Pandemic leadership: “Gaps that exist in peacetime will be chasms that exist during emergency time”

Credit: The Trauma & Recovery Research Unit

“It was that big black hole of it’s not going to be enough. Like, how am I going to stay level-headed?”

Thirty-three communities scattered across 1.2 million square kilometres. This is the Northwest Territories, where Dr. Kami Kandola serves as Chief Public Health Officer.

In this interview, Kami addresses specific challenges of serving in the North: limited infrastructure, access concerns due to geography and weather, the need to support quick decision-making and action across this vast territory.

Kami speaks about the unique cultural concerns that her team incorporated into Public Health decision-making, such as ensuring protections for the Elders of the NWT’s Indigenous communities. These included very strict isolation protocols and travel restrictions, as she recognized that once introduced, the virus would spread quickly within the communities’ multi-generational households.

The duration of the pandemic took a toll. Kami notes that the H1N1 outbreak was contained within five months. However, with COVID-19, “it just didn’t seem like it was going to be over. Like, this is never going to end. Like, we are chasing our tails.”

Kami’s service has come at personal cost. She missed her son’s first birthday during the H1N1 outbreak, and says of the prolonged COVID pandemic: “Your husband’s at home and your son’s at home, and you come home and you’re eating cold supper and they’ve moved on… they’re bonding and they’re developing memories… I won’t be able to get that back.”

Dr. Kandola leaned on her faith, her passion, her sense of purpose and commitment for her work to keep herself going. Despite she and her staff working late evenings and weekends, they felt “it was never going to be enough.”

These hard circumstances led to her team adapting and becoming more creative, taking on more responsibilities in areas where they had expertise. As the leader, Kami fostered this autonomy: “because a pandemic is not a scenario where you can micromanage.”

She notes that some of her staff experienced personal impacts as their relationships suffered. “It was so hard to see them pay the price,” she says. “But the problem was there was no one else.” She supported her staff with a full-day retreat once the pandemic was declared over in the NWT. However, she notes that her staff — who “became like a family… (and) kind of pulled ourselves out together” — are still recovering from the experiences.

Kami represents and reflects the strength, the commitment, and the passion of the people who currently constitute Canada’s healthcare system.

Before, through, and after the pandemic, people like her work long and exhausting hours for a purpose they believe to be larger than themselves. This often comes at the cost of their own health and well-being.

These people deserve our gratitude and support.

Thank you for your sacrifices and your service, Dr. Kami Kandola.