Hinshaw is appointed as a temporary deputy public health officer.

The westernmost province of B.C. announced Wednesday that the former chief medical officer who had been removed from her position in Alberta had accepted a new position with the public health leadership team.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw, who took on the role of the spokesperson for Alberta’s public health response to the COVID-19 epidemic, will serve as the deputy provincial health officer for British Columbia for a period of six months.

B.C. Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry released a statement saying, “I am happy to share new additions to our public health leadership team at the Office of the PHO to help boost B.C.’s readiness and response to present and future public health emergencies.”

B.C. has also “temporarily assigned” Dr. Andrew Larder for a period of time along with hiring Hinshaw. Prior to this, Larder served as a medical officer for Fraser and Interior Health.

As we recover from the epidemic and continue to address the numerous public health concerns the province is currently facing, I feel incredibly lucky to work with such bright and committed public health experts, Henry added.

In November, Hinshaw was ousted as Alberta’s top health authority. In her first days in office, the province’s new premier, Danielle Smith, declared that she would fire Hinshaw and appoint a new group of public health advisors who view COVID-19 as an endemic illness.

Smith has made it clear that she holds both Hinshaw and Alberta Health Services accountable for failing to provide Albertans with the greatest guidance and care when the hospital system nearly collapsed under the weight of the COVID-19 pandemic’s multiple waves.

According to Smith, who spoke to reporters on October 22, “A lot of the wrong decisions were taken by Alberta Health Services on the basis of inadequate advice from the chief medical officer of health.”

For more than three years, Hinshaw was Alberta’s chief medical health officer. Since 2010, she had previously worked in public health.

In the early years of the pandemic, Hinshaw, like Henry, became well-known throughout the province thanks to hundreds of regularly scheduled COVID-19 reports.

She received praise for taking a calm, measured approach in the early stages of the pandemic, but in 2021 she was embroiled in a string of scandals, including admitting with former premier Jason Kenney that the province lifted restrictions too quickly in the summer and receiving a bonus worth $228,000 that year.

Adrian Dix, the health minister for British Columbia, said he was “delighted” to hear that Hinshaw was moving to the west and that he appreciated the work she done when the pandemic was at its worst.

During a press conference, he added, “Alberta had its own issues, which I was competent to observe myself.”

“But I believe that this public health specialist is an amazing leader who has faced intense scrutiny that neither she nor anybody else would have anticipated. She performed exceptionally well “He went on.

“I don’t know why you wouldn’t want to recruit a superb public health physician like Dr. Hinshaw,” she said.