It's still too early for the interim CEO of the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance to say exactly what challenges he'll face in his new role.
Ken Deane, who was just appointed to the position on Wednesday, says he'll use his past experience to shape his vision for organization.
"My experience in Windsor is part of that, the Hotel Dieu Grace Hospital at that time went through some significant challenges," says Deane. "I was brought in as supervisor and stayed on as chief executive officer -- it was about transforming the organization so that it could achieve all that it needed to achieve to be a high-performing organization."
Deane most recently served as the Interim Chief Executive Officer at the Leamington District Memorial Hospital, and also has experience as the CEO at St. Joseph's Health Centre in Toronto.
Today is his first day on the job at the CKHA. He says he'll start by listening.
"When you go into an organization you need to first understand what's going on there, acknowledge and respect the quality of work that's being done on a day-to-day basis and then identify things that need to be fixed so that we can provide our services more efficiently and effectively," says Deane.
While he couldn't get into specifics yet, Deane does have a general idea of some of the challenges he'll be addressing in the role.
"We'll be dealing the the investigators report," says Deane. "And then my own focus is ensuring that we have strong leadership and communications in the organization, that we have an ongoing and comprehensive approach to a healthy workplace, and that we address our financial and operating pressures."
Ministry Investigator Bonnie Adamson's report on the CKHA's operations pointed to growing financial concerns at the hospital. It also suggested that the hospital could save some money by cutting some of the 50 leadership positions that are in place at the health alliance.
Former CKHA CEO Colin Patey was critical of that report, saying there were several "inaccuracies" and that some context could have helped clear up some of the controversy that came out of it.
Deane says he can't comment on why Patey was released Wednesday. But Deane did confirm that he was approached about taking over as the interim CEO after the province appointed a supervisor at the health alliance.