Sir: Recently, I attended the Annual General Meeting for the Sydenham District Hospital Corporation. There was quite a crowd in attendance, but there were absences.
The CEO did not attend this meeting. To all appearances, it seems the CKHA leadership sent no other staff person in the CEO’s stead. The KPMG auditors also chose not to attend.
Thus, the SDH membership was left without any CKHA financial or executive staff when looking at the financial report.
The CEO, Mr. Patey, did issue a statement the next day stating his reasons as to why no one from CKHA attended the AGM. He and his staff did not wish to face a potential confrontation.
The CEO reports to the three boards that comprise the Alliance – the “Tri-Board” of CKHA. He is their employee. Attendance at Annual General Meetings is normally part of the responsibilities of a CEO.
The appearance to me and to our community is that the CKHA leadership does not have appropriate respect for us and they treat the Sydenham Hospital Board and membership as an underclass in the Alliance. This continues to be a serious problem that must be addressed by the investigator that has been appointed by the Health Minister.
The actions of the CEO of CKHA do not serve the people of Chatham-Kent. Everyone in the community deserves to be confident in the hospital campuses that serve them.
They should be able to know that the health services they receive, focus on them as patients, and do not focus on in-fighting and what appears to be a come-hell-or-high-water attempt by the hospital leadership to close down the Wallaceburg site or kill the Alliance in their attempts to do so.
We need a CEO who will work with all three Boards, to come to decisions that work for all the people of Chatham-Kent equally.
The government-appointed investigator, Ms. Bonnie Adamson, will need to look closely at the serious leadership problems in the CKHA. We wish her well.
Shirley Roebuck
Co-Chair CKHC
Chair W-WIFN HC
