Over 100 physicians joined our Vancouver Community of Care in 2021 and, as tradition demands, VPSA hosted a welcoming event. For the second year in a row, the VPSA New Physician Dinner was held via Zoom. VPSA President Dr. Eric Yoshida and President Elect Dr. Alison Harris, along with VCH President and CEO Vivian Eliopoulos, VA Co-Senior Medical Director Dr. Ladan Sadrehashemi, and VC Senior Medical Director Dr. Michael Norbury all gave short remarks before attendees were divided into teams in breakout rooms for a trivia challenge. The goal of each New Physician Dinner is for colleagues to get to know one another as well as learn some interesting things about their new place of work.
“The original Vancouver General Hospital was founded in 1906; we have history, tradition, and honour,” said Dr. Yoshida. “In terms of leadership… I’m going to say that you don’t find leadership; it finds you. If you work hard and keep the needs of others and the community in mind, opportunities will come.”
“You’ve joined a particularly vibrant community,” added Dr. Harris. “VPSA runs a lot of activities, and we hope you will check these out via our weekly newsletter. We have groups in wellness, equity, diversity and inclusion, and leadership opportunities. We hope to soon form a group with a focus on climate change. Check out our monthly lunches at VGH and UBCH and meet your physician colleagues.”
“I did my first rotation at VGH in 1999 when I started my psychiatry residency and I’ve been an attending staff member since 2004,” recounted Dr. Sadrehashemi. “I wouldn’t want to work anywhere else… my home is here at VGH and VCH. I’ve taken on leadership roles because I care about our organization and want to be involved in making it the best place to work and the best place for patient care.”
“I came to VCH in 2015 from NHS Scotland,” said Dr. Norbury. “When I arrived, I had lots of quality improvement ideas and thoughts about how we could improve things for our medical staff as well as our patients. I was encouraged to take on leadership roles and since then it just escalated and now I find myself in this role.”
Dr. Norbury works closely with Vancouver Community’s Interim Vice President Bob Chapman. Together they oversee all VCH Vancouver’s community-based programs: community mental health; community primary care; urgent primary care (three centres); long-term care (32 sites); community addiction services; community palliative care services (including three hospices); home health and home support teams; and community medical affairs.
Vivian Eliopoulos joined VCH in 1982 and, except for a six-month stint in Kitimat, has been here ever since. “What I’ve always loved about working here is the focus we have on patients, clients, and residents. It’s why we’re all here and why we’re striving to provide the best care possible. The fact that we’re a large teaching/research/academic organization really brings clinicians together. We’re always striving to improve care. We’ve seen time and time again the positive impact of the research that has happened over time.”
She added, “Another thing that’s very important from a leadership perspective is the engagement and partnership with our medical staff. Our goal is for you to experience that from the frontlines through to the most senior levels in the organization. I’m a firm believer in dyads… you can’t run an organization as an administrator alone. The partnership with medical staff colleagues is absolutely integral.”
All the evening’s speakers encouraged new physicians (or any VA/VC physician!) to reach out to them. To get in touch:
- President and CEO Vivian Eliopoulos: eliopoulos@vch.ca
- Dr. Michael Norbury: Michael.Norbury@vch.ca
- Dr. Ladan Sadrehashemi: ladan.sadrehashemi@vch.ca
- Dr. Eric Yoshida: eric.yoshida@vch.ca
- Dr. Alison Harris: Alison.Harris@vch.ca