Alumni

Message from the President

Education Day – Wednesday May 18, 2005

This year's Alumni Education Day, "Transformation in Healthcare - Lessons Learned Sustaining Momentum and Managing Expectations" is fast approaching. It will be moderated by HPME's Dr. Adalsteinn Brown, the lead on the Information Management initiative of the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care's Transformation Strategy. Keynote speaker, Dr. Ken Kizer, President and CEO of National Quality Forum will present “Advice for Leaders and Participants Undergoing Transformation Initiatives” . Dr. Kizer is the chief architect and driving force behind the transformation of the US Department of Veteran's Affairs healthcare services.

Education Day will be held at the Ontario Science Centre at 770 Don Mills Road from 8:00 am to 12:30 pm , followed by lunch. This event contributes 2 Category II MOC credits towards maintenance of CHE certification. For more information, and to register, see the HPME Alumni website.

2005 Annual General Meeting

The 2005 Alumni AGM will be held on Thursday October 20 . This year it will be held again at the fabulous University Club venue.  The AGM event is one of the Society's principle events with a prominent speaker, awards and a celebration of the graduating class of 25 years ago - the Class of '80. 

Jennifer Clarke ('92), President

Leadership and Innovation

Alumni Profile

Alumni of the Department of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation (HPME) are involved in a broad range of leadership activities across the health care sector. To promote greater awareness of the many accomplishments and innovations of this diverse group, we are pleased to include alumni profiles as a regular feature of the NewsBytes.

This issue features Marsha Barnes, Director of the Primary Health Care and Physician Policy Branch, Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MHSc, Class of '81).

Marsha Barnes – Leading the Way in Primary Health Care Renewal

If, like me, you recently registered yourself as a patient of a capitated Family Health Team, you may owe thanks to Marsha Barnes. As Director of the Primary Health Care and Physician Policy Branch from 2003 to present, Marsha has led primary health care renewal in Ontario. She led the implementation of 6 pilot projects in primary health care around the province in collaboration with the Ontario Medical Association (OMA), featuring capitation or reformed fee for service, extensive computerization of physician offices, multidisciplinary primary care teams and group governance for each group to allocate its funding autonomously according to local needs.

Though she has in the past been very involved in the legislative process (drafting the Independent Health Facilities Act for Minister Elinor Caplan and ADM Martin Barkin between 1989 and 1993), Marsha prefers to work behind the scenes. She has excelled at problem solving, networking and working with stakeholders. Her fine negotiating skills were put to good use, for example, in the recent successful negotiation between the OMA and the Ministry. Other key achievements have been the development and implementation of the Primary Care Nurse Practitioner Program and of the Regional Consulting Paediatrician Program. As well, she obtained and implemented $213 million of Federal funding under the Primary Health Care Transition Fund.

Marsha has enjoyed working with politicians, admiring the commitment that underlies both their very long hours and their exposing themselves to public scrutiny. She deplores the stereotype of the ‘bureaucratic' civil service: her colleagues are bright, talented, hardworking people who find their work compelling and are proud of what they do. She is committed to her consultative role as a civil servant: “It's our job to be careful about the use of public funds and to make the best recommendations that we can to the government”. The pace of change can be slow, but “it is slow for a reason”.

Marsha's 'interest-based' bargaining tools encourage each side in a negotiation to articulate its own needs and work at developing an atmosphere of trust and mutual respect, identifying common ground and strengthening their ongoing problem-solving relationship which is needed for successful implementation of what is negotiated.

Right out of the gate from her BSc in Health Studies [Waterloo, 1979] Marsha sought a career as a health planner. After the MHSc degree in Health Administration, then a full-time two year program, she worked at the Toronto District Health Council (DHC) for its first five years.

Frustrated that "the government wasn't listening to [the DHC's] wonderful reports", she next sought out a position in government, where she soon learned that it was not so simple to "make things happen", that government had to consider multiple political impacts and secure the buy-in of multiple stakeholders in order to move any agenda forward.

If Marsha Barnes had a motto, it might be "I love learning". After almost 20 years in the Ministry she says with enthusiasm, “I have never stopped learning since coming here …I meet with so many professionals, researchers, sit on inter-provincial committees, learn from others' experiences, successes … I love taking courses, meeting people from other places and learning how they are doing things. It is especially stimulating to bring students in here – we have a U of T student here right now."

On the Move

Bernie Schmidt Appointed CEO of Orillia Soldier's Memorial Hospital

Bernie Schmidt (MHSc Class of '84) accepted his new position as the President and CEO at Orillia Soldiers' Memorial Hospital in Orillia , Ontario in January 2005. He left his former position as Chief Executive Officer at South Muskoka Memorial Hospital in Bracebridge.  In the past, he has also held the positions of hospital CEO in Stratford and Kapuskasing, and Vice-President at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa and York-Finch Hospital in Toronto . In addition to his Masters of Health Sciences degree from HPME, Mr. Schmidt has a Masters of Social Work degree and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Applied Social Science. In his early career, he worked in patient care in a number of health care facilities.

"We had dozens of candidates from across Canada and in fact even internationally," says Soldiers' Board Chair John Watkins. "Bernie brings the wealth of experience we were looking for, including more than twenty years as a CEO and Senior Administrator at hospitals across Ontario . We believe his leadership and team building expertise will be a key asset to our future, and that he is a perfect 'fit' for both our hospital and our community."

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