Infectious disease doctors have been in the spotlight throughout the pandemic. Here at Oak Valley Health’s Markham Stouffville Hospital, our infectious disease doctors’ days are filled with consulting and assessing every COVID-19 patient and their families, enrolling patients in clinical trials, following up with discharged patients, staying on top of all the most recent information and data, guidelines and best practices, and handling all the requests for rapid COVID-19 tests. Oh, and that’s just COVID-19. Dr. Anthony La Delfa is still the go-to on all of the other infectious diseases that come through the hospital.
“Essential patient care happens between meetings and the administrative work that is so necessary every day for infection control and COVID-19 pandemic work. Meetings with the Senior Leadership Team, the COVID-19 Assessment Centre, the HUB team (providing outreach to long-term care and congregate care settings), and the infection prevention and control (IPAC) team keep my days pretty full,” Dr. La Delfa explained when asked about a normal day.
The health care sector would not function without everyone’s unwavering care, and they deserve so much credit for their hard work and dedication.
Infectious Diseases (ID) is a specialty that Dr. La Delfa discovered his passion for during his residency days when he recognised that the prevention and treatment of infection would have benefits not only to individual patients but to whole populations. That has never been more evident than during this pandemic.
Anthony is inspired each day by all of the frontline health care staff: “They have been warriors since the beginning of the pandemic, and many have worked non-stop in hospital and congregate care facilities providing care to the most ill and vulnerable people. The health care sector would not function without everyone’s unwavering care, and they deserve so much credit for their hard work and dedication.”
When he is not one of the frontline warriors working so tirelessly, Anthony loves spending time with his wife and twin daughters. He, like all of us, is looking forward to big family get-togethers when the pandemic is over.