After years of anticipation, the Bowen Island Health Centre Foundation is hoping to break ground come fall. Should everything go to plan, they’re looking at a 2023 opening date.
The woman who’ll be keeping everything on track started as the foundation’s first executive director June 14. “The analogy I gave to the board is start with a pixelated picture and then you try to focus,” says Suzanne Saatchi, the new executive director. The big stuff is under way – now it’s time to dig into the details.
“One of the things that attracted me to this position is that you have this really highly skilled group of professionals but they’re volunteering their expertise and time,” explains Saatchi. “They’ve been very successful in fundraising but at this stage, we’re getting more into the details of the services – What will they look like? What are the operational plans? How will we integrate? How will we recruit?” There’s also the business model – understanding where the money’s coming from and what it’ll get spent on.
“All that work takes an understanding of our healthcare system and its key stakeholders,” she says. “And it’s also very time-consuming.
“It’s very much a full-time job.”
Saatchi’s no stranger to building health facilities. After an MBA at UBC, 14 years ago Saatchi started working with health authorities. Six years ago, she started working as a management consultant specializing in health care operational planning, operational readiness assessments and strategic planning for new health centres. She has been responsible for implementing facility and non-clinical operations at two large-scale Surrey Memorial Hospital projects.
Health care in B.C. is siloed and regionalized. While Saatchi’s long worked in the health field (and even lives on the North Shore), she’s never worked in health in this region. “The structures are very familiar but different people,” she explains.
There’s no one-stop shop for creating a health centre. “Ministry of Health provides funding, but physicians are recruited somewhere else, and LifeLabs are an independent contract,” she says. “There’s a lot of system navigation.”
So far, Saatchi’s been talking with health authorities and industry folks on both sides of the water: “There’s been a lot of conversations and building familiarity.”
One of Saatchi’s first priorities over coming months is to submit the formal community health centre application to the Ministry of Health. “If we can get most of our operational dollars from the ministry, management of the health centre will be a lot easier,” she says. “Of course, it will be prudent to have other funding streams and that is part of the plan as well.”
The plan, as it stands, is to lease the bottom floor of the centre to allied health providers to help offset cost.
But the biggest challenge facing the health centre, is recruiting physicians or nurse practitioners. “This is not only a challenge for Bowen and all B.C. communities are facing the challenge of recruiting physicians,” says Saatchi.
This being said, Saatchi says she’s impressed by islanders. “People sometimes seem slightly embarrassed by the level of dialogue and vocalness of the community on issues,” she notes. “On the flip side of that, I see a community that mobilises quickly and supports each other.
“It is a beautiful thing and not something that should be taken for granted.
“Almost everything [on Bowen] has been started by volunteers, and people leaning in and working together. And the services that I see on Bowen are very well done.”
