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Is the pandemic an Olympic endurance test?

The 2020 Summer Olympics was held from July 23 to August 8, 2021 in Tokyo. It took a year longer than expected, but the opening ceremonies looked much like any other—athletes from around the world marched in with the flags of their countries and Japanese culture and artistry was on display.

Here’s a sample of how Canada performed, and as always, the moments of achievement that make us all proud and verklempt with joy.

Andre De Grasse set yet another Canadian record as he ran to the gold medal in the 200-metre final with a time of 19.62 seconds, having already captured the bronze medal in the 100-metre event. Swimming, my favourite watching pleasure, saw Maggie MacNeil get gold, and Kylie Masse get double silvers. The 4×100-metre medley team captured the bronze medal. Penny Oleksiak, who anchored as freestyle in her leg, won the seventh Olympic medal of her career—historically becoming Canada’s most decorated Olympian—also took bronze in the 200-metre freestyle. And it was silver for the women’s 3-metre synchronized springboard. Rowing (a solid sport for Canada) won gold for the women’s eight and the women’s pair received bronze medals. Amazingly, Maude Charron got gold in the Women’s 64kg weightlifting competition and others also claimed the podium for Canada. And, there were more gold medal finishes for Damian Warner in the decathlon and the thrilling victory for the women’s soccer team who defeated Sweden 3-2 on penalty kicks after the teams tied at one.

The Tokyo Olympics will go down in history for many reasons. This was the first Olympic Games to be postponed, the first to be held in the midst of a pandemic, and the first to be held without an audience. They will also be remembered in another first, namely for the mental health challenges of two of the world’s largest sports superstars: gymnast Simone Biles and tennis player Naomi Osaka.

Mental performance is related to the psychology of sports performance and uses mental skill training to prepare athletes for optimal performance and well being. The problem with mental performance is that it is intangible. With strength training, it’s easy to see physical improvement, but it’s much harder to witness improvements in self-confidence and mental resilience. The achievements of our Canadian team in face of all this year’s challenges and COVID-19 restrictions is nothing short of remarkable.

In our own ways, we have all been in Olympic style training to survive COVID-19. The pandemic has drastically changed life for all of us. Schools and universities have closed, exams and events postponed, and some services have been limited. Socializing with friends and wider family was tough, and in some places even punishable. Living in these circumstances has been hard on everyone’s social, physical and mental wellbeing.

As we play the evidence-based guessing game, it becomes even more challenging to figure out whether to mask or not to mask, to go back to school/work or not, and to anticipate if or when the fourth wave will happen. Add to that the determination of whether vaccination boosters will be needed, especially for those who had mixed vaccinations.

A population survey conducted in April and May 2020, found a three-fold increase in depression since the pandemic began. The researchers examined mental health issues relative to 13 pandemic-specific stressors, including loss of a job, death of someone close to you due to COVID-19, and financial problems. The more stressors people reported, the more likely they were to also report symptoms of anxiety and depression. A Kaiser Permanente survey in July 2020 found that the pandemic was taking an emotional toll, with a majority of U.S. adults (53%) saying that worry and stress related to COVID-19 has had a negative impact on their mental health.

These studies were done early in the pandemic. Yet, here we are now well into the summer of 2021 and the repeated exposure to cortisol (the stress hormone) isn’t letting up. Scientists are tracking a surge in depression with large data sets and international comparisons. A scoping review in April 2021 encourages positive innovations in connecting community-based care with physical and mental health, while accelerating digital services and policy change to address long-standing inequities.

The Olympics highlight the positive effect that exercise has on mental health, and also how poor mental well-being can affect athletic performance. Stress can be a double-edged sword. To cope with the influence of the pandemic brain—a term coined to describe the impact of the prolonged uncertainty and weirdness of our current world—exercise will help, along with good nutrition, sleep and a positive attitude.

Let’s continue to champion one another, the way we do with our Olympians, to help keep spirits high and strive for a healthier future.

Miigwetch, thank you, marsi, merci,

Dr. Sarita Verma
Dean, President and CEO
Northern Ontario School of Medicine

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

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We’re evolving: NOSM University update

The evolution of NOSM into NOSM University continues with much enthusiasm and there is work to be done. The Northern Ontario School of Medicine University Act was passed and received Royal Assent on June 3, 2021. We are awaiting Proclamation in Force for this Act, which is reliant on the Minister of Colleges and Universities and several legal and political processes. In the meantime, it’s business as usual. Our partnerships with Laurentian University and Lakehead University are highly valued. We are continually engaged in communications with leaders and stakeholders across the region and are planning a consultation and engagement process this fall. More details will follow regarding consultation, which includes a public survey, meetings, focus groups, interviews and town halls.



$300k gift from McConnell Foundation supports NOSM’s Centre for Social Accountability

NOSM’s new Centre for Social Accountability (CFSA) has received a grant valued at $300,000 from the McConnell Foundation—a private Canadian foundation that supports innovative approaches to social, cultural, economic and environmental challenges. The funds are earmarked for advocacy and research dissemination as well as administrative start-up costs for the Centre. Learn more.



Wasaya Airways supports NOSM students’ menstrual product drive 

People in rural and remote Northern Ontario communities can expect to pay double the price for the same menstrual products found in larger cities in Ontario. Organized by NOSM medical students, a menstrual product drive for the fly-in community of Fort Severn First Nation—the most northern community in Ontario—provided kits for every single menstruator in the community. Wasaya Airways has generously committed to covering all the shipping costs and will be delivering the products to the fly-in community. Read more.



Two new NOSM faculty section chairs

NOSM welcomes Drs. Amer Alaref and Justin Jagger, new Section Chairs of Radiology and Child and Adolescent Health respectively. Dr. Alaref began his term on July 1, 2021 and Dr. Jagger began on August 1, 2021. A special thank you to Drs. Anatoly Schuster and Sean Murray for their leadership and commitment to the role of Radiology and Child and Adolescent Section Chair respectively. Learn more.

NOSM welcomes two new faculty section chairs

 The Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) welcomes Drs. Amer Alaref and Justin Jagger, new Section Chairs of Radiology and Child and Adolescent Health respectively. Dr. Alaref began his term on July 1, 2021 and Dr. Jagger began on August 1, 2021.

“I am honoured to welcome Drs. Alaref and Jagger to their new roles at NOSM,” says Dr. Barb Zelek, Division Head, Clinical Sciences and practising rural generalist family physician in Marathon. “I appreciate their enthusiasm and look forward to their contributions as part of the wonderful team of Section Chairs at NOSM.”

Dr. Amer Alaref is a staff radiologist at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre (TBRHSC) and an Assistant Professor of Radiology at NOSM. He received his MD and completed his Radiology residency program from Damascus University, Syria. Prior to joining NOSM and TBRHSC, Dr. Alaref did several fellowships at McMaster, McGill and the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO). Dr. Alaref brings extensive research experience to his new position.

Dr. Justin Jagger is a pediatrician currently practising at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre. He is a NOSM Assistant Professor in the Section Child and Adolescent Health. He is a graduate of the MD program at Western University (2004) and completed a pediatrics residency at Queen’s University (2009). Dr. Jagger is a longstanding and respected clinical preceptor at NOSM and was the former Chief of Pediatrics at TBRHSC.

A special thank you to Drs. Anatoly Schuster and Sean Murray for their leadership and commitment to the role of Radiology and Child and Adolescent Section Chair respectively. For further information about our Section Chairs, please visit the NOSM Division Chair/Section Chair webpage.

 

 

$300k financial contribution from McConnell Foundation supports NOSM’s Center for Social Accountability

The Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) has received $300k from the McConnell Foundation for its new Center for Social Accountability (CFSA). The McConnell Foundation is a private Canadian foundation that contributes to diverse and innovative approaches to address community resilience, reconciliation, and climate change. The funds are earmarked for education and research dissemination as well as administrative start-up costs for the Center.

“We thank the McConnell Foundation for supporting both the vision and the development of NOSM’s Center for Social Accountability,” says Dr. Sarita Verma, NOSM Dean, President and CEO. “The Center will lead innovation in education and research on social accountability to improve health care delivery. Increasing our focus on Northern Ontario, we will address the unique social challenges and barriers to equitable health care that communities face. ”

“The McConnell Foundation is proud to support the Northern Ontario School of Medicine with the creation of a first-of-its-kind Center for Social Accountability,” says Lili-Anna Pereša, President and CEO of the McConnell Foundation. “We believe that the NOSM model of reframing health care from biomedical to social-medical with patients as partners is a necessary and welcome social innovation. We look forward to seeing its impact across Northern Ontario and in rural, Francophone and Indigenous  communities throughout Canada. ”

The Center for Social Accountability is unique in Canada with the core mandate of improving the health of Northern Ontarians, reaching beyond NOSM’s founding commitment to be socially accountable in education, research programs and in advocacy for health equity. Its inaugural academic Director, Dr. Erin Cameron, says the Center is well poised with the support of a network of researchers, partners and contributors already in place.

This new interdisciplinary Center for Social Accountability will be dedicated to leading-edge population health, primary care research to innovate new models of education, incubate research in social accountability and advocate about issues that address inequitable health care in the North such as poverty, water insecurity and climate change. The CFSA was made possible with support of a $1.2 million donation from Dr. Hugh Robertson , which was earmarked to address social accountability, health inequity, advocacy for marginalized populations and access to care in Northern Ontario.

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About the Northern Ontario School of Medicine
The Northern Ontario School of Medicine(NOSM) is an award-winning socially accountable medical school renowned for its innovative model of distributed, community-engaged education and research. With a focus on diversity, inclusion, and advocacy for health equity, NOSM relies on the commitment and expertise of the peoples and communities of Northern Ontario to educate health-care professionals to practice in Indigenous, Francophone, rural, remote and underserved communities. NOSM’s graduates, faculty, learners and staff are changemakers who lead health-system transformation in Northern Ontario. The School is a recipient of the Charles Boelen International Social Accountability Award from the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada and the prestigious ASPIRE award, which recognize international excellence in social accountability and medical education.

About the McConnell Foundation
The McConnell Foundation is a private Canadian foundation that contributes to diverse and innovative approaches to address community resilience, reconciliation, and climate change. We envision a future in which our economy and social systems promote the thriving of all people, and in which the natural environment is stewarded for generations to come. We see all sectors working together to address climate change, to help foster reconciliation, and unleash individual creativity and organizational resources to solve social challenges and strengthen communities. We strive for a resilient, inclusive and sustainable society that can successfully address its complex challenges.

For further information, please contact: news@nosm.ca

NOSM University