FROM BEDSIDE TO BOARDROOM Physicians accept leadership positions to enact positive change for Sask. MDs
Pictured above: Dr. PJ Vertue; facing page: Dr. Lyle Williams By Girard Hengen After a particularly challenging day, Dr. Lyle Williams wonders why he ever agreed to serve as a chief of staff with the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA). Dr. Williams, a family physician from Unity, had been senior medical officer (SMO) for the former Heartland Health Region since 2014 after serving as deputy SMO. It’s not like he didn’t know what he was getting into. “There are definitely days when you ask yourself, ‘Why? Is this really the direction that I want to go?’ ” Dr. Williams told the SMA. “But there are days when it is rewarding to see improvement in the system.” Dr. Williams is passionate about rural medicine – as evidenced by his now 12-year tenure in Unity – and improving emergency care. From his position of chief of staff, northwest, for the SHA, he has a role in managing change. “Through a lot of work in Heartland, we were able to improve the ER sites. A lot of my push in the future will be trying to ensure that our rural ER sites provide as good care as possible,” he said. “I definitely found that being able to enact those changes is very rewarding, as well as seeing the improvement that we’ve had at those sites.”
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SMA DIGEST | FALL 2020
Dr. Williams was born in South Africa, raised in Botswana, and returned to South Africa for medical training. While in school he dabbled in student leadership, but it wasn’t until he was established in Unity that he became a physician leader within the former Heartland region. He initially said “no” when approached by co-chief of staff, Dr. Melissa McGee, to look at sharing the role for the SHA’s northwest region. The fact that duties were shared was a benefit. “There was also an opportunity to be a part of something new and different and to be able to watch it develop,” he said. “That was one of the big pulls to apply for the role.” *** Dr. PJ Vertue didn’t go looking for an administrative position with the SHA, but he’s glad it found him. Dr. Vertue, an emergency room physician in Moose Jaw for 12 years, was head of emergency services for two years, in 2011-13, under the former administrative structure. In that time, he came to understand the importance of physicians assuming leadership positions, if not for personal satisfaction, then for the good of the profession as a whole. “From previous experience, I noticed from the low number of physicians who take leadership positions that if you don’t, things will be done for you and perhaps not in a way you’d like,” he said.
