Welcome to KDA Consulting!

As a born and raised Prairie girl from Saskatchewan I have been blessed to see my fair share of the most stunning sunsets but there is something that is indescribable about a prairie sunrise – illuminating the bright white snow in the winter, the vibrant green and yellow fields in summer, and the golden hue of the harvest each fall.  Sunrises offer the warmth and promise of a new day, a new opportunity.

And so we begin with the dawning of a new space – this blog.  I’ve been struggling for months.  What should I do at this point in my career? Where to find the best opportunity to make an impact? How do I facilitate desperately needed conversations?  And the answer is, I don’t quite know.  But I’m starting here.  Because everything starts with a conversation.

But here is what I do know – our health care system is at a critical juncture. We know that the health care landscape is undergoing significant changes alongside, cultural, technological, and economic changes.  The world is moving fast and getting more complex.  The models that once served us so well are beginning to show their age and strain under this increasing demands and evolving societal needs.  The COVID-19 pandemic offered us a unique insight into our preparedness and ability to respond to unprecedented challenges pushing us to question the sustainability, accessibility and quality of care within our health systems but I fear those conversations have grown quiet and we have snapped back into trying to fix a broken system rather than redesign and reimagine what a new model might look like.

This has had me reflecting on another significant chapter in Canada’s Health Care History – one that began right here in Saskatchewan.  In the 1960s a group of visionaries, led by Tommy Douglas, ignited a movement that would forever change the fabric of health care in Canada. Their fight for Medicare was not just about providing access to doctors- it was about embodying the values of compassion and equity for all Canadians.  And he was faced with numerous challenges that can be learned about in this great documentary called “Bitter Medicine: The Birth of Medicare” (1983). Despite the resistance these fearless individuals fought tirelessly for a system that would lay the groundwork for what would become a defining feature of Canadian identity.

I believe Saskatchewan—and Canada as a whole—needs a renewed conversation about health care redesign. How must we adapt to meet the needs of a changing world? How do we let go of systems and structures and roles that are no longer fit for purpose while finding the courage to lean into the new?  How do we change the conversation to redefine and redesign this system that is crucial to all of us?

So, this is where I invite you to join that conversation.  I am starting with a blog but will be looking to find more ways to engage in these conversations as I reach out to the leaders, rebels, changemakers, advocates, innovators,