Hospital advisory committee replaces Board stripped of its authority
Posted December 10, 2024
The administrative chain of command at Stevenson Memorial Hospital (SMH) is now encircled by the Ministry of Health's appointed Supervisor and interim CEO after striking a Community Advisory Council (CAC), supplanting the Board of Directors, prompting several to resign rather than sit in abeyance during the provincial takeover.
CAC meets for the first time tonight chaired by SMH Supervisor Eric Hanna. The posted list of 14 people were selected in an open call for members, last month.
They include: John Nzioka, Kristen Buligan, Margaret Bachle, Richard Norcross, Sylvia Biffis, Kaitlyn Cosgrove, David Sadleir, John Pappain, Jeffrey Verheyen, Brian Snell, Tanya Gluvakov, Bill Blendick, Jocelyn Cox, and Oscar Rabines Sosa.
The group's mandate is to support the supervisor and provide advice, consultation, and feedback in connection with the supervisor’s term at SMH., and feedback in connection with the supervisor’s term at SMH.
CAC is one of the recommendations that came out of last spring's broad investigation into SMH's governance, administration, and operations. Barbara Steed was appointed interm President and CEO in May, following the announced reitrement of Jody Levac in April. On September 27th, the Minister of Health appointed Hanna as Supervisor and bestowed with "exclusive right to exercise all of the powers of the SMH board, the corporation, its officers and corporate members”.
"With this scope of engagement, Eric Hanna asked the board to accept being put in abeyance while he attended to the recommendations contained in the Investigators Report. Mr. Hanna met with each of the board members following this decision to outline why their status had changed. As a result of this status many of the board members resigned from their role," according to a hospital statement provided to Free Press Online.
"To ensure there remains community input into decision making, the Investigators Report also recommended that the Supervisor establish a Community Advisory Council. This Council has now been established and is meeting regularly with the Supervisor."
