Hospital Update

Posted by Bill Molesworth 
 
Bob Morton, current Chair of the Hospital Board, remarked that our Hospital has recently been through some turbulent times but that is passed and it is time for us to embrace the idea that it is our hospital in our community and that we should take possession.  He introduced the new C.E.O., Paul Heinrich, who comes to the position from Chatham-Kent but is originally from the Muskoka area.
 

Paul said he was excited to be at HDH and back in the area, to be working with an outstanding Board with a passion for organization and for holding the administration accountable.  He feels the organization has achieved stability and is entering into a new era which he is honoured to be part of.

HDH is one hospital with 2 sites and he and the Board are working to unify the corporation and its message.  The Board was appointed by a community based Committee and is strongly representative of the community and its many strengths.  The corporation comprises 623 staff, 50 physicians and surgeons.  HDH has 107 beds and serves in and out patients.  Penetang Hospital has 51 beds devoted to palliative care and rehabilitation services that reach outside the immediate area to the larger region.

There were 40,000 emergency visits, 30,000 X-Rays, 700,000 lab tests and 5,700 surgeries last year, among other demands.  The volume is greater at HDH than might be predicted by the base population because of the pressure of seasonal residents.  The budget is 40 million and this year's deficit was only $100,000.00.  The current debt, though, is 1.6 million.  A balanced budget plan has been implemented and savings of a million are anticipated.  The LHIN has agreed to let the corporation eliminate its debt over the next two years and they expect to be able to do that.

The Corporation has many partnerships, including a dialysis satellite association with Orillia, the Penetang Rehab, Cancer Care Ontario, Hospice Huronia, Wendat Services and Crises Counselling, local Service Clubs and etc.

For the future they are working on a new Strategic Plan with focus groups in place now, on building the Hospitals' profile through community engagement and rebranding for unification, and on Governance.  Here they have introduced Advisory Memberships, at $25.00, to serve on Board Committees and to provide a sounding board function during policy development.  They are working towards accreditation, towards a balanced budget, towards the development of Human Resources by planning physician recruitment efforts to fill needs, towards transparency and towards a balanced scorecard that evaluates performance.

Elaine Nicholls said that when the hospital was located on 93 it was in Tiny, not in Penetang or Midland and the name HDH was selected to reflect the hospitals regional role and she hoped that rebranding would not ignore that historic and still relevant concept. 

Fred Hacker asked if any steps were being taken to measure patient satisfaction and Paul said they have hired an arms lenght survey company that will be taking responses in a variety of ways, including on an improved web site.

Rod Ferguson said previous administrators had also been members of the Midland Rotary Club and he invited Paul to consider joining.  He asked, though, if the current controversy about the awarding of a contract for patient transfer would be revisited as his research indicated that it had been issued without a tender.  Paul said there had been a lack of transparency and that this issue had been studied and he was confident the corporation had followed the procurement process based on a regional service provision, that the hospital is in compliance and that they would not be revisiting the issue.  He empathized and said they fully intend to buy locally when they can.  Rob Thompson, though, said that here was an example of an institution seeking community support and financial assistance but then going out and buying regionally.  Paul replied that this was a good point and it certainly would be considered, that the corporation had to be more transparent and clear but that sometimes it had to make tough decisions.

Rod added that in his research it had also become apparent that the hospital had hired 3 Bay Street Law firms which were certainly not local and that he was going to watch the donors' lists for these names but he did not expect to see them.  Paul said he would be reviewing that.

Arnie said he wanted to extend his welcome to Paul and to say that the community looks forward to his leadership.  He also thanked Bob Morton for taking on the chairmanship in a difficult time and assured them both that Rotary looked forward to working with the hospital in the future.

Representatives of Molson were on hand to make a $5,000.00 donation as part of their work with the Party on the Dock and the Club presented a cheque for $12,500.00, the final installement on its $100,000.00 commitment to the capital campaign.  Paul expressed the gratitude of the corporation for the generosity of both.