Sir: It’s time to commend the present Sydenham District Hospital (SDH) board. Its actions are bold and righteous.
The outstanding job they’ve done so far triggered a memory.
It was late in July of 2010, not long after the joint annual meeting with Public General Hospital (PGH); SDH was never allowed to have its own annual meeting. Can you guess who called the shots, I mean, all the shots?
As I’m leaving the St. Clair College auditorium where the meeting was held, low and behold the then Chatham-Kent Health Alliance VP/Chief Financial Officer, Anthony DiCaita, was directly behind me. CKHA always stacked the meetings with numerous staff throughout the audience.
Don’t know why there would be a number of such dear people near me, but we won’t go there.
This was an opportunity I could not miss. I addressed him head-on, and politely told him that he had lied. Embarrassed, quickly he came back with, “If you want to discuss this privately, I’d be happy to meet with you.”
This led to a meeting a few weeks later.
Three of us met in the Sydenham Hospital cafeteria, DiCaita, a former member of the SDH Board prior to amalgamation, and myself. It was an excellent meeting. Bottom line, DiCaita told us, was that the SDH board was weak and did not stand up for what was rightfully theirs.
Bingo! The truth! I mean what could he lose? He had already resigned and was leaving Aug. 8.
Six years in coming, but today we have a strong and capable board. In alphabetical order – Conrad Noel, George Lung, Herb John, Kris Lee, Rex Isaacs, Sheldon Parsons.
Anne Stewart
Wallaceburg
