You can’t take anyone for granted

At the Sioux Lookout Meno Ya Win Health Centre, the chief of staff knows that patient well-being and physician well-being go hand-in-hand.

“I see my role as maintaining a culture of patient safety and quality of care, and a culture of physician wellness and health,” Dr. Laurel Laakso said. “That’s never more important than in these times.”

She knows burnout has increased. “Everyone is overworked.”

Within health-care institutions, leaders can play a huge role in supporting the mental health of their staff. Partly, that involves destigmatizing the issue. This past spring, Dr. Laakso invited Dr. Jon Novick, medical director for the OMA’s Physician Health Program, to do a grand rounds event in Sioux Lookout about physician mental health and substance use and available resources.

Dr. Laurel Laasko, chief of staff at Sioux Lookout Meno Ya Win Health Centre, sees her role as maintaining a culture of patient safety and quality of care, and a culture of physician wellness and health.

Dr. Laakso encourages her staff to seek help if needed and said there’s much more that those in charge can do. As a manager, you want people to feel confident in your leadership, but you also want them to know you understand their struggles. At staff meetings, she has talked about how she herself has dealt with stress. Showing vulnerability speaks volumes, she said.

Management approaches can add to a supportive culture, Dr. Laakso said. For instance, feeling that you lack control over your environment can add to workplace stress. So she keeps staff well-informed about issues facing the health centre. Transparency and allowing people to be part of decisions goes a long way, she added.

Other steps are simple yet effective. She makes a point of sending dozens of handwritten cards each month to staff to thank them for their efforts.

“You can’t take anyone for granted. I go out of my way to let them know that what they do is appreciated.”

Stuart Foxman is a Toronto-based writer.