QHC searches for advisory members
Posted By Dan Schell
Posted 3 months ago
With the board of directors reset within the governance structure of Quinte Health Care through the review process set out by provincially-designated supervisor Graham Scott and the Community Advisory Council, the organization looks to add a unique group to their representational strucure.
Local municipalities and hospital groups and auxillaries have been asked to provide QHC with recommended names of dedicated volunteers and active community members to take on a spot as one of the 54 Advisory Members of QHC.
"It is governance structure that is new to the corporate world, and is unique to the Quinte area," says Scott about the special group of representatives from across the QHC region that will complete what he describes as a sounding board for the directors that have been put in control of the organization.
The goal, according to Scott, is to improve two-way communication between QHC and the greater population that the organization serves with medical care. The members will hold a number of rights and responsibilities which will include being present at annual and member meetings, reviewing updates on hospital activities and financial statements as well as serving as an advisory group for the directors and management staff.
Scott also sees the group becoming a pivotal part of the actions by the health care organization in terms of who will be in the seats making the key decisions through their high presence in the nomination process for staff and board members, as well as their role on a number of committees that will look at specific parts of hospital operation.
"It allows for the people to have a say at the governance level more frequently and from all the specific communities," explains Scott. "This gives the board of directors the ability to do the business they need to work, but now there are a number of different voices that allow for better decisions to occur."
The group will be comprised of people that are recommended from three central groups that are involved in the operation of hospitals all over the QHC area. At the municipal level, mayors from across the region including Lloyd Churchill, Mayor of the Town of Bancroft, and Ron Emond, Warden of Hastings County, to each provide three individuals for appointment to this group, equalling 18 members.
Hospital Foundations are given a total of 10 advisory members to recommend, with on representative from the North Hastings Fund Development Committee to sit on the group. Another 8 members will come from the hospital auxillaries, with Belleville General, Prince Edward County, Trenton Memorial and North Hastings each getting two names to provide to the group.
In addition. 18 at-large members will be added to the team, which will be selected by an Interim Nominations Committtee from the public formed out of the 36 members out of the three categories.
Excluded from the extensive group of Advisory Members are the muncipal leaders from each of the areas. Mayors and councillors are excluded from taking part in the Advisory Membership which Scott says was a decision that was based in taking an awkward situation away from those leaders in the past who took part directly on the board of directors.
"As a mayor, you represent the needs and wants of your community and them only, which is just part of the job," he explains. "This is a governance structure that looks to serve the whole of Quinte, not just to the electorate, which would form conflicting duties if the leaders sat on the board or in this advisory group."
Scott says that though the Mayors may not have a specific role directly in the new structure, they still hold the opportunity to nominate people from their community that will be there to specifically represent the needs of their municipality, while not holding that elected responsibility.
The hope is that the Advisory Member group out of the three designations will be set by Dec. 15, with the at-large members being advertised in the local media between Feb. 1 and Mar. 31 of next year.
The deadline to nominate the first 36 members of the committees is Dec. 1.
