Dr. Gordon Dow
“We’re Seeing Cooperation Like Never Before.”
Dr. Gordon Dow has been doing infectious disease work for over thirty years, twenty-six of those years in Moncton. He has always had a very full schedule, but what he has seen since March 2020 has been unlike anything he’s experienced in his long and esteemed career.
"When the pandemic hit, a whole new layer of work was added to our already full schedules. It has required that we completely change the way we deliver healthcare."
Beyond his own role helping to spearhead the fight against COVID, Dr. Dow has seen a major shift in how everyone in the team has rallied together to go that extra mile at the hospital.
“Everyone at Horizon has really stepped up. We’re seeing cooperation between people in the hospital like we’ve never seen before, between both Regional Health Authorities like we’ve never seen before, between New Brunswickers and our Public Health. I’ve never seen a situation where everybody’s so aligned around a common purpose. That’s incredibly powerful."
On the frontline in the hospital, he is quick to highlight the hard work of the Housekeeping staff.
"One of the most important things in a pandemic is a clean hospital. Environmental Services staff are often invisible behind the scenes, but they’re not invisible to us. They are very thorough, working around the clock to keep our hospital safe and clean. They’re doing a phenomenal job."
Dr. Dow is also quick to praise the many others who have risen to meet the many challenges faced on a daily basis.
“Our facilities and engineering staff have completely reconfigured patient waiting areas, emergency rooms, trauma areas, and our intensive care units. They have put in negative pressure rooms for COVID patients. They have gone above and beyond and done a spectacular job.”
“In addition, Employee Health Services has done an incredible job keeping our employees safe throughout this."
"Our infection control nurses have been working overtime and are on call 24 hours a day. They’ve gone to every healthcare worker to ensure they’ve learned how to use personal protective equipment properly. There have been numerous hospital outbreaks of COVID-19 right across North America, where hospital staff have transmitted this virus to their patients, and where patients have transmitted virus to their caregivers. Thanks to the leadership of infection prevention and control nurses and our employee health services, there has not been a single COVID-19 transmission between healthcare workers and patients at Horizon facilities.”
Dr. Dow is grateful for his colleagues who have seamlessly taken on some of his other patient load, so he can focus more of his time on pandemic planning.
“New Brunswick has done a fabulous job keeping our COVID-19 rates low, and it’s due to two things. It starts first with our proactive public health policy, which has focused on an elimination strategy rather than a suppression strategy. This strategy can only work with an essential second element, a public that understands and follows these crucial public health policies. The people of New Brunswick deserve a huge amount of credit for the way they’ve stepped up alongside us and really cooperated. People are worn out and yet they’re still in it for the long haul so I am really proud of New Brunswickers. They’re doing a phenomenal job.” – Dr. Gordon Dow
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