"Our original reason for practice is for the patients, and when we find ways to fix the systems getting in the way, we’re able to get back to focusing on patient care."
Dr. Echo-Marie Enns is a 34-year veteran of medicine whose career has undergone many rewarding evolutions over time. She started as a locum in primary care, then hospital medicine, and progressed into developing a community of practice. She later moved into quality improvement, then information systems improvement. Finally, she circled back into the essentials: patient care as a hospitalist.
After seven and half years, in December 2024, Dr. Enns completed her Connect Care contract and is now coming full-circle. “I'm going to have my final years of practice be devoted to my original reason for being in this career: patient care. Patient care is the thing we are all so proud of and so privileged to be able to do, and we can do it better when we have a good system.”
Dr. Echo-Marie Enns’s career is a testament to the power of curiosity, collaboration and unwavering dedication to patient care. From remote communities to system-wide innovation, she has consistently sought out ways to improve health care, not just for her patients but for the teams and systems that support them. Her journey reminds us that meaningful change often begins with asking how things can be better and having the courage to lead that change.
Read Dr. Enns' story in the November-December 2025 issue of Alberta Doctors' Digest.