WECHU CEO reflects on COVID-19 pandemic on her retirement day
'It's not over yet but I think we're moving forward,' says Theresa Marentette
For Theresa Marentette, responding to the worst public health crisis in generations was the final act in a public health career spanning over 30 years.
Marentette, who is the CEO and chief nursing officer of the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit, is retiring on Wednesday.
She joined CBC Radio's Windsor Morning on her retirement day to reflect on her experience and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Over the last 15 months, Marentette along with medical officer of health Dr. Wajid Ahmed has been the face of the COVID-19 response in Windsor-Essex, delivering updates and advice to the public as the pandemic persisted through three deadly waves.
Marentette said the hardest part for her has been the lives the community has lost to COVID-19. One of her darkest days was during the second wave when she reported the death of a man who was just 27 when he succumbed to COVID-19.
"I have three children and I have a daughter who's the exact same age, and it was just the realization that we could lose people so young," she said. "It was a difficult day."
Since the pandemic began in March 2020, 16,820 cases of COVID-19 have been diagnosed in the region, and 434 people have died after contracting COVID-19.
'A very good position'
Along with other duties including ongoing work to set up a supervised consumption site, Marentette has been at the helm for the COVID-19 vaccination rollout.
So far, those efforts have seen more than 40 per cent of Windsor-Essex adults fully vaccinated against COVID-19, and nearly three-quarters of adults with at least one dose.
With daily COVID-19 case counts now trending in the single digits, Marentette indicated that she feels good about the status of the pandemic, though she said the delta variant could quickly change things.
"Today, I think we're in a very good position... it's not over yet but I think we're moving forward," she said.
Marentette announced her retirement back in April. She joined WECHU as a public health nurse in 1989. She became director of health protection and chief nursing officer in 2013, and was promoted to CEO in 2017.
Prior to her career with the public health unit, she worked as a nurse with the Salvation Army Grace Hospital.
Nicole Dupuis, the current director of health promotion with WECHU, has been named the unit's new CEO.
Windsor Morning listeners will get a chance to hear from Dupuis on Monday.
With files from Windsor Morning