Sue Rickards, in her commentary on Friday, September 18, 2020, advocated the attack on chronic social and economic problems at their roots.  It was a good piece that illustrated the shallowness of much conventional public policy decision-making.

Such has been the case with health care for generations until 1992 when true reform was initiated by the NB government.  Taking the first steps to consolidate control and direction of acute care by merging hospitals into regional structures was an important first step.  While that was a very difficult, highly-politically-charged step, it was only the beginning.  What was to come later would and should make a serious difference for citizens of New Brunswick.

In 1970, as a fledgling Acting CEO at the IWK Hospital in Halifax, I was approached by some persons from upper and western Canada who were Icons in the field of health services organization and management.  Dr. Len Bradley, then Medical Director at the great Winnipeg Health Sciences Complex, and Dr. John Phin, formerly professor in the field of health administration in Minnesota.  I had graduated just one year earlier from what was the Blue-Ribbon program in Hospital Administration at the University of Toronto.  This was a small program available only to 18 persons per year who had had some previous experience in the health field.

My class included physicians, nurses, pharmacists, accountants….all having had just enough experience in the management positions in the health field to understand that they really needed a deeper, more rounded education in health administration.  So, with superb professors such as Dr. Burns Roth, Eugenie Stuart, Dr. Peter Ruderman and many others we worked through courses in medical science, economics, human resources, health law, hospital organization and management, public health and much more.