The pandemic’s unexpected army (Toronto Star)

Excerpt from the Toronto Star article 'The pandemic's unexpected army' (December 19, 2020)

Dr. Elliot Lass, who was completing a family medicine residency from the University of Toronto at the outset of the pandemic, also found himself called to step up and to step into new shoes. Within days of the pandemic’s announcement, a text came in while he was completing his residency within the Sinai Health System that extra hands were needed in Mount Sinai Hospital’s emergency department.   

“I immediately asked my supervisor if I could be redeployed and then spent the entire day there in the emergency — swabbing people who had presumed COVID,” he says, adding that hundreds of people were pouring in after returning from trips all over the world.

“They were of course having trouble handling the volume and I was very eager to help, so together with the Sinai leadership I helped them to create their COVID Assessment Centre, which is the same one they use today.”

He says that looking back now, he is proud of the work he was able to do during this time, and emphasizes that he is equally proud, but not surprised, that so many of his fellow healthcare professionals also pivoted quickly and courageously in a time of need. 

“It is a privilege to be working during this pandemic, and to be helping my community,” he says, adding that he has since chosen to obtain additional education in caring for older adults and is now a Temerty Faculty of Medicine ‘Care of the Elderly’ resident as well as a family physician.

“It was something I was always planning on doing,” says Dr. Lass. “I have always been very close to my grandparents — but this experience reinvigorated that goal for me and reminded me that I want to be the best long-term-care physician I can possibly be.”

Read more in the Toronto Star.