COVID-19: SHA leader, ER doctor leaving Saskatchewan

COVID-19, worked seemingly nonstop for two years to help plan and implement the province’s response to the pandemic in rural areas, and seen his efforts and those of his colleagues attacked by people who no longer trust science or the intentions of those who tirelessly strive to help others.And he’s had enough.

He’s leaving Saskatchewan.Wasko is an emergency room doctor and family physician in Swift Current. He’s also part of the Saskatchewan Health Authority executive team tasked with planning how to deliver health care to rural parts of the province.

COVID-19 — Saskatchewan reports 2,522 cases last week, 410 in hospital Wednesday On Tuesday he announced on Twitter he has accepted a new position with the Trillium Health Partners Hospital in Mississauga, Ont.The move from a rural area to an urban setting was deliberate, he said.“It’s been a very trying time,” he told Global News in an interview.“And at this point, as I see (the province) coming out of this, I think it’s an opportunity for me to be able to step back for a while and focus on something different, which would be my clinical practice.”He said the burden of being an ER doctor treating patients combined with the weight of leadership was substantial.Seeing so many patients die, especially during the fourth wave, “is traumatic for health-care workers, to have your patients pass on when they’re in your care repeatedly one after another,” he said.“And that’s traumatic for leaders to know that the people they’re wanting to lead, the people that they need to be there for, are experiencing that.”But events outside of the health-care system also added to the strain.