Changes | Two executives from River Valley Health get jobs with new health group

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By ADAM BOWIE
bowie.adam@dailygleaner.com

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Some of Fredericton's top health-care executives will be moving in a new direction now that Regional Health Authority B's new corporate structure was announced Friday.

Only one of the top nine executive management positions named so far will come from the capital region.

Geri Geldart, who's finishing her duties as River Valley Health's vice-president of hospital care, will soon become vice-president of nursing affairs with Regional Health Authority B.

In total, there will be about 23 fewer CEOs, vice-presidents and other senior management positions under the new health authority.

The executives who weren't offered a position in the new senior management team were offered retirement packages or reduced positions.

CEO Donald Peters said there's no specific reason for Fredericton's minimal representation on the executive team.

He said he chose the best possible resources available and he didn't focus on where each individual had been previously based.

"Some of it depended upon what the future plans of some of the individuals were," he said.

"Basically, the decision on the executive team was mine and mine alone, although I did a lot of consultation with a lot of different people ... The Fredericton thing just happened to be the way the numbers worked out."

The position of vice-president of support services is still vacant, and the health authority has yet to name the executive director in charge of the Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital and the Oromocto Public Hospital.

Peters said those positions are expected to be filled within the next few weeks.

He said those positions are vacant because he hasn't had the chance to meet the candidates.

Some of Fredericton's community leaders wondered why the city wasn't named as home to one of the new health authority's specialized service centres.

Peters said he's not ruling out any future possibilities involving the capital region.

"We may say we should deliver an orthopedics program out of Fredericton. It's the most central, it has the best this or that," he said.

"It could be anything, but we're probably talking three years down the road before we get a real picture of how we're doing."

Peters said the beauty of the new system is that good practices can be shared in other areas of the health authority.

"Every one of our (health authorities) has areas of specialty, best practice and uniqueness," he said.

"The good part about this - the reason that I agreed to come on - is to be able to take the best that Saint John does or Miramichi and deliver that across the region. That's a huge advantage to every patient in New Brunswick."

Longtime Fredericton health administrator John McGarry has accepted a new role as part of Regional Health Authority B.

McGarry, River Valley Health's CEO, is wrapping his responsibilities and will soon become the transition director for Regional Health Authority B's Shared Service Agency.

Peters said McGarry's new position will be vital to making sure the day-to-day, non-clinical operations are maintained as they were before the transition.

Health Minister Mike Murphy said he was restructuring the province's regional health authorities in order to reduce duplication and maximize the province's health-care budget.

Dr. Michael Rachlis, one of Canada's top health-policy analysts and author of several books on the country's health-care system, said he understands how it might seem reasonable to cut members of the management team.

But he said administrators play a vital role in the health industry and there are other ways to achieve the same goals.

"When we hear the call to get rid of managers and put the money into front-line services, (but) we need to remember that leadership in the health system is absolutely essential," he said.

"Typically, efficiency is seen in these discussions as simply cutting redundant personnel, but of course within the health system there's lots of other opportunities for efficiency or broadly, quality."

Regional Health Authority B will begin its operations from a temporary base in Fredericton while renovations are completed at its permanent site in Miramichi.