COVID-19 RESOURCES

During these difficult times, I would like to express to each and every one of you my personal thanks for the efforts being made by you to fight this pandemic. Stressful life events truly test character and I am seeing and hearing many reports of people pulling together to care for others and stepping up to the task. Thank you for continuing to spread the word for social distancing and for all the efforts everyone is making to flatten the curve.

For everyone in self-isolation, it is very important in this phase of the pandemic, but it is understandably a difficult burden. In our endoscopy units, clinics, wards, research labs, and so on, there is a flurry of activity to eliminate unnecessary activities and to prepare for the next phases to come.

I recognize that many of you are already facing difficult choices on a case by case basis of how to define emergencies, organize staffing, adjust research activities and the like. Please remember that the next phase of pandemics – increased community transmission and nosocomial infection threaten to overwhelm our health care system. Resource shortages (staff, personal protective equipment (PPE), ventilators, etc.) are a very real threat so aggressive measures to limit volumes as much as possible are essential. Many of us may be asked to staff ER or ICUs as this pandemic evolves, priorities rapidly shift and we adapt to respond to the new strain on our healthcare system in unfamiliar ways. For your protection and for everyone around you, it is critical to familiarize yourself with personal protection policies in your institution and become well versed in applying droplet and airborne precautions. Strict adherence to infection control steps has shown to be equally important to the equipment itself as spread among health care workers due to lapses in protocol are a characteristic feature of the SARS pathogens.

At the same time, attending to our personal well-being and those of our loved ones, supporting each other, and maintaining our resilience in the face of these myriad challenges are equally vital issues. The landscape is rapidly changing, with new issues arising hour by hour. Though we have asked the office staff to work from home, the CAG office is still very well positioned to assist our members.

As we face this unprecedented event I am proud of the strengths of our organization and again thank you for the contributions each of you are making and continue to make. Remember that you are not alone during these challenging times. We will get through this together.

Kevin Waschke, MD.CM., FRCPC, CAGF, FASGE
President, CAG
Professor of Medicine (clinical)
Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology
Department of Medicine
McGill University