HALIFAX, N.S. — Who is the person that was hand picked to rebuild a broken health care system? She’s served as a chief of staff to a former premier. She’s ...
HALIFAX, N.S. — Who is the person that was hand picked to rebuild a broken health care system? She’s served as a chief of staff to a former premier. She’s worked as the CEO of the Halifax Port Authority for almost two decades. And she’s a corporate lawyer by trade with an eye towards making a difference. Karen Oldfield is not just the interim CEO and President. She’s also the wife of a patient with chronic health issues. And she feels this is the biggest challenge she’s ever taken on.
And pretty much every day for the next ten days, “Karen, maybe you should come and do this or Karen, maybe you should come and do this, or maybe you should come and do this”. And then the premier elect, as he was at the time, he said, “Karen, you know, I'm thinking maybe the health care file”. So to be honest, I just put my head down and plowed straight ahead. I’m very focused and almost singularly focused on the task at hand. And I find I try really hard not to listen to the noise. I don't want to be off agenda when I go to work. I want to do what I need to do.
And so, I'm fortunate to be able to receive that and then figure out my job. From day one has been to remove barriers and to enable good ideas. That's my job. And in fairness, I think that's something that one could do without necessarily having a medical background.You talked about leadership and that idea that the leader is responsible for the successes and the challenges or failures.
Three years, five years, seven years, ten years, so that we aren't in the same spot. Just as an example, I've talked before about asking early on, where's our ten-year capital plan? What are we doing here people over ten years? Well, there was no ten-year capital plan. There's no ten-year capital plan.
So we're talking about transformation. And transformation is really identifying what's wrong and then fixing it for today and tomorrow. But in the meantime, making sure that we're doing things that are important to people and that people can feel, and people can touch, and people know, that things are being done that will make it better for them today.
In the very short term. So, for example, the patient advocate, which really would be a person who is able to provide comfort to somebody in a waiting room. It's water, it's a blanket, it's somebody to talk to, possibly somebody that can get a bit better information. How long am I going to have to wait? You know, when is it my turn?
Most folks in the hospital, they don't know it's ‘Karen The CEO’ and I don't walk around saying that. But we've been in that emergency room many, many, many times. Me sitting beside him as a really scared wife and a person who doesn't really know what's going to happen, when is he going to be seen. I'm very open. I'm very transparent. I want to work with people and, you know, it doesn't I don't care where the idea comes from. Irrelevant to me. If it's good, I want to try to effect it.You touched on human resources. And I think anyone within the system will tell you the same. But it's a highly competitive market right now because the shortage exists nationwide, continent wide.
So if that's so, you know, we need more people, that's a for sure. But what if we did bring what if we did bring a thousand more CCAs into the acute care sector? What if we did double the number of LPN’s through the community college, which is currently 450? What if we took that up to 900? Okay, so that's another big whack of people and then we recruit from outside of Nova Scotia.
South Africa Latest News, South Africa Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
THINKING OUT LOUD WITH SHELDON MacLEOD: Training and retaining emergency department nurses | SaltWireDr. Gail Tomblin Murphy is chief nurse executive with the Nova Scotia Heath Authority. She describes what they’re doing to help support, train and keep nurses and other front-line health-care workers in Nova Scotia. | SaltWire
Read more »
Opinion | Céline Dion allowed us to dream out loud — en françaisOpinion: Rolling Stone wants cultural impact — Céline Dion brings it. She is the shining promise that we of l’Amérique française have a voice in the firmament.
Read more »
THINKING OUT LOUD WITH SHELDON MacLEOD: The hardest job I ever had, but…. | SaltWireHALIFAX, N.S. — Who is the person that was hand picked to rebuild a broken health care system? She’s served as a chief of staff to a former premier. She’s ...
Read more »
THINKING OUT LOUD WITH SHELDON MacLEOD: Does parliament matter in 2023? | SaltWireHALIFAX, N.S. — Affordability and the economy are top of the agenda as the Federal Cabinet gathers at a winter retreat in Hamilton, Ontario. Those are the ...
Read more »
Bank of Canada's Macklem says he is 'not even thinking' of cutting ratesOTTAWA — Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem on Wednesday said he was focused on whether interest rates would need to go higher and was not even considering a…
Read more »
Thinking about doing a no-buy challenge? Here's what to consider - BNN BloombergAs inflation continues to weigh on Canadians' budgets, some may have entered the new year taking on a self-imposed 'no-buy challenge.'
Read more »