Meet Dr. Paul Scotton, Chief of Emergency Medicine

Having worked at our hospital for 32 years, Dr. Paul Scotton, Chief of Emergency Medicine, has shared in many of the more difficult times in our history. This pandemic was certainly a challenge unlike any other he had experienced in his career.

Initially, the greatest concern was keeping up with the changes in how to treat patients. Physicians and all health care professionals needed to stay on top of frequent updates in directives and guidance. It felt like they were flying by the seat of their pants.

While many feared the unknown that the virus presented the Emergency Department was in a unique position. “In the Emergency Department we accepted the pandemic and knew that this was what we were in medicine for. We came together and dealt with it just like all the other uncertainties we are used to combating in the Emergency Department,” shared Dr. Scotton.

In the early days of the pandemic, we were told that people were afraid to come to the hospital.  The fear of contradicting COVID-19 outweighed getting the care they needed. With work slowing down many physicians in the Emergency Department volunteered to help set up and staff the COVID-19 Assessment Centre at Headwaters.

Eventually, more patients started to come to hospital again including those who were positive for the virus. Early on even clinics were not seeing patients who had COVID-19 and the Emergency Department was the only line of defense helping them.