A Commentary by Doug Draper
As one of his final acts before leaving his provincially appointed role as supervisor of the Niagara Health System, Kevin Smith could do something that might place this body on the road to earning some public trust it has never enjoyed in its more-than-decade long existence.
At a 2010 annual meeting, the back-slapping hacks on the Niagara Health System”s board assure those of us in the gallery that everything is going great. Seven months later the board would suddenly dump NHS CEO Debbie Sevenpifer for reasons it refused to devulge to the public it was supposed to be serving. File photo by Doug Draper
That act would involve staking any new Niagara Health System board with people from across this region who, when it comes to the hospital services the NHS is mandated to deliver, will place the interests and concerns of their fellow Niagara residents ahead of playing kissy face with whoever is the chief executive officer of the NHS at the time.
In other words, Mr. Smith, show the courage and wisdom to appoint people to the NHS board who care passionately enough about the quality of hospital services people in our Niagara communities need to question the CEO and his or her support staff if need be. And whatever you do, for the sake of people across this region, sir, Do Not … let me repeat that … DO NOT reappoint any of the shameless sychophants and brown nosers who have sat on this board in the past.
This reporter recalls attending an annual meeting of the NHS board two years ago this June, when Debbie Sevenpifer was still the CEO, and I watching them, one after another, praising her leadership as if she were a messiah or the Wizard of Oz. Meanwhile, the NHS’s debt was ballooning, morale among its doctors, nurses and other staff was tanking, beds in hospitals were closing, and thousands of people in Niagara’s southern tier were marching in the streets over reduced services. Yet these board members were all to ready to run over each other to say how great things were going under the stewardship of Sevenpifer and company. It was obvious that this herd of sheep was smoking something the rest of us weren’t in La La Land.
It was only seven months later that Sevenpifer was suddenly relieved of her position (at a cost to taxpayers, we’ve learned since totaling more than half a million bucks, and 10 months after that an independent survey firm retained by NHS revealed that this organization had public trust scores in this region that were in the toilet and were about as bad as those of BP at the time that corporation’s offshore facilities were laying Gulf of Mexico shorelines from New Orleans to Florida to waste.
Perhaps if the NHS had a board with people on it that questioned potential missteps from the get-go, and had a media organization other than the St. Catharines Standard, that functioned like an unofficial propaganda tool for Sevenpifer and her minions, it might have got its act together under some scrutiny, and our hospital services in this region would not be the train wreck they are today, through no fault (I must stress) of the many good front-line people toiling under this body’s yoke.
So please, Mr. Smith, there are people in this community, including doctors and nurses working for the NHS who were marginalized for speaking out during the Sevenpifer years, that could provide the kind of scrutiny this body needs to get it on a road to recovery for the residents of this region.
Please use the weeks ahead to appoint the best board possible for the people of Niagara.
(Niagara At Large invites you to share your views below, remembering that NAL only posts comments by individuals who are also willing to share their first and last name.)
Niagara At Large 
Well said Mr Draper. Things are moving and shaking at the top. Now if we could only experience the same anticipated progress as the patient enters one of the seven doors of the NHS. If Mr Flynn were to revisit now with his survey would a more positve outcome be the result? Are wait times improved, are police registering less overtime babysitting unruly patients as they wait for service, are ambulances turned over in a more efficient manner, are there more available medical beds, are less surgeries cancelled due to congestion?
Come back Mr Flynn and tell us if our confidence has been restored.
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I have grave doubts the Board will be any different. First off it will be appointed (not elected) by none other then Ministry Appointee himself, Dr. Kevin Smith and according to Smith, the Nominating Committee will have to have governance experience and adhere to the OHA Guide for Good Governance, which costs $95 plus tax.
It sure doesn’t look like this is going to be a Grass Roots Board.
Once again, they will have to be “Team Players” in order to completely implement the HIP.
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I agree with Doug…”sycophants and brown nosers”…c’mon Doug, say what you really think! I also agree with Sue and Pat. An appointed board does not represent you or me, it represents the appointer. The members should be elected and not the usual lawyers, bankers and CEO’s who have no idea Ontario Hospital Association is involved. Perhaps I’m just jaded but I might also just be realistic based on past experience. How many times does someone ride in on a white horse to save us? Kitts (the CEO of the Ottaway hospital system who was parachuted in to Niagara four years ago to host public meetings on the Niagara Health System’s so-called ‘Hospital Improvement Plan’) is one great example. Collect a big fee and bugger off back to Ottawa for an even bigger salary where he also created a mess.
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Pat alludes to the problem with Dr. Smith’s solution: this new Board–whoever they may end up being–will be appointed, not elected. Until the Board is elected, as former Welland MPP Peter Kormos had promoted in a private members’ bill which the Liberals were only too happy to vote down, we’ll always run the risk of the Board being “sycophants” of the NHS leadership. The main reason: the person ultimately appointing them to the position is the very one they’re supposed to be governing. Considering most members of the former Board were appointed by former NHS CEO Debbie Sevenpifer, is it any wonder they were running each other over to praise her as the next Messiah as Rome burned around them?
The only difference in what Dr. Smith is proposing is that a nominating committee will make recommendations to him, but he’s the one appointing the nominating committee and depending upon who he appoints, their recommendations (which will ultimately be for Dr. Smith to appoint) may not be a whole lot different than they are today.
And, similar to another of Pat’s concerns, instead of focusing on whether they can adhere to the OHA Guide for Good Governance, how about whether they have general governance experience or training. It shouldn’t matter if they adhere to the OHA’s guide, personally, it should matter whether they have previous governance training and experience, which could come from having sat on any number of Boards. Because, from the governance experience and training I’ve had in the past, one of the key responsibilities of any Board is to look out for the good of the organization, not the CEO. In that respect, it appears, the old Board did fail at this key responsibility.
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What is it going to take for our politicians to realize that we, the voters, are getting sick and tired of their paternalistic ways!
Control of local hospitals MUST be in the hands of the community being served! That means that along with local council and school board elections, there should be elections for the local hospital board!
There also seems to be a growing belief that “bigger is better.” But that is not always true! Yes, we need ONE larger hospital within a region to provide the higher, specialist type of care that is sometimes needed. Primary care, including emergency/trauma service should be in each local, community hospital.
The board of the larger, centralized special care hospital should be made up of people from the local community hospitals WHO ARE ELECTED BY THEIR COMMUNITY.
We, as voters, must start demanding – LOUDLY – that our local political candidates agree. And they must also promise to stand up to whatever dick-head is the leader of their party and insist that he/she also agree! No more of this kow-towing to the party leader’s personal whims!
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It seems some of my message is in cyberspace…It should read:
“lawyers, bankers and CEO’s who hvae no idea how a hospital should function, only regulations and finance” and “Part of the original problem was the Ontario Hospital Association was involved”.
Don’t know where that went!
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The fight to bring a sense of reality to the forefront in a very sad and totally sickening drama that not only devastated a sound, functioning Health Care Hospital system in the Niagara Region but completely eliminated the very community hospitals bought and paid for by the peoples in those affected communities.
Attending so many meetings and rallies, trips to Queen’s Park, only it seems, to find the same faces, the same voices raised in protest and that rings so true when it comes to basically the same voices in articles and responses to articles, the same southern tier people who get off their asses and speak out.
Doug is right the “Print” media in Niagara is and has been in lock step with this shabby group who somehow managed to gain control of the NHS administration and the Board.
NOW we find that the former CEO and President of the NHS (who was basically fired) left with a Queen’s “Ransom” ($650,000+) has now been retained as the Chief Financial Officer of the YMCA (Niagara) (The former CFOs salary was in the range of $171,000 + whatever) and guess what? it seems the former Chairperson of the NHS Board is on the Board of the YMCA also. It seems when certain people stub their toe they turn over a gold mine.
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