From bedside nurse to executive director: Debbie Burris retires after decades of leadership at Nova Scotia Health

When Debbie Burris retires this month from her post as executive director of health services for Northern Zone, she will be remembered for her integrity and vulnerability.

“When I think of the role model Debbie has been for many of us, those are the words that always come to mind,” says Raj Makkar, director of health services and site lead at Colchester East Hants Health Centre (CEHHC). “You always felt connected to her because of these two traits she possesses.”

Debbie’s career began in 1989 as a front-line staff nurse on the medicine unit at the old Halifax Infirmary.

“I was drawn to nursing because it allowed me to make a meaningful difference in people’s lives, while providing an opportunity for lifelong learning and working as part of a team,” Debbie says, describing what first drew her to the field. She craved a career where no two days looked the same, which is still true today.

Over her career, Debbie has held a variety of front-line positions in renal dialysis, emergency medicine, and home care.

In 2004, she left what was then known as Colchester Regional Hospital to become a community health nurse for Millbrook First Nation, a role she held for seven years. It is the position she credits with changing her the most.

"I took the skills and knowledge I had gained and continued to develop them, learning every day from the patients and families I cared for and the challenges of my new role."

Debbie returned to Colchester East Hants Health Centre in late 2010 as manager of ambulatory care and ICU before becoming director of clinical transformation in January 2012. Her first responsibility was the successful transition into the new facility.

When Nova Scotia's nine health authorities amalgamated into one in 2015, Debbie became director of health services and site lead for CEHHC and Lillian Fraser Memorial Hospital. She moved on to provincial senior director of acute medicine, a role she held for less than a year before COVID-19 changed everything. She helped lead the pandemic response in March 2020, stepping into the role of interim executive director that May, which was made permanent in 2021.

“You need to listen to patients, their families, staff and providers. It builds trust and relationships which are the foundation of a high-quality, safe healthcare system” Debbie says of a lesson that has stayed with her through every title change. She has relied on those relationships to create the conditions for open safe dialogue, collaboration and innovation.

Raj has known Debbie since the two sat next to each other in high school English class in the early 1980s. He said the qualities she showed then, studious, organized and quick to help others, only deepened over her career.

“You never felt she was above you,” he says. “You always felt she was leading from a place that was right beside you.”

Raj points to Debbie’s work bringing services like the ear, nose and throat (ENT) clinic to CEHHC and laying the groundwork for a general practitioner oncology initiative, which gave patients in Truro care closer to home.

“She never gave advice in a way that was, ‘you should do this,’” Raj says. “She always gave advice that encouraged you to trust yourself.” That, he says, is what he will miss most.

Lori Dennis, executive assistant to the executive director of Health Services, Northern Zone, has worked alongside Debbie for years and will miss seeing her almost every day.

“She is a very genuine person, she's straightforward, takes great pride in her work, and cares deeply about what she's doing and who she's doing it for,” Lori says.

Lori says Debbie's support and trust over the years created an environment in which she felt valued and confident in her own decision-making and encouraged to take initiative she might not have otherwise.

“Working with Debbie has felt more like a partnership than a traditional boss-employee dynamic,” she says. “I will absolutely miss her sense of humour. We've had a lot of great laughs, and I will also miss her gardening and cooking advice, and stories about her family, grandkids, renovations, travelling. Debbie is just simply a wonderful person.”

When asked what she will miss the most, Debbie says it will be the people she worked with and the chance to take part in major healthcare investment and system change.

She is giving herself six to eight months before deciding what comes next, time she plans to spend doing things that bring her joy. Top of the list: more time with her grandchildren, family and her garden.

“We are truly thankful and grateful that we had Debbie as one of our incredible, amazing leaders at Nova Scotia Health,” Raj says. “She will be missed but never forgotten for the legacy and impact she has had on all of us.”

Photo of Debbie in the Sheila Gloade Memorial Healing Garden, one of her most cherished places at the CEHHC.