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The Making Waves Awards recognize the exemplary efforts and contributions of employees, physicians, researchers and volunteers who advance Nova Scotia Health’s values and strategic directions. The Leadership Excellence Award – Employee Leader recognizes one outstanding employee leader who consistently delivers their role in a manner aligned to the vision, mission and values of our organization.
The 2023 recipient of the Leadership Excellence Award – Employee Leader was Paula Burghgraef, Director of Strategic Policy and Planning for Public Health. She was recognized for her exceptional leadership during the pandemic as Interim Director of COVID-19 Immunizations.
We asked her about her experiences leading a dedicated team through a challenging time.
Q&A with Paula Burghgraef
Tell us a bit about your background and your role during the pandemic?
I joined Public Health in 2018 as a Health Protection Manager for the Science and Systems Performance Team. When the pandemic began, I initially started supporting the Public Health Incident Management Team and then helped establish the Training and Quality Assurance Team with my colleague Lori McCracken.
When immunization was on the horizon, my focus moved towards helping to offer mass immunization clinics and coordinate vaccine distribution.
The pandemic prompted a significant shift in the work of Public Health staff, particularly for your team which coordinated the distribution of millions of COVID-19 vaccines across the province. What was your approach for managing staff effectively during this time?
Information was changing rapidly, as was the volume of work. Prior to the pandemic, the Provincial BioDepot distributed approximately 750,000 doses of vaccine annually. During the first six months of mass immunization efforts, we distributed over one million doses of COVID-19 vaccine alone. We rapidly grew our team to support these functions and additional volume of work.
Frequent communication was necessary, so we held regular team meetings and morning huddles. The team was engaged in daily problem solving as we established new processes to get the vaccine out the door and into the arms of Nova Scotians. We used a lot of ‘test and try’ solutions and refined our practices based on lessons learned.
Looking back on this time, do you have any advice for people who are leading through an emergency response?
Keep calm, identify the immediate issues that need to be addressed and engage others in active solution finding activities. Be open to new opportunities and ensure your team is focused on the common purpose and objectives. Most of all, planning is critical and taking a moment to pause and plan will save time later.
What does it mean to you to receive the Leadership Excellence Award?
I am very humbled that my team nominated me for this award. I feel that without a supportive team, the work we achieved would not have been possible. In terms of receiving the Leadership Excellence Award, I feel very privileged to work alongside great people, and I am grateful for the Public Health leaders I work with and their mentorship and support.
Congratulations to Paula, and all recipients of the 2023 Making Waves Awards.
If you are a Nova Scotia Health employee interested in nominating a colleague, nominations are now open for the 2024 awards until Nov. 15. learn more here about the categories they may be eligible for and nominate them here!