Appealing to the Heart and Head: Dr. Roger Wong on the Importance of Compassion, Communication and Cultural Sensitivity in Knowledge Exchange
May 18, 2021
At the height of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, geriatric medicine expert Dr. Roger Wong was called to give his expert opinion to a national task force on COVID-19 and long-term care (LTC) convened by Canada’s chief science advisor, as well as speak as an expert witness in the Senate of Canada.
Standing before the task force felt like a poignant moment to Dr. Wong, a medical doctor and UBC’s Vice Dean of Education in the Faculty of Medicine. “When I think back to the earliest stages of my career, I never imagined I would contribute at the national level, sharing my learnings from an entire professional career – learnings which I felt were unfolding all at once during that intense, short period of time [of the pandemic’s first wave].”
Indeed, the focus on seniors’ care during the pandemic was critical. Canada’s long-term care homes were hit especially hard by the pandemic, with outbreaks and deaths devastating hundreds of facilities across the country. Residents of long-term care homes were disproportionately at risk of being infected by theSARS-CoV-2 virus and of developing serious outcomes from COVID-19. Specific populations of seniors, such as those of lower socioeconomic status, were even more profoundly impacted by the illness and pandemic.
- Health, safety and wellbeing
- Our people
- Feature story
