEO, presented NOSM’s 2021-2025 Strategic Plan. The NOSM Challenge 2025 is the third strategic plan in the School’s fifteen-year history and is grounded in input from nearly 2,000 stakeholders including learners, staff, faculty, partner organizations, and community members from across Northern Ontario. The Board of Directors unanimously approved the NOSM Challenge 2025 Strategic Plan with a new overall mission: To improve the health of Northern Ontarians by being socially accountable in our education and research programs and advocating for health equity.

The Board congratulated Dr. Verma on a remarkable first year as Dean, President and CEO. “The Board is extremely pleased with Dr. Sarita Verma’s work and commitment since becoming Dean, President and CEO of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine,” says Dr. Moira McPherson, Vice Chair. “She has positioned NOSM to withstand challenges and enable key growth in many areas. We congratulate Dr. Verma on a commendable first year at the School and an exciting new chapter for NOSM.”

The next meeting of the Board of Directors is scheduled for Wednesday, December 2, 2020.

For a complete list of Board members, please visit our website at nosm.ca/board.

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NOSM welcomes the School’s first internationally sponsored clinical fellow

Dr. Abdulrahman Ahmad of Kuwait recently started a year-long fellowship hosted by the Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) and Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre (TBRHSC). The fellowship marks a historic first for NOSM. Clinical fellowships offer advanced post-residency training for individuals who already hold specialty certification and are eligible for licensure.

Dr. Ahmad is learning under the guidance of Dr. Hazem Elmansy, NOSM Assistant Professor and Faculty Lead of Urology and a Urologist at TBRHSC. Dr. Elmansy is one of few doctors in the world who performs holmium laser enucleation of the prostate (HoLEP), a unique prostate laser surgery method that significantly improves care and recovery time for patients.

Under the sponsorship of the State of Kuwait, Dr. Ahmad came to Thunder Bay to attend this international fellowship focused on minimally invasive urologic surgery. He is the first of a list of 40 potential candidate urologists who hope to come and learn this surgical technique from Dr. Elmansy. When Dr. Ahmad returns to Kuwait next year, he will be the only urologist in the country able to perform the HoLEP method, offering better access to care to patients in his country.

“Dr. Elmansy is known world-wide as one of the few experts in the HoLEP method, and I had read his international publications. It was very exciting to meet him in person and to work in a supportive and friendly environment. I think it’s the best decision I’ve made,” says Dr. Ahmad.

“It took three years to make this fellowship happen,” says Dr. Elmansy. “We are one of very few international sites performing this method and I have a three-year waiting list of patients who want to travel to Thunder Bay from other provinces to have this procedure,” says Dr. Elmansy, who has been performing the HoLEP method for over six years.

Compared to the traditional method of surgery, this procedure is less invasive, more precise, and allows patients to recover within a day or two with less chance of requiring further surgery. “It benefits patients of Northern Ontario and we’re looking at expanding our care to patients in Dryden, Kenora and Fort Frances,” says Dr. Elmansy.

Leadership from both NOSM and TBRHSC were instrumental in helping establish this international fellowship. “NOSM helps to develop clinical expertise in other countries as part of our global social accountability,” says Dr. Sarita Verma, Dean, President and CEO of NOSM.

Dr. Elmansy says his goal is to offer this fellowship annually, and in future he hopes to accept a new fellow every six months to expand access to minimally invasive urology across Canada and around the world. Funding received for the program is invested into supporting ongoing urology research.

“This is an exciting first for the Northern Ontario School of Medicine and we aim to develop more clinical fellowships for both international and Canadian fellows,” says Dr. Robert Anderson, NOSM Associate Dean, Postgraduate Medical Education and Health Sciences. “Creating more fellowships that are led by dynamic faculty leaders like Dr. Elmansy is a next step in NOSM’s growth as a medical school integrated with academic health science centres. Advancing patient care, research, and faculty engagement through clinical fellowships is part of our strategic plan for NOSM’s residency programs moving forward.”

Northern Routes

Let’s Celebrate Franco-Ontarian Day!

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Guest Column by: Monique Rocheleau, Assistant Executive Director, Réseau du mieux-être francophone du Nord de l’Ontario and Chair, NOSM’s Francophone Reference Group and Danielle Barbeau-Rodrigue, NOSM’s Director, Francophone Affairs Unit

Hello, Aaanin, Boozhoo, Bonjour!

September 25 is an important day for Franco-Ontarians

September 25, 1975 was an exciting day, as the Franco-Ontarian flag was flown for the very first time at the University of Sudbury which is located at the Laurentian University campus. The Franco-Ontarian flag, created in Sudbury by Dr. Gaétan Gervais, professor of History at Laurentian University and a group of his students, was officially recognized by the Ontario Government as the official symbol of the Francophone community on June 21, 2001 by legislative decree. Many communities and organizations across Northern Ontario now proudly fly the Franco-Ontarian flag.

The Franco-Ontarian flag consists of two vertical bands. The first band is green with a white fleur-de-lis (lily), which represents the French-speaking community worldwide. The second band is white with a green trillium, the provincial flower of Ontario. Green was chosen by the designers to evoke summer, while the use of white brings to mind winter. Together, the two colours represent the two poles of Ontario’s climate.

In 2010, the Ontario Government declared that September 25 would henceforth be known as Franco-Ontarian Day. This day is a time to celebrate the Francophone community in Ontario in all its diversity (heritage, language, culture) and to recognize the long history of Francophones in Ontario. We’ve been here since 1613!

Aligning mandates

NOSM’s Northern Ontario-wide campus has a large Francophone population. The Inclusive Definition of Francophones (IDF), used to capture the number of Francophones living in Ontario, states there are 22.5 % Francophones in the Northeast and 3.1 % in the Northwest (Ministry of Health data from the 2016 census). In 2009, the province adopted this definition to capture those whose mother tongue is neither French nor English, but who have a particular knowledge of French as an Official Language and use French at home, including many new comers to Ontario.

The French Language Services Act and NOSM’s mandate both have a focus on social accountability, inclusiveness, respect and equity. These are vital factors when working with official language minority communities, such as Francophones. Developing clear expectations as they pertain to French-language services remains a key priority for NOSM. We are striving to move forward with the implementation of the Active Offer of French language services in the organizational culture of NOSM. This provides an opportunity for learners, staff, and faculty to gain an increased awareness on how best to respond to the needs of Francophones.

The French Language Services Act guarantees an individual’s right to receive services in French from the provincial government’s ministries and agencies in the 26 designated areas. Nine of the designated areas are located in the North. Within these designated areas, you will also find designated agencies. These agencies have gone through a rigorous process to ensure that they are able to offer French language services on a permanent basis. There are 243 designated agencies in Ontario. We have 45 designated agencies in the North, with the majority located in the northeastern region.

What is the Active Offer and why is it so important?

An Active Offer means that you are proactively offering quality French language services which are available at all times, clearly communicated, visible, easily accessible and equivalent to the quality of services offered in English. The benefits to the patient is a better understanding, increased satisfaction and better self-care management. As a provider of services it means quality and safety of care, patient-centered approach and better coordination of services. Various tools and resources are available to assist you in the provision of an Active Offer. You do not have to be Francophone or a French-speaker to provide an Active Offer. The Réseau du mieux-être francophone du Nord de l’Ontario provides resources and tools in order to support your engagement in Active Offer. Active Offer training is available at activeoffertraining.ca.

The art of treating patients in French

Dr. Crystal Boulianne, NOSM Assistant Professor and alumna (MD Class of 2017, Family Medicine 2019), is committed to eliminating linguistic barriers that affect the quality of health care for the Francophone population of Kapuskasing. Learn more in this article, The Art of Treating Patients in French. Hear Dr. Boulianne tell us about her passion to offer equitable medical services for all her patients.

Recognizing our Francophone partners

Franco-Ontarian Day is also a wonderful opportunity for the School to celebrate the significant contributions of NOSM’s Francophone Reference Group (FRG) and its Francophone community and partners. The FRG works closely with the Francophone communities and provides recommendations to the Dean on how NOSM can respond to the needs of Francophones. The FRG’s membership represents various sectors within the Francophone community such as, health professionals, postsecondary institutions, decision-makers, NOSM medical students and residents and the public at large. We would like to take the opportunity to thank past and present committee members for their dedication and commitment to the improvement of French language and culture at NOSM.

As part of the new Strategic Plan 2020-2025 launching this fall, NOSM will renew the Francophone curriculum, build a Francophone health pathway and support research into Francophone health.

We are also working closely with staff and faculty on how best to integrate Francophone learning opportunities within the NOSM curriculum and add additional Francophone experiences for learners.

It’s exciting to be contributing to a future generation of physicians who will have the skills and knowledge needed to offer accessible services in French and ensure a culturally-safe environment for their patients.

We wish each and every one of you a wonderful Franco-Ontarian Day!

Please continue to follow my journey on Twitter @ddsv3 using #WhereisDrVerma

I welcome input on this blog and other issues you want to bring to my attention by email to dean@nosm.ca.

#TweetUp at NOSM and #NOSMRollCall
This week, medical students Madeleine Nolan (year two) and Justina Marianayagam (year three) organized a virtual Twitter in Medicine tutorial for all MD students. The goal of this presentation was to connect NOSM students with the dynamic network of Northern Ontario health-care providers on Twitter, and to begin sharing knowledge within that network. The #NOSMRollCall movement reached over 50 students and clinicians from across the province and Canada in the first two days, and responses continue to come in. I hope students continue to use this platform as a way to stay connected with up-to-date medical research, promote, advocate and learn from one another.

NOSM is the First to Experience Virtual Accreditation
NOSM will be the first medical school in Canada to experience and help pioneer a new virtual accreditation of its Undergraduate Medical Education program. The traditional accreditation, originally scheduled for spring, was postponed due to the pandemic. The new virtual accreditation is scheduled for the last week of October, 2020. The accreditation team is looking forward to the challenge and the new way of accreditation. To learn more, contact Cathy Powell, UME Accreditation Officer.

The Northern Ontario School of Medicine Launches Movement to Respect the Difference
The Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) is challenging high schools, communities, Canadian medical schools and the wider medical sector to join its Respect the Difference™ movement. The movement emphasizes actionable changes in organizational policy and in fostering a culture of kindness, respect, inclusivity and diversity.

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