Dr. Eileen de Villa, Toronto’s public health chief, taking leave of absence for medical treatment.
Toronto Public Health had been facing challenges since Dr. Eileen de Villa, public health’s chief, took a leave of absence last month.
On Thursday, a spokesperson from the health authority said de Villa had been hospitalized and that “after several weeks of recovery, she is at home and continuing to make progress.”
The Toronto Star asked for an interview with de Villa at her home. Neither she nor her spokesperson was available for comment.
Since taking a leave of absence Nov. 17, she has been hospitalized in three different cities, including Toronto and Victoria.
Here’s a summary of the most recent developments in her health struggles:
Oct. 4: de Villa takes leave of absence
A week earlier, a doctor at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston wrote to Toronto Public Health saying that de Villa, 47, had “suffered a massive stroke.”
In her letter to Toronto Public Health, Dr. Ramiro Hernandez of Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center wrote that de Villa suffered a massive stroke that “caused major stroke related damage to the left-sided hemisphere of her brain, which was affecting all bodily functions. She is currently in critical condition and is dependent on an extremely complex ventilator, but remains stable.”
The letter says that de Villa has a history of heart problems and that while she was in the hospital, the doctors “attempted to correct the problem with the ventilator but soon the machine required to sustain [her] life stopped working.”
Oct. 4, 5: Toronto Public Health takes over emergency response efforts
A Toronto Public Health spokesperson said Thursday that “in the first 24 hours after a public health-related incident occurs, the PHA works in conjunction with partners to coordinate the response, including medical and public health professionals, our municipal partners, and local and regional partners.”
That response process started Oct. 4 when Toronto Public Health took over emergency response efforts with the help of city and