33 | This Week | Thursday, February 24, 2022 durhamregion.com Adorn your Home with Quality Windows and Doors 119 Consumers Drive, Whitby AdornHome.ca Made in Our Whitby Factory! Call us Today! 905-665-9565 our changed worldwor 905-926-1145 905-259-3285 www.upscalemusicstudios.com Themagic of music Upscale Music Studios will be celebrating their tenth anniversary this June. The business offers private instrumental and voice lessons, and in the past also offered group lessons, something they hope to do again in the future. Pre-COVID, the business was able to reach 350 students, including having a theatre company, which is something Owner Carolynne Pagett hopes to do again. "We truly want to see our students succeed and each teacher has a long-term connection to their students" she says, adding some students have already returned to in-person lessons, but others have opted for online only. "The instructors have all learned to teach online. It requires some adapting, but it has worked, and we have provided many students with an activity when they have been forced to quit others," Carolynne says. "Many have made significant progress and have done online examinations through the Royal Conservatory of Music and entered online competitions and participated in online recitals." She is proud of her business's ability to adapt to the changing world around them and pivoted quickly in 2020. Looking forward to the future, Carolynne hopes the business will continue to grow an important legacy for families like hers. "My great-grandmother died whenmy grandmother was 8 years old, and it was her dying wish that my grandmother have music lessons," Carolynne explains. "Each of my grandmothers' 7 children, including mymother, were musicians all of their lives. My two brothers and I took music lessons and it is my mission to pass that tradition on to as many students as I possibly can, which I intend to do for as long as I am able." 15 Harmony Rd.N. Oshawa Advetorial Upscale Music Studios Private Lessons, Theory Classes, Recitals, Royal Conservatory of Music Examinations, Competitions The impact of COVID-19 on Canadian health care is already evident. The pandemic widened pre-existing stress fractures in the sustainability and resilience of our health-care system. The urgency to mend these fractures is becoming greater by the day. There are three broad categories of repairs deserving swift attention: improving population health, modernizing health-care infrastructure and bolstering health human resources. The negative impact on population health will be challenging to overcome. Postponed diagnostics, surgeries and other delayed procedures have increased the amount of undiagnosed and untreated illness in our communities. Health disparities among those experiencing barriers to care may widen further. The proven collaboration between health system partners during the pandemic -- to enact public health protocols, open testing centres and launch local vaccination programs -- is worthy of continued investment by government as a means to safely and equitably recover the health of our population. The accelerated renewal of health-care infrastructure is also vital to the recovery effort. We cannot confront 21st-century health problems inside 100-year-old facilities. This was made evident during the pandemic as COVID-19 spread quickly through outdated hospital wards built to meet infection standards from a bygone era. Ambulances lined up outside facilities, lacking adequate bed capacity. If we do not expedite the renewal and expansion of outdated emergency departments, critical care units and in-patient wards, we will continue to be highly vulnerable to future pandemics. This risk increases exponentially if hiring gaps persist -- current and emerging -- in our health-care workforce. Prior to 2019, vacancies for health-care workers needed in growing hospital services were already not being filled. As one example, surgical nursing shortages were evident across Canada. This situation has worsened during the pandemic, as workers retire or exit health care for other reasons. It will be impossible to reduce the list of back- logged surgical procedures without the required nursing staff. It will also be very challenging to increase other hospital services, or expand capacity in long-term care and home care. More skilled workers were needed before the pandemic and the situation now poses a critical risk to the sustainability of quality health care. These challenges existed before COVID-19, but the risk of inaction has increased remarkably. This has been the most profound impact on health care arising from the pandemic. Rob MacIsaac is president and CEO of Hamilton Health Sciences and a member of Torstar's Hamilton Advisory Council. PANDEMIC EXACERBATES EXISTING HEALTH-CARE PROBLEMS OPINION: OUR CHANGED WORLD ACCELERATED RENEWAL OF INFRASTRUCTURE VITAL TO RECOVERY EFFORT, SAYS ROB MACISAAC ROB MACISAAC Column