Katya Pogrebtsova

Katya Pogrebtsova is a Senior Consultant in Unity Health Toronto’s Leadership & Organizational Development (L&OD) team. She works with leaders and their teams across the system to identify goals and work toward them through programs like workshops and coaching. In early January, she was redeployed to the Contact Tracing Team to support Occupational Health and Safety. She shares some of her impressions here.

Did you volunteer?

Although I was basically “voluntold” to engage in my redeployment work, I think my Director Jeff Dionne knew I was curious about and open to helping with whatever was needed during this time. 

What do you do on the Contact Tracing Team?

My role consists of calling Unity Health employees who received a positive COVID-19 PCR test result to gather information for our Occupational Health & Safety contact tracing form. It’s critical for calculating the employee’s isolation period, ensuring they have all the information and resources (such as Rapid Antigen tests) for a safe return to work, and preventing spread to other patients and employees when possible. Although the form is available on our intranet, many employees are unable to access it during isolation, or prefer to have someone guide them through it. Many have been greatly appreciative of the time we take to share information and just listen.

What was the learning curve like?

When me and my L&OD colleague, Zahra Sunderji, were asked to help the Contact Tracing Team, there was a massive backlog of these calls needing to be made and a lot of project ends to tie up with our regular work. On my first day I barely got through half the calls on my list. Once I became more familiar with the form and how best to ask certain questions and share key information, I caught up to speed. My redeployment manager, Caroline Pullan, has been incredibly helpful. We’ve also watched our daily list of these backlog calls dwindle down after days of consistent back-to-back calling.

What skills do you bring from your home job that you have applied in your new position?

There is definitely a shared critical thinking and communication element, allowing me to use many of my consulting skills. For instance, gathering the most accurate information requires me to ask the right follow-up questions and prompt people’s often fuzzy memories of events and clarify grey areas. Just as I love connecting with people in my regular consulting work, I’m thankful for my time getting to know the many incredible people across Unity Health during my redeployment.​

Has it increased your appreciation for staff in your new area?

Absolutely. I had a basic understanding of how Occupational Health & Safety keeps us safe during COVID, but now I’ve witnessed the meticulous behind-the-scenes work that goes into developing and ensuring understanding of and compliance with our COVID-19 protocols. The team behind the creation of this contact tracing form worked incredibly hard and quickly to develop a user-friendly form that saves everyone time and helps to provide some peace of mind for those isolating at home with COVID-19. I am truly impressed with my redeployment manager and the entire team. 

–As told to Laura Boast. This interview has been edited and condensed

Redeployment profiles