Pam Busby honoured with Queen Jubilee medal
Mayor of Leader, Aaron Wenzel presented the Queen Jubilee Medal to Pam Busby at the Trust Advisory Auction in Leader last month. The award had officially been presented at an event held by SUMA in the spring, but the Town of Leader wished to recognize Pam locally as well.
On behalf of the Council of the Town of Leader, Mayor Aaron Wenzel presented the medal to Pam and detailed her extensive contributions to the community. The following is Mayor Wenzel’s speech, which he delivered on that occasion.
Pam has been an advocate for rural healthcare and primary health for the Leader area for many years. Much of the work Pam does is out of the public eye; therefore, many are not aware of all she has done for us. This is long overdue, and it is time to shine a spotlight on Pam for her dedication and hard work.
On behalf of the Council of the Town of Leader, Mayor Aaron Wenzel presented the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal to Pam Busby. SUBMITTED
Pam’s journey with healthcare began when she was elected as Mayor of Leader in 2000, not to mention she was the first female Mayor of Leader. This was the year she was appointed to the Leader and District Trust Advisory Committee. Pam had an active role on this committee and worked with the health region to collect donations, oversee the bank account, and assist the committee with filling the requests from the hospital for equipment and furnishings they needed.
In 2001, Pam and former Reeve of the RM of Happyland, Tim Geiger, formed the Leader and District Doctor Recruitment Committee. These two worked long hours looking to fill doctor vacancies at our hospital, which at the time was a never-ending job. Pam also played a crucial role in the negotiations with the Ministry of Health to bring a contract doctor to Leader and succeeded. Back then, all doctors in the province were paid for service, so this was a big step in improving doctor retention. The first contract doctor Leader had was Dr. Grevelink. He was set up in a newly renovated clinic, which is now home to D & D Styling.
The next project for Pam was meeting with the Ministry of Health, Cypress Health Region and the Heartland Health Region to negotiate a contract that would see the two health regions working together, something unheard of at that time, to provide medical services in Eatonia. Today, the doctors from the Leader & District Integrated Healthcare facility have clinic days in Eatonia and Cabri.
To the doctors who have come and gone, Pam is known as the “Mother of the Doctors,” a title she was given by one of the many doctors she has been involved in recruiting over the years. The doctors who come to Leader know that they will have a place to stay and someone who is looking out for them. One could say that we have one of the best recruitment rates in Saskatchewan, largely thanks to Pam. When a new doctor arrives, Pam is their first point of contact. She has set up living arrangements, toured them around Town, helped with setting up bank accounts, insurance, and utilities, sourced furnishings for their homes if needed, and even assisted them with immigration issues. There are so many tasks that Pam does for these doctors that there are too many to name. She is there for the doctors 24/7 and the person they call when troubles arise.
With the current staff shortages in our area and all across Saskatchewan and Canada, Pam has branched out and is now assisting the contract nurses and other healthcare professionals coming to work at the Leader and District Integrated Facility. Just as she does when a doctor arrives, Pam makes sure those coming have suitable accommodations and fills any other needs they may have. The Doctor Recruitment Committee owns one house in Leader, currently occupied by Dr. Hawk, and rents two apartments. All of these are looked after by Pam. I guess she can add property manager to her resume.
In 2003, Pam’s time as Mayor came to an end, but Council saw the value in her dedication to healthcare and asked her to stay on these committees as a Town appointed representative. Pam says, “from that point on, I just continued doing what I had been doing and added a few more jobs along the way.”
Over the years, Pam has sat on many different committees and boards, including having been appointed to the Cypress Health Region’s Board of Directors by the Ministry of Health, held a position on the Quality as a Business Strategy Committee, which promoted quality care for the residents of Saskatchewan. Over the coming years, she was a Patient Family Advocate for District 4 of the Saskatchewan Health Authority and represented Leader and area on the Dr. Noble Irwin Foundation executive board. Recently, Pam was honoured when the Saskatchewan Health Authority asked her to be a part of a new committee called Healthcare Excellence Canada, which was formed to strengthen primary care in northern, rural and remote communities across Canada. This committee is funded by the Federal Government and has committee members from all across Canada.
Pam’s passion for Primary healthcare came from a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity in 2011. She was invited to attend the Nuka Conference in Anchorage, Alaska. Healthcare professionals from all over the world observed an organization called South Central Foundations, which delivered excellent leading-edge healthcare to 13 rural and remote tribes. Pam was able to bring back valuable ideas from this conference and see how they could fit within our system.
Pam completed a number of courses and certifications over the years. She has obtained a Professional Director designation after completing the Health Director Education and Certification Program and received a certificate from John Black and Associates for successfully completing Lean Training and participating in Kaizen Activities in the Cypress Health Region.
During the concept and design phase of the Leader & District Integrated Facility, Pam attended all the meetings, mock-up nights and worked with the municipalities to fundraise their portion of the cost for the new facility. When the Leader & District Integrated Healthcare Facility opened its doors in September of 2018, all of Pam’s and many others' hard work became a reality.
As you can see, over the past 23 years, Pam has devoted her time and knowledge to grow rural and primary health in our area and our province. She has had many roles and even more accomplishments that she should be very proud of. Our communities have benefited greatly from Pam’s dedication and heart.