'Slap in the face': Sask. premier's advice to medical workers hits sour note with doctor
A Saskatchewan doctor is speaking out following Premier Scott Moe's suggestion that medical professionals "really provide some guidance for Saskatchewan people" to help dispel COVID-19 misinformation.
"It was more than disheartening to hear you talk today about how doctors should *start* publicly educating and talking to media to counter pandemic misinformation, as if we haven’t been doing this kind of advocacy from the start," Tamara Hinz wrote in a series of tweets Tuesday evening.
Hinz said the premier's remarks during a news conference held in Regina felt like a "slap in the face."
While responding to reporter's questions during a media availability largely focused on responding to the results of Monday's federal election, Moe said he thought the medical community "could answer the bell" by providing "direct answers" concerning COVID-19 vaccines and their safety.
In her tweets, Hinz said this has already been happening.
"We’ve had countless one on one conversations with friends, family, and strangers to answer COVID-related questions and allay vaccine-related fears. All of this has been done unpaid during precious hours off with our families," the Saskatoon-based child and adolescent psychiatrist said.
"We do this as a labour of love and out of a sense of obligation."
Hinz also bristled at the premier's suggestion that medical professionals use "access to the media" and social media to engage with the community during the pandemic.
"Sir, we’ve been providing (guidance) all along, to the public but most importantly to you. We have wanted to provide collaboration and share our expertise, to let you know our concerns," Hinz said in her tweets, which also included links to open letters penned by physicians in the province throughout the pandemic.
"Today we are in our worst wave yet, but please don’t place any blame at our feet."
Saskatoon emergency physician Dr. Paul Olszynski said he was also discouraged by the premier’s comments as they take away from the educational work healthcare workers have already been doing throughout the pandemic both on social media and through media interviews.
“The reality is that we have seen an unprecedented level of engagement by the medical community, the healthcare community here in Saskatchewan, and it has not yet been acknowledged or promoted or supported in a meaningful way.”
Olszynski said the premier and his party have a wider reach and better access to people in the province who are vaccine hesitant or misinformed than many healthcare workers, and that his government can help inform people by retweeting and sharing posts made by physicians that are backed up by scientific evidence.
“We are in a critical fourth wave of this pandemic. There is a tremendous amount of suffering and death that is going to happen and that’s not something that we can change at this point at our current trajectory,” Olszynski said.
“This is the time for policy. (Healthcare workers) can continue to share, but I think it’s a deflection. I think the key here is that we need policies that have enforcement behind them.”
Saskatchewan Union of Nurses (SUN) president Tracy Zambory called Moe’s comments demoralizing and “tone deaf.”
“It was just a real blow to an already exhausted, tired workforce that has been showing up consistently since March 2020," she said.
“Taking absolutely no responsibility for the fact that they are to be leading this pandemic and they’re not taking any advice from consummate professionals that show up everyday to keep patients safe in this province, like the registered nurses, like the physicians. So, now we find ourselves in a very, very critical situation where we’re going to have to start making some heartbreaking decisions,” she told CTV News.
“The frontline workers deserve some respect, they deserve to be listened to. They deserve to be listened to when we tell you that these public health measures right now haven’t gone far enough.”
In a statement to CTV News Wednesday, Moe’s press secretary Julie Legott said Saskatchewan residents, including those in the medical community, can engage with their government on policies that have been put in place.
“We would ask Saskatchewan’s professional medical community to further engage directly with individuals to combat the misinformation that is being communicated through various channels. There is an opportunity for our medical professionals to discuss the benefits to individuals of being fully vaccinated and the benefits to society of having more people vaccinated,” the statement said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
'Anything to win': Trudeau says as Poilievre defends meeting protesters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
'One of the single most terrifying things ever': Ontario couple among passengers on sinking tour boat in Dominican Republic
A Toronto couple are speaking out about their 'extremely dangerous' experience on board a sinking tour boat in the Dominican Republic last week.
Boeing's financial woes continue, while families of crash victims urge U.S. to prosecute the company
Boeing said Wednesday that it lost US$355 million on falling revenue in the first quarter, another sign of the crisis gripping the aircraft manufacturer as it faces increasing scrutiny over the safety of its planes and accusations of shoddy work from a growing number of whistleblowers.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
"It's a bit of a complicated pattern; we've got a lot going on," said Jennifer Smith of the Meteorological Service of Canada in an interview with CTVNews.ca on Wednesday. "[As is] typical with weather, all of these things are related."