OrilliaMatters welcomes letters to the editor at [email protected] or via the website. Please include your full name, daytime phone number and address (for verification of authorship, not publication). The following letter is from the chair and two vice-chairs of the Orillia Soldiers' Memorial Hospital board.
As an ongoing commitment to open dialogue with our community, the Orillia Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital (OSMH) board chairs would like to provide an update on the work underway to modernize our bylaws to set up our organization for further success as well as address feedback we have received as part of this process.
The OSMH board is committed to the continued long-term success of this organization. We have celebrated several major milestones recently with growth in the depth and breadth of services provided at OSMH. And we anticipate more great news to come. It is in this spirit that we are committed to the pursuit of best practices as it relates to proposed changes in hospital governance.
At OSMH we are committed to serving our community. Therefore, it is critically important our community has ongoing opportunities to engage, ask questions and provide ideas beyond this governance discussion that is in front of us today. This is why the OSMH board has decided to create the Friends of Soldiers’ group, providing more frequent and impactful ways of engaging with long-standing members.
We are grateful for all our donors and we are committed to strengthening this relationship based on the tremendous impact our team has on the lives of the people we serve. The board’s commitment to the OSMH team and the people they serve is to do the right thing by following best practices in governance. We believe that donors also want the organization they are donating to to follow best practices.
Questions regarding the accountability of boards with a skills-based membership model have been raised. Not-for-profit organizations providing health services in Ontario are different from private corporations, governments and professional associations.
They are accountable to their funding agencies to deliver required services, on budget within a defined quality standard, including community engagement. This is the case for Ontario hospitals that receive 90 per cent or more of their operating funds from the Ministry of Health through the Crown agency of the province, Ontario Health. This is captured in the Hospital Service Accountability Agreement (HSAA) that defines these accountabilities. The OSMH HSAA is available on our website at www.osmh.on.ca/accountability. OSMH also voluntarily participates in a comprehensive accreditation process where we are regularly measured against quality standards including governance best practices.
Other health-related, not-for-profit organizations across Orillia and surrounding areas have always had, or have long since adopted, the skills-based membership model. There are no paid membership models to our knowledge in this sector.
OSMH values the incredible impact our partner not-for-profit agencies have on the health and well-being of our community. We dismiss the notion that these boards composed of dedicated volunteers giving back to their community lack accountability due to a skills-based corporate membership model.
The topic of hospital redevelopment seems to be at the centre of many of the discussions. Concerns were raised regarding progress on a new hospital. We fully acknowledge the redevelopment process is much slower than anyone would like. It has been five years since OSMH submitted our Stage 1 plan in 2019 and a lot has changed since then.
For other hospitals like Stevenson Memorial Hospital in Alliston (2015) and Collingwood General and Marine Hospital (2016), the wait has been even longer. We remain committed to advocating for the hospital services this community needs and deserves.
This important dialogue on hospital redevelopment occurs regularly at the OSMH community engagement committee. Hospital redevelopment is a standing item for discussion, where the board and hospital leadership regularly engage with representatives from the City of Orillia, County of Simcoe, OSMH Foundation along with community members, nursing and physician alumni.
Since the last OSMH annual general meeting in June 2023, this group has received multiple updates on the redevelopment project, including an update on the Oct. 20, 2023 visit from Premier Doug Ford and Deputy Premier and Health Minister Sylvia Jones. Based on the very positive encouragement from the premier, Minister Jones and Minister Dunlop, OSMH recently initiated the site-selection process for a new hospital with an expression of interest to local landowners.
We plan to encourage up to three current lifetime OSMH corporate members at a time to consider participating in the community engagement committee to support meaningful, inclusive dialogue based on current and accurate information.
We look forward to the special meeting of the corporation on March 6 and hope this update provides a balanced review of feedback received where members of the OSMH corporation can make an informed decision on the proposed bylaw changes.
Ligaya Byrch, chair
Lawre Pietras, first vice-chair
Peter Caldwell, second vice-chair
OSMH board of directors
