Anna Wolak

Community milestones … Pulver, Wolak, Broca & Moskovitz

photo - Lana Pulver — Lana Pulver *(photo from Twitter)*

Lana Pulver has agreed to lead the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver’s 2021 annual campaign. She comes to this role with vast volunteer experience. She has served the past two years as the campaign’s major gifts chair and served as both chair and vice-chair of women’s philanthropy. She served on Federation’s board of directors for five years, including on the executive committee. And, she served on the board of governors of the Jewish Community Foundation for 12 years, during which time she chaired both the professional advisory and development committees – not to mention the numerous roles she’s held with other organizations and her professional accomplishments.

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Family physician Dr. Anna Wolak, medical director at King Edward Medical Centre in Vancouver, has been appointed the associate head of the department of family medicine at Providence Health Care.

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Artist Lilian Broca was invited to contribute to Letters from the Pandemic: A 30th Anniversary Commemorative Public Writing Project of the Graduate Liberal Studies Program of Simon Fraser University. The project is hosted by The Ormsby Review and her letter, which was published in February, can be found at ormsbyreview.com/2021/02/14/broca-pandemic-magdalene. She addresses the letter to Mary Magdalene, the subject of her latest mosaics series.

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On March 11, Rabbi Dan Moskovitz of Temple Sholom and his family took the Oath of Canadian Citizenship, making them now both Canadian and American citizens.

Doctors urge mask use

Dr. Anna Wolak is one of the doctors who started Masks4BC. (photo from King Edward Medical Centre)

Mandatory use of masks, in addition to physical distancing and hand hygiene, will help save lives and the economy in the wake of the coronavirus, according to Masks4Canada, a nation-wide, grassroots group of healthcare professionals. The group was formed in May, while a provincial branch, Masks4BC, started operations in July.

Masks4Canada works to inform all levels of Canadian government and the public of the critical importance of wearing masks in reducing the transmission of COVID-19. The group promotes the use of masks in all indoor settings – such as schools, businesses, factories and stores – on public transport and outdoors, when physical distancing is not possible.

Jewish community member Dr. Anna Wolak, the medical director at Vancouver’s King Edward Medical Centre, is one of the doctors who started Masks4BC, following the implementation of mask mandates in Ontario and Alberta. As of this writing, such a mandate had not been instituted in British Columbia and Masks4Canada has written a public letter to the B.C. government, including Dr. Bonnie Henry, urging the adoption of one.

“A universal mask use mandate has always been up to the provincial health officer and the B.C. health minister. As numbers continue to rise, all we can do is vocalize the need for it and continue making sure the information about masks is available,” said Wolak, who also serves as a family physician and as a clinical assistant professor of family medicine at the University of British Columbia.

“As more businesses bring in mandatory mask use, it will make it easier to normalize their use. Scientific journals are also very good at making sure findings about the protectiveness of masks are available, but these publications are not typically read by the lay public and, therefore, need to be conveyed through various media channels,” Wolak added.

In its letter to the provincial government, Masks4Canada recommended that mandatory masking policies be applied with the acronym “ACT”: all indoor spaces outside the home (such as hospitals, schools, shops and businesses), crowds (any place where it is difficult to distance from others) and transit.

Though the B.C. government did not respond to the letter, the group has made an impact. Transportation authorities, including BC Transit and TransLink, have mandated masks on all public transit – buses, SkyTrain and SeaBus – and BC Ferries has followed suit. Individual businesses have likewise taken strides to implementing the wearing of masks to protect the public from infection.

According to Wolak, a mask mandate should have been introduced when numbers of daily infections were low, and before schools reopened. She emphasized, however, that it is not too late to bring about a mandate as long it happens before the respiratory viral season – which includes influenza, parainfluenza, RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) and the common cold – really gets underway.

“I think B.C. missed an opportunity to contain the virus,” Wolak told the Independent. “Ideally, I would like to see masks required in all indoor areas outside of the home, including classrooms, as well as masks in crowded outdoor areas. Of pressing importance is the need for a mask mandate in hospitals because, as surprising as this might sound, it is not currently the case.”

Masks4Canada does state that people with certain medical conditions or disabilities, along with young children, be exempt. Nonetheless, for most people they recommend the use of masks.

Further, they say there should be free distribution of masks to populations that may be vulnerable or at higher risk. Rather than focusing on penalties to enforce policy, the group encourages education to help the public understand how to wear a mask properly, as well as the importance of wearing masks for the protection of health and provincial economic recovery.

British Columbia and other provincial mask groups have seen an increase in the number of doctors supporting the cause. As other provinces put mandates in place, focus in those areas has broadened to other relevant issues, such as effective ventilation protocols and tracking school outbreaks.

Masks4Canada does not sell masks or medical supplies, nor does it endorse or partner with for-profit enterprises.

Wolak has had a significant media presence since helping create Masks4BC. She has appeared on CTV Vancouver, Global News, CTV News Ottawa and OMNI Television, among other TV news programs. She has also spoken on various news radio shows, including CKNW’s Lynda Steele Show, The Jill Bennett Show and the nationally broadcast Charles Adler Live.

For more information, go to masks4canada.org.

Sam Margolis has written for the Globe and Mail, the National Post, UPI and MSNBC.

Looking for a family doctor?

Arthur and Anna Wolak opened King Edward Medical Centre on Sept. 16. (photo from KEMC)

The King Edward Medical Centre, a full-service family practice in Vancouver offering comprehensive primary care, officially opened its doors on Sept. 16.

Located in King Edward Mall (at Oak Street), the centre was launched by physician Dr. Anna Wolak and her husband Arthur Wolak, PhD. It is open to individuals and families throughout the Greater Vancouver area.

Longstanding and active participants in the community, the Wolaks believe this is an opportune time to help those lacking a doctor.

“Given there are so many people without family doctors – and there will be more soon, as there is a slate of family doctors who will be retiring within the next few months – people will be looking for a family physician,” said Arthur Wolak, executive director of the medical centre.

Anna Wolak is a family physician and clinical assistant professor of family medicine at the University of British Columbia. Fluent in English and Filipino, her practice focuses on all ages.

She studied medicine at the University of the Philippines in Manila, the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Centre in Houston and the University of Adelaide in Australia. In 2007, upon completing her training in family medicine at the Royal Adelaide Hospital and the Modbury Public Hospital, also in Australia, she moved to Canada.

Before practising in Vancouver in 2009, Wolak had a large family practice in Osoyoos, and was an emergency room doctor at the South Okanagan General Hospital in Oliver.

She also has been active in medical education, having served on the planning committees of major medical conferences and programs. She spent many years as an active parent class representative at both the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver preschool and in various grades at Vancouver Talmud Torah.

In 2014, RBC selected her as one of the top 25 immigrants to the country for demonstrating “strong leadership within the medical community.”

“Despite my extensive medical background, I needed the support of an experienced businessperson to pursue this endeavour, as medical training doesn’t include business training,” she told the Independent. “My husband has the skills that I lack. Together, we decided that we could establish a medical centre in the heart of the local community that would fill a great need, as Vancouver is desperate for primary care physicians.”

An entrepreneur and writer who holds several university degrees, including a master’s in business administration, a doctorate in management and a master’s in Jewish studies, Arthur Wolak is the author of numerous articles and books on a wide range of issues, the most recent being The Development of Managerial Culture (Palgrave Macmillan) and Religion and Contemporary Management (Anthem Press).

Born and raised in Vancouver, he is also the president of CMI Chat Media, a marketing company he co-founded with his brother, Richard Wolak.

For his part, Wolak is very excited to serve as the executive director of King Edward Medical Centre, managing the many administrative aspects of the growing office. He had the idea for several years and, with their three children now all in school at Vancouver Talmud Torah, he convinced his wife that this was the time to create a place that would benefit the community.

“My father, Dr. Edward Wolak, was a physician and I was brought up with an understanding of the importance of helping people. It was a natural fit for me, even though my academic and professional background, though very broad, was not medical. Anna has the medical skills. I bring other skills to the centre,” he said.

His mother, Elizabeth Wolak, was renowned as both a music teacher and choral conductor, having established and led Jewish choirs in Vancouver for nearly 50 years. She was awarded the B.C. Community Achievement Award and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for her Jewish choral work in Canada.

Both his parents were Holocaust survivors from Poland.

Over the years, Arthur Wolak has been active in various Jewish organizations. He was treasurer of the Western Association of Holocaust Survivors – Families and Friends, on the advisory board of Vancouver’s Melton School of Adult Jewish Learning (an initiative of the Hebrew University) and on the planning committee of the Vancouver Jewish Film Festival. He is presently a member of the board of governors of Gratz College, the oldest independent and pluralistic college for Jewish studies in North America, situated in suburban Philadelphia.

King Edward Medical Centre is currently accepting new patients. The website is kemedical.ca.

Sam Margolis has written for the Globe and Mail, the National Post, UPI and MSNBC.