The former executive director of the Centretown Community Health Centre, along with four other Ottawa health experts, have been appointed to the city’s new board of health as part of an effort to de-politicize the oversight body.
Marguarite Keeley, 63, and the other new members will join six city councillors on the board, which is responsible for identifying the health needs in Ottawa. The board will also advise city council on other issues involving public health.
The board of health was re-designed in an effort to take some of the politics out of important health decisions. Previously, city council acted as Ottawa’s board of health, with councillors making all the key health decisions. That arrangement came under review in 2008, following a controversy regarding the city’s crack-pipe distribution program.
The program offered users new brass screens, rubber mouthpieces and new pipes. The city voted against the program despite the recommendation of the city's chief medical officer of health, Dr, David Salisbury. He insisted the program was working, protecting addicts from contracting HIV.
Salisbury said the pipe distribution program improved the chances of addicts seeking rehabilitation, as it brought them into contact with health nurses. Despite the recommendation, however, city council voted to cut the program.
After the review, the board was restructured in a bid to add greater public health expertise to decisions.
Keeley was chosen after the recruitment process began in November 2010 due to her experience in the health field. Nearly 150 applicants applied for a position on the board.
“We are quite thrilled with Marguarite’s appointment,” says Simone Thibault, the current executive director for the Centretown Community Health Centre. She says Keeley will bring important experience from her previous job as the executive director of a non-profit organization to the board.
Keeley applied for the position because she thought it was a good opportunity to bring her support forward for public health decisions.
“I have worked with public health over the years and I respect very much the things they do and the importance of it in the community,” she says.
Now that she’s retired, Keeley says that she feels she could contribute to the decisions: “I have some background in community health and I could be of some help on the board,” she says.
Keeley was the executive director of the CCHC for seven years. She has worked at the federal, provincial and municipal levels, contributing to many programs.
Thibault says Keeley’s experience at the Centretown clinic will allow her to understand the issues surrounding marginalized groups, such as the homeless and seniors.
Keeley retired from the health centre in 2007 and now serves as a director with the Charlotte Birchard Centres of Early Learning and the Somerset West Community Health Centre.
“She is not shy about saying what she is thinking, but she is also very much a listener and understands someone else’s point of view,” Thibault says. This is important, she says, because Keeley will be involved in the dialogue on the board.
A key issue for health services in Centretown is addressing the diversity of its population. “In Centretown, there is a huge variety of people. Some are low-income and some are high income,” says Thibault.
Some health concerns include STD prevention, access to affordable food, smoking-cessation programs, flu-shot clinics and suicide-youth prevention.
Rideau-Vanier Coun. Mathieu Fleury, a member of the revamped board, says the change is a positive step. He says that while councilors are representatives of the people, they might not bring enough expertise to some of the key issues in regards to health.
Each member of the board has a four-year term.
Other members include Dr. Merrilee Fullerton, Dr. Atul Kapur, Gisèle Richer, Timothy Hutchinson and councilors David Chernushenko, Maria McRae and Katherine Hobbs.