A month ago, we expressed cautious optimism in the cleanup crew tasked with rebuilding the administration oversight at the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance.
Ongoing efforts have only further solidified our optimism.
In a recent internal newsletter, new director of communications, Fannie Vavoulis, detailed ongoing personnel and structural changes and spending.
We received a copy of the document and called hospital personnel for comment.
In the past, just us having the internal newsletter may have elicited outrage from upper management. This time around, interim CEO Ken Deane called us back in short order and discussed plans in detail.
Included in that is planned investment in the Sydenham Campus. When is the last time a CKHA overseer chose to spend to upgrade Wallaceburg’s hospital?
Deane, as well as provincially appointed supervisor Rob Devitt, won’t be here for the long haul, but they have pored over reams of documents and looked at the problems at the alliance from all angles, it seems. And they seem to be constructing a strong foundation for the future.
Plus, they’re listening. Not just to patients, but just as importantly, to staff. As the internal newsletter stated, in the past the organizational culture was “frequently described by hospital and medical staff to be one of fear, intimidation, distrust and an unsafe environment in which to voice their opinions without retaliation.”
Now, the alliance is working to improve relations between medical leadership and administration. Positions at both levels have opened up and interviews will take place in the near future with the goal of announcing a new chief of staff and new chiefs/medical directors in the coming weeks, the newsletter states.
This open realignment of the alliance is refreshing. Straight shooting in past years wasn’t the strong point of CKHA administration. But that’s what led them to requiring Devitt to be appointed by the government.
Again, it’s still fairly early in the process, but Devitt and Deane seem determined to find the proverbial square pegs for the square holes, all while preaching transparency.
They are also in the process of establishing a whistle-blower hotline for personnel as well, one that will be managed by a third party.
The alliance sorely needed change, and, the temporary leaders appear to be making changes for all the right reasons.
