The new supervisor for the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance continues to move forward in his new role.
Keeping with his mandate, Rob Devitt has taken over the authority of all three CKHA boards, which in effect has dissolved the Sydenham District Hospital board and the two Chatham hospital boards.
“This is not the end, but it is the beginning of a different process,” Devitt said during a meeting held at the Sydenham Campus on Thursday evening.
“What happens when a supervisor is appointed, and this is spelled out right in the act, is the supervisor does become the corporation, the members, the board and the board officers. So all the accountability rests with me.”
Devitt told the former SDH board members he has been in the supervisory role once before.
“I think that every community in Ontario is different and so what worked and what I did in Scarborough, may well not be appropriate here,” he said.
“I think the whole point of supervision is to understand the various communities served, the various stake holders and the various interests and not come with answers written out, but rather to come with ideas about how to bring people together and collectively come up with the right answer.”
Busy first week
Devitt said he has been busy in his first week on the job and his number one priority was to ensure all of the governance processes were back in place.
“Reporting on quality, reporting on safety, reporting on finances and that sort of thing,” he said. “So I have actually set up meetings with the senior staff and medical leaders where we will act like a quality committee, where they will present reports to me and I can ask questions. Putting that in place, because once you are accountable you have to be able to do the job effectively and that requires those sorts of processes.”
Devitt said his second priority was to improve communication.
“I am a big believer in communication so Zoja Holman (director of communications and organizational development for CKHA) and I have been working on mechanisms to communicate,” he said. “We have tried to be a responsive as we can with the media. Both me and now Ken Deane being prompt with responses, we will do the best we can but also internal.”
Devitt said on the Tuesday after the long weekend,they held town-hall-style meetings with staff at both sites.
“Not withstanding all the time and energy and anxiety that (the SDH board) and the other boards have put into things over the last few months and years, the front line staff need to feel that everything is in hand,” he said.
“Not only that, we committed and did within the day, post up a summary and post up questions and answers. So that is my style, get the message out so people can know what is going on.”
Devitt said he also did “basement-to-roof top” tours of both campuses.
“So I have been all over this building and all over the other and I have started the joyful task of reviewing documents: engineering reports, asbestos reports, financial reports and quality reports. So I am doing all of that due diligence to understand things,” he said.
“I have also met with the medical advisory committee because the physician leaders of course report to the board so we started to hard wire in that relationship. Next week I am meeting with the medical staff associations. I have lots more, LHIN, other partner agencies. So that’s what I have been doing. I think that sort of intelligence gathering is going to take some time.”
Devitt said he is set to meet on Friday with Bonnie Adamson, the author of the investigative report who recommended a supervisor be appointed to the CKHA.
New CEO the right person for the job
Devitt had nothing but praise for the newly hired interim CEO of the CKHA – former Leamington District Memorial Hospital and Hotel Dieu Grace in Windsor boss – Ken Deane.
“Ken is a terrific person to work with,” he said.
“I have known Ken as a professional colleague over the years. He was at St. Josephs in Toronto and I was at East General. I found him to be a tremendously patient focused, caring, compassionate leader with just a tremendous sense of honesty and dignity, but as well someone who is fiscally wise and I felt he would be just perfect as a teammate. I think given Ken’s experience, he has also been a supervisor once as well, so you kind of get one plus one and it will equal three. I think there is going to be some real synergy with the two of us”
Deane replaces Colin Patey, who left the organization earlier this week.
Former SDH board staying engaged
While they no longer have any official role with the CKHA, the former SDH board members say they plan to stay active.
“Tonight concludes another chapter of an ongoing epic, our story, our future,” said Sheldon Parsons, former SDH board chair.
“Tonight the community leaders asked by the Sydenham District Hospital membership, and in one case by the Walpole Island Band Council, to lead the SDH corporation until we change jobs… we are no longer directors of the corporation, we have been thanked for our service but that doesn’t mean we should stop caring about the future of our health care.”
Parsons added: “It is my belief that we have many more chapters to write. Our job now is to support the work of the supervisor and we stand ready to do just that. We welcome Rob to his new position. We expect that you will be fair and just, restore good governance and good faith in practices within CKHA.”
Parsons said they will continue to stay active with the fight for Wallaceburg’s hospital.
“We do not plan to play dead,” he said. “Although we think our advice is needed it will be offered and given.”
Parsons added: “We are hopeful that what comes out of this at the end of the day is not less than what we have because we have fought hard to maintain what we have got and we will be there to continue to press for quality and the quantity of services that this community and the communities of Sydenham, Walpole and St.Clair deserve and expect.”
– Watch for more coverage stemming from Thursday’s meeting on the Sydenham Current.
