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Headwaters Health Care Centre’s new President and CEO is a woman on a mission

March 23, 2017   ·   0 Comments

By Mike Pickford

Stacey Daub is a woman on a mission.

Less than two months into her role as the new President and CEO of Headwaters Health Care Centre (HHCC), Ms. Daub knows she’s stumbled across something special.

Having spent the majority of her health services career in the concrete jungle of Toronto, she says her first few weeks in the Headwaters area have been like a “breath of fresh air”. And while she has enjoyed shaking hands and rubbing shoulders with prominent local figures – both in the hospital and throughout the broader community – over the past few weeks, Ms. Daub is under no illusions that she is here to do a job.

And while that job, for the most part, encompasses managing all that goes on between the walls of the hospital, Ms. Daub sees herself more as a “community representative” in the way that she will be fostering a new approach to formulating plans for health care delivery in Dufferin and Caledon.

“One of the things I said to the recruitment committee during my interview for the position was if you already have a plan in place, then I’m not the right person for the job,” Ms. Daub told the Citizen. “I’m a very conscious person and I definitely bring my own thoughts and ideas into a new position with me. So, I told the committee if they were looking for someone to engage with the community, with patients and with staff and be prepared to really think about where this incredible organization can go in the future, then I’m a perfect fit.”

Having most recently enjoyed a 5 1/2-year stint as CEO of the Toronto Central Communication Care Access Centre, Ms. Daub knew her next position would be one for the long haul. A self-professed small town girl herself, having grown up in a modest area of Kitchener, she is excited for this new chapter of her life away from the bright lights of the big city.

“After leaving the Toronto Central CCAC, I knew I didn’t want to continue working in Toronto. It’s a wonderful and complex city, but I’ve worked in it for a very long time and so a lot of the same issues were coming up again and again as I moved to new positions,” Ms. Daub said. “So when someone called me about the position at HHCC, I was intrigued. And then, the first time I drove up here… I’ve been telling people, as soon as you crest those Caledon hills, it’s sort of spirit-lifting.”

She added, “After doing some initial research into the facility and speaking to people that have worked here over the years, I found, from my perspective, what seemed to be an incredible organization that really just needed some leadership.”

When quizzed about what it was specifically that excited her about the position, Ms. Daub pointed to numerous examples of people going above and beyond to ensure that patients at the facility feel cared for and well looked after.

“I get the sense that the culture here is exceptionally compassionate and community-minded – that’s what drew me in,” Ms. Daub said. “My first impressions of this place was what an amazing, incredible gem of a thing in Ontario. People really have no idea… You’ve truly got to see what goes on here and immerse yourself in it to believe it.”

Example number one: Upon her arrival, she was asked if she would be willing to meet with the chaplains who volunteer their time at the hospital. Initially thinking she’d be sitting down with “one or two” of the clerics, Ms. Daub walked into a room to see 28 chaplains eager to meet her.

“That’s incredible… You’d struggle to find that kind of support anywhere (in Canada). You really can’t put a price on what it means to have that many committed volunteers on hand whenever you need them. It was just another example of seeing a community that had so much to give and wanted so much to be a part of the system,” Ms. Daub said.

Other surprises include finding out HHCC has its own ambulance service, something she described as an “incredible gift”, noticing just how large the midwifery team at the hospital is and seeing how committed the Headwaters Health Care Foundation was to providing as much support to the facility as they could.

“The Foundation is another wonderful segment of this facility – what a little engine that could,” Ms. Daub said. “I think one of the biggest misconceptions among the public is that there’s a lot of money in health care – there isn’t. It can be incredibly challenging trying to finance a health care facility in Ontario, especially one like HHCC. The provincial funding formulas in place can be very hard on medium-sized hospitals.”

The Foundation has long been a staple in the community, with its main aim being to raise funds so that the hospital is able to purchase much-needed equipment. The new CEO will have a fantastic opportunity to see the foundation at its best next month as the organization prepares to host its 20th annual hospital gala.

And while the money raised will go a long way to improving the quality and level of service the local hospital is able to provide, Ms. Daub has a few ideas of her own she hopes to implement over the coming months so as to streamline that service for future patients.

“Only being here the short time that I have so far, the first thing I’d like to do is focus on the most important goals. We’re going through a process right now where I’m trying to determine what exactly they are. Already, I think it’s emerging that we want to focus on our nurses’ department and really try to make that a great place for people to come where they can feel like they’re getting great treatment.”

Another area of focus for her is emergency room wait times. It was reported late last year that HHCC’s average wait time had increased by almost 30 minutes. While the hospital was still recognized as one of the top performers in Ontario for ER wait times, Ms. Daub said she will be coming up with a plan to understand why wait times have increased and how staff can go about improving them.

“That’s going to be a focus for sure,” Ms. Daub said.

Her final focus will be to ensure that the hospital’s staff, its board of directors, community partners and public in general are engaged so as to “re-imagine” what Headwaters Health Care Centre can be for the community it serves.

“That’s a very engaging process, but one I feel is incredibly important. The other day I was walking around and looking at signs out in lobby that look at the history of this organization – it was founded by two women who each had a single objective, to bring care closer to come,” Ms. Daub said. “I think that single objective still rings very true today. We’re never going to be doing neurosurgery here, but we can focus on the things we can and will be doing and ensure we’re doing them to the best of our ability.

“It’s all about a process, and I’ll be working to ensure we develop that process together with the community, because that’s how good health care is built.”

And while she has gone into many of her previous positions with a predetermined end date in mind, no such limits have been placed on her Orangeville adventure.

“This is an exciting future for myself and an exciting future for Headwaters hospital. Just the other day, I was walking around the facility with a tag on my shirt saying ‘hello, my name is Stacey and I’m here to stay’ – I 100 percent see my long term future here,” Ms. Daub said. “I have a clear mission in my mind that I’d like to live here and I have a every intention of doing that.”

She added, “This isn’t just a one step to something else. This is a one step to making a difference here at Headwaters Health Care Centre and seeing where that takes me.”

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