COVID-19: ONE YEAR LATER
City of Saskatoon employees from the transit division worked to keep public transit safe and clean for users during the pandemic. Photo credit: City of Saskatoon
In the May/June 2020 issue of The Professional Edge, we talked with various community leaders to gain a better perspective on how they were combatting COVID-19. At the time, the virus was a relative unknown and responses from government, health services and businesses as a whole on how to best approach the pandemic was ever-changing.
In this issue, we checked in with a couple of those that were profiled in the aforementioned issue to see what they’ve learned over the past year on how to combat COVID-19.
Buffalo Pound Water Treatment Facility
Ryan Johnson, P.Eng., General Manager
The year 2020 was unlike any we had dealt with in the past. As a critical service, the Buffalo Pound Water Treatment Corporation has been very appreciative of our dedicated staff who continued to perform their jobs with determination throughout.
We have also been very fortunate to maintain operations in the new norm without experiencing a single case of COVID-19 (as of Feb. 2021) among our employees or their immediate families.
We have experienced some difficulties in the supply of equipment or items required from suppliers, impacted by COVID-19, but we have had no issues with the supply of critical components or chemical to date.
Buffalo Pound Water Treatment Corporation employees take their responsibilities very seriously. We have all followed the Saskatchewan Health protocols as a minimum and, in many cases, we have been more restrictive.
We are back to operating at full staff, but we are doing many things differently now than in pre-COVID-19 times. Wearing masks in the plant is mandatory and frequent hand washing/sanitizing is also required.
Contractors are only allowed at the plant if their work is critical and if their safety protocols are approved. Visitors, tours, consultant meetings and sales calls have all been halted since mid-2020.
There is no risk of COVID-19 entering the potable water from our operations. Our largest risks are related to the protection and availability of our staff to operate and maintain the plant and the supply of our mission critical chemicals and materials.
As of Feb. 1, we have successfully mitigated these risks and are cautiously optimistic that we can continue operations with minimal issues throughout 2021.
Saskatchewan Health Authority
Doug Campbell, P.Eng., Director, Strategy and Innovation
It has been a hectic year in the Saskatchewan Health Authority. Through service slowdowns and surge planning in the spring to service resumption over the summer. Now, we’re back into service slowdown, surge plan activation and vaccine delivery.
The new challenges keep coming.
That being said, there are some engineering and leadership principles that continue to serve me and my team well:
- Prioritize and execute: We can’t focus on everything all the time and be successful. We pick the most important task, get it done well and then move to the next one.
- Be ready to change your plans at a moment’s notice: I’m part of the team that is allocating vaccine dosages throughout the province. As shipment numbers continue to change, our plans need to change with them. Speed saves lives, so we can’t wait for the perfect solution.
- Take time to connect: I’ve had the privilege of working with some of the best leaders in our organization. One of the traits they share is the desire to take care of their people.
They take the time to check in on how everyone on their team is doing and to ask how they can help better support each person. Good work can’t happen unless you take care of your people.
City of Saskatoon
– Jeff Jorgenson, P.Eng., City Manager with City of Saskatoon
In the spring of 2020, the City of Saskatoon ensured that all public transit was properly sanitized to help combat the spread of Covid-19. Photo credit: City of Saskatoon
First, my sincere condolences to everyone who has lost loved ones this past year. It has been heartbreaking. On behalf of all City of Saskatoon staff, we are truly sorry for your loss.
The global pandemic had impacts that no one predicted. Some sectors of our economy have thrived, some have been decimated and many are somewhere in between.
Over the past year I’ve spoken with countless people in both private industry and public service and it is inspiring to see the resilience of Saskatchewan people.
We are very proud that our critical services continued to operate uninterrupted, in large part because our teams quickly adapted to alternate delivery methods. Every single job at the City changed in some way.
Although we started out a bit clumsy at some things, we kept talking, learning and changing. We figured out new and better ways of doing our work. Every single person working at the City of Saskatoon played an essential role in our COVID-19 response.
We ensure our value of Safety in All We Do is at the forefront of all our work. When the pandemic is finally behind us at some point, we will not be returning to normal at the City of Saskatoon. We’ve learned too much. Like so many other organizations, we will emerge stronger, wiser and better than ever at serving our citizens. and turn this pandemic into a somewhat normal situation.”