The Continuing Care Operators
Meet Leah & John
Leah Lechelt is the Executive Director of the Christian Health Association of Alberta with over 30 years of experience in the healthcare field. She has worked in a variety of organizations and holds an MSc in Public Health and has done significant research in the area of pandemic management.
John Kopek is the President and CEO of St. Michaels Health Group in Alberta. He has over 20 years of experience in executive management in the private, public, and not for profit sectors. He previously worked at the Edmonton Journal and is an active volunteer, fundraiser, and community developer.
Leah's experience
What changed after COVID began?
"Yeah, you know, this is going to sound, you probably won't hear this from many people, but my work actually has gotten easier with COVID. And the reason was that I'm in a provincial role. I-a year ago, I was working alone without any staff, and the board that I support is all over the province, mostly Edmonton, but but all over. And so I had a lot of challenges being visible and present and connected to board members that were all over and either they had to travel to to our board meetings or I had to travel to see them. So it was, you know, it was hard to keep that sense of connection. And when we all got moved to this platform, actually it it's harder in a lot of ways, but it's also easier in some ways. And I would say that that part of the workload was actually improved for me."
How did you adapt to COVID in the workplace?
"I have a bit of a unique vantage point, I guess, in that my master's degree is in protecting seniors during pandemics. Never imagined I would need to know what I needed to know. And I actually did a post-mortem on our our country's and our province's response to H1N1. So I actually felt like Chicken Little. I was the one saying the sky is falling. This is really serious. This could be a biggie, and the impact on seniors could be horrible. And I, I felt a bit weird being that person saying we need to mobilize. And I was working with Alberta Health Services and Alberta Health saying, "You know, all you guys are thinking about is the acute care system, which is, which is great. But there's the sector out there that's really, really vulnerable." And it just didn't...it wasn't resonating yet. I think it was too early. So I felt quite a high degree of accountability, I think, because I felt like I had some levels of concern that were maybe higher than other people's and I didn't feel like they were widely shared. So it was hard. It was hard to be a lone perspective then. Now I'm in good company."
Leah reflects on pandemic work
"...part of my work is internal, which is, you know, with the board and all of that and you know, we we have a fairly new board and I'm new to the board, and so I'm really grateful we had some time together pre-COVID. And in fact, COVID brought us way closer together because we had meetings every week because sometimes more often than that, because we had to navigate this and we had a really high level of trust that was just, I was just building, you know, we had just started to lay that groundwork as to how we wanted to work together.
And so COVID was the chance for us to be on Zoom every single week and test out that trust environment where we can have CEO-level people saying, I need some advice from my peers on how do we handle this, how do I handle this issue or that issue and and that sharing of information from others saying, "Yeah, we're struggling with the same thing too." So I found that to be, it was more the time intensity that we had that was really valuable. The part that's been really difficult is because I do a lot of advocacy work with with elected officials and they don't do Zoom. They don't want to do Zoom. I mean, they do, but that's that's not how they want to work. And so I find that their, their ability to bring new people into their circle is really limited because...right, like you might meet somebody casually face to face, make a connection and then have a follow up meeting. We're without that in-person connection? It's now way harder to be an outsider getting inside when all of, the only tool in your toolbox right now is Zoom.
Pandemic workplace: Object for museum collection
"So for me, I always wore my public health lens, which is...it's around social norms and public health norms. And it's interesting when I, I was in China years and years ago, and it was interesting to me that that the idea of a mask was a social norm and it's just culturally and geographically normalized there to wear a mask. And, and I remember thinking how weird it was to go out in public wearing a mask and seeing people wearing masks and thinking they must feel really weird. And then fast forward to now, how normalized it has become and how we have no seasonal influenza at all anywhere. Right? There's absolutely no cases. And so it's interesting because I've always been a hand sanitizer user, but I used to have to put it in my pocket and discreetly squirt a bit into my hands because I looked like a weirdo.
You know, two years ago using hand sanitizer, and now it's it's it's out there. It's like lip balm. You just put it on and you know, so yeah, it's it's interesting to me the normalization of those self-protective and common behaviors. So whether it's the mask, the hand sani, or not shaking hands. I see that shifting as well, the elbow bump. So I'm interested in those, those human interactions that we've we've pulled back a bit because there's always been international differences in those salutations with each other. And yeah, I think we're probably going to be more similar.
John's experience
What changed after COVID began?
"…although we're, you know, operating seniors health care facilities, you know, we're also, you know, areas with a pretty high level of activity. So we have a fair amount of visitors coming through during the day, you know, we would host internal meetings. We would have, you know, a fair amount of collaboration with staff, you know, internally as well. And you know, what's really changed is that, you know, because of the nature of the industry that we're in, we've really had to tighten, you know, visitation in our facilities and even internally. Just make sure that, you know, we're not moving around as much as we once once were.
So, you know, we take pride in normal times of really working in a non institutional environment, making it feel very much like a home. And, you know, unfortunately, we've had to turn it into a little bit more institutional by protecting people. And you know, personally, what I found is that, you know, my job has changed a lot. I mean, I would typically be in the office about 50 percent of the time out of the office, 50 percent of the time, you know, meeting with people trying to be in front of them and, you know, just communicating with people in different ways. And that's that's really changed for me.
I'm finding myself, I'm probably in the office 98 percent of the time now, and very seldomly go out. So, you know, we've had to evolve and change and start utilizing technology, you know, up until middle of March last year, I don't think I had ever been on a Zoom call. I mean, now this is my third Zoom call today, and it's, you know, already it's only 9:30 in the morning here. So, you know, we've really had to adapt and just find different ways to connect with people."
How did you adapt to COVID in the workplace?
"There was a, there was a time for me and actually, you know, it's Leah, I think can relate to this as well. You know, we had a board meeting through the Christian Health Association. I think we were over at Covenant Health at the time and, you know, would have been around beginning to middle of March. And, you know, we had all kind of heard in the news in advance that, you know, this was coming and it was going to be a concern. But you know, we were actually spending a fair amount of time on the agenda speaking about COVID.
And, you know, there were other CEOs, our board is made up of CEOs of, you know, various operators throughout the province. And you know, there were, you know, different degrees of concern. You know, there were some that, you know, it really felt that this was going to be no different than any other outbreak. And you know, we're going to get through this and there were others that were very, very concerned about it. And you know, we, you know, spent a lot of time talking about it at that point, and I could actually tell after that that, you know, this was different than most flu outbreaks and things too. And you know, we were probably going to be entering into a very, very unique time and one that was going to be a difficult time for the industry."
___ reflects on pandemic work
"The first thing that I just want to, you know, physical surrounding and how our work has changed. You know, even just, you know, things that used to be so easy about arriving, you know, in the morning and just, you know, walking through the door and going to your office, I mean, that's changed. We have, you know, screening stations in place. And, you know, there's...hand sanitizing stations, there's questionnaires that have to be filled out.
You have to make sure that you're wearing masks, goggles, everything. So it's a process to get in and out of this building right now as well. And you know, I think that's, you know, really the first line of defense and protection. But, you know, even, you know, when you're inside the building, I mean, it's continuous masking. It's, you know, having to wear proper eye guard. So just, you know, people that you used to see you just wearing normal workwear now are protected, faces are covered and it is, you know, much, much harder to communicate even internally with your staff and everyone else that's happening. You know what technology? I had to adapt very quickly, not only personally, but I have a board of directors that, you know, we would meet monthly and we would always do it in person, in person, you know, in different degrees of experience and technology.
I mean, some had computers, others didn't. You know, we had others that were, you know, older and aging, that too. So, you know, I've had to transition to have board meetings to make sure that we have quorums in place. And, you know, even to this day at year end, we're still having trouble setting some people up. You know, even internal staff meetings that I wouldn't want to meet with my executive team were shifted everything over to Zoom because we just don't want to have too many people in the room. You know, in answer to your question around, you know, how much of this is going to stick, my immediate answer would be, I hope not a lot of it, because in my world, I mean, I think that it's, you know, better to be in front of people whenever you can. That being said, Leah made a really good point, too, that there's a certain convenience aspect to being able to set things up in Zoom and, you know, some cost savings in that as well, you know, with limited travel and and stuff, too. So I'm I'm hoping and thinking that there will probably be a bit of a balance here. You know, when people will be able to figure out pretty quickly, you know, when do you need to meet in person? And you know, when can you just have a quick, you know, Zoom call and be equally effective?
Pandemic workplace: Object for museum collection
"...you know, really like an iPad is an example, is one that I thought it's been very important. And, you know, for a couple of reasons. One, I mean, technology has changed, you know, in the way that we work. But this was also an absolutely essential tool for us to keep families connected during this time as well. And when we shut down visitation where family members can go and visit mom and dad, that was tough on everyone.
I mean, it was tough on, you know, the the kids. It was tough on, you know, the parents. And we're dealing with issues around social isolation and depression, you know, among seniors, too, because, you know, they're in these facilities alone. And, you know, so we actually beefed up not only our staffing, but we did invest more in that because it was really the only opportunity that we had to keep people connected in some way. Was it ideal? No. But it did actually make a huge, huge difference, and I think it will continue, you know, in the future. And, you know, hopefully not to the same degree. I mean, actually, in some respects, some families were connected more, you know, during COVID than they were before because some families just don't have time to visit. So we were actually able to control more visits for them, right? And and stuff, too. So it was a, you know, I think technology is a big, big part of this for me."