Alberta’s former chief medical officer of health has been hired as B.C.’s new deputy provincial health officer on a six-month contract, the province’s top doctor said Wednesday.
Dr. Deena Hinshaw will take over the role while current deputy Dr. Martin Lavoie is on temporary assignment, Bonnie Henry said.
Hinshaw was appointed chief medical officer of health for Alberta in January 2019. Like most public health leaders who served during the COVID-19 pandemic, she was both lauded and criticized in her role. In November, she was replaced as Alberta’s top doctor.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said in her first days of office that she would recruit a new team of public health advisors, those who consider the COVID-19 pandemic an endemic disease.
Smith was outspoken in blaming Hinshaw and Alberta Health Services for the strain on the hospital system during successive waves of the virus.
In a news conference on Oct. 22, Smith told reporters: “A lot of the bad decisions were made by Alberta Health Services on the basis of bad advice from the chief medical officer of health.”
Much of the controversy around Hinshaw stemmed from Alberta’s dropping of restrictions in the summer of 2021, just before a fall wave that almost crashed the hospital system and saw restrictions return.
Other health officials applauded Hinshaw’s leadership as preventing far more deaths.
Health Minister Adrian Dix, during a press conference in Vancouver on Wednesday, called Hinshaw a great doctor who's done an outstanding job as a public health leader through the pandemic.
"She's not the first doctor to come from Alberta recently and she won't be the last," said Dix.
Canada's chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam, B.C.'s Dr. Bonnie Henry, and Hinshaw worked closely together and did an exceptional job under unprecedented pressure, said Dix, adding he has worked alongside Hinshaw and seen her skills up close.
"I can't imagine why you wouldn't want to hire an outstanding public health doctor like Dr. Hinshaw," said Dix. "We're very lucky to have her. I'm very proud we do."
Henry said the impact of the toxic drug crisis, pandemic, heat waves and wildfires in recent years has demonstrated the importance of the work of public health.
“I feel very fortunate to work alongside such talented and dedicated public health experts and I know their expertise will be a great assistance as we emerge from the pandemic and continue to address the many public health challenges facing the province,” Henry said in a news release.
ceharnett@timescolonist.com
