When Dr. Michael Gardam suffered a heart attack last May it began a series of life changes that would eventually lead him to P.E.I.
Gardam, a nationally known infectious disease specialist, is now the new chief operating officer with Health P.E.I. Gardam’s role is a brand new position.
In an interview with The Guardian, Gardam said the heart attack he endured, while working as chief of staff at Toronto’s Humber River Hospital, helped him realize that the position was not the right fit for him. Neither, it seemed, was Toronto.
"There's a lot of day-to-day stressors in Toronto that don't exist here. And so what it was, was, when I made that decision to leave that job, I was open," Gardam said.
"If I hadn't have had the heart attack, I'm not sure I would be in P.E.I."
Gardam is stepping into a challenging role. His position, one of several leadership changes announced Thursday at Health P.E.I., is aimed at improving co-ordination and reducing silos within the province’s health system.
"There's so much potential here. And because the Island is small and the health-care system is small, you could theoretically really turn it around and really change it, make it a really innovative place," Gardam said.
But Gardam acknowledged that, in practice, health-care workers often express frustration with some of the challenges of working in P.E.I. Although health-care recruitment has had significant successes in P.E.I., retaining nurses, doctors and allied health workers is a recurring challenge. Co-ordination between different health departments can create bottlenecks.
When asked to provide an example of the challenges related to health silos, Gardam raised Unit 9. The Queen Elizabeth Hospital psychiatric unit has, since the spring, housed alternate level of care patients, meaning patients who do not require the intensity of resources within a hospital.
“We're in a situation where you've got ALC patients in mental health beds who shouldn't be there because hospitals are not the right place," Gardam said.
"They can't go anywhere because there's no staffing to care for them. And so you can start to see how if you don't treat the system as a system, it's very hard to reclaim mental health resources.”
Health P.E.I. has announced the addition of two other key figures to its executive leadership team.
Dr. Katherine McNally will become the new chief medical officer, overseeing the medical leadership structure and the director of medical affairs. McNally has worked with the Medical Society of P.E.I. and was hired last January by the Department of Health and Wellness as its director of health services.
Belinda White will also be joining Health P.E.I.’s executive leadership team as the chief administrative officer.
Marion Dowling will remain as chief nursing and professional practice officer and Kellie Hawes will remain as chief financial officer.
Gardam, White and McNally will be overseen by Denise Lewis Fleming, CEO of Health P.E.I. Five other individuals — Tanya Tynski, Arlene Gallant-Bernard, Jamie MacDonald, André Celliers and Heather Keizer — will move on from positions within the executive leadership team, whose membership will shrink from seven to five.
In an interview, Lewis Fleming thanked the outgoing members of the team. She said some of the new leadership roles would be close to what has previously existed.
"It brings our frontline service delivery in under one operational branch with the goal of improving the co-ordination," Lewis Fleming told The Guardian.
Prior to the changes, the chief of mental health and addictions had a decision-making role on the leadership team. Now this position will report to Gardam.
Health Minister James Aylward said he believed this change would strengthen mental health services in P.E.I.
"It still has its own stream. It also is now strengthened by having a chief operating officer that has amazing credentials," Aylward said.
"We're still going to have all of the physicians that we've always had within mental health and addictions."
Health P.E.I.'s new leadership team
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Chief Executive Officer, Denise Lewis Fleming
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Chief Operating Officer, Dr. Michael Gardam
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Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Katherine McNally
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Chief Financial Officer, Kellie Hawes
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Chief Nursing and Professional Practice Officer, Marion Dowling
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Chief Administrative Officer, Belinda White
