ANOTHER FIRST FOR
MOUNT WADDINGTON CHC

In Issue No. 3 of New Direction News (May 1994), we reported the designation of the first three Community Health Councils in British Columbia. The first of these, designated on April 7, was Mount Waddington, located on the northern end of Vancouver Island. Now, less than three months after it became BC's first CHC, Mount Waddington has done it again. It now holds the distinction of being the first CHC to take over not one, but two contracts which were being previously administered by the Ministry of Health. The contracts for Mental Health Services and the Alcohol and Drug Programs (ADP) have been combined into one single contract, which was turned over to the Mount Waddington CHC on July 1.

Ron Duffell, the Ministry's Acting Regional Director of ADP, has been involved in the process from the very beginning. In fact, he was the first program supervisor for ADP for Mount Waddington and played a key role in laying the groundwork for the transition to administration by the CHC. Duffell spoke enthusiastically about the process leading up to the transfer: "We all see this as a job that proved to be fairly straightforward, but more importantly, an opportunity to change and review service delivery practices in this area."

Dora Nicinski, CEO of the Mount Waddington CHC, had this to say about the merger and changeover in administration: "It makes so much sense from an organizational perspective. In the past, the two services looked after their clients independently of each other, even when there was overlap between them. Now there is one intake form, client files have been merged, there is a better organized clerical system and the whole process of patient care is more fluid. The merging has allowed us to take more of an interdisciplinary approach to caring for the clients."

Both Duffell and Nicinski were encouraged by the important role that staff played in the process. As Duffell said, "One key ingredient in this process was a willingness to negotiate in an open and frank way. Both union and personnel issues arose and were dealt with in a manner that was satisfactory to all involved. All in all, it was a very positive experience, particularly since it was the first time a contract such as this has actually moved over to a CHC. Now, our working relationship with the CHC will become one of support and consultation with continued contract management responsibilities."

Nicinski commented, "It came about in a collaborative fashion. The staff were very involved and were both positive about and supportive of the change. In fact, this whole thing was only possible because the staff were willing to try it. We certainly couldn't have done it without them."

Carol Savage, Area Manager for ADP for the South Island Region, noted that the transfer of the contract to the local CHC served to formalize a relationship with the community which has been there for some time. "Here on the island, we have been making a real effort to work with the local health planning bodies over the years. New Directions has enabled us to turn that informal relationship into a formal one. The designation of the Mount Waddington CHC has allowed us to bring the pieces together into a working relationship that is satisfactory to all."

Craig Knight, Acting Area Manager for ADP for the North Island Region, summed up the advantages of the merger and administration by the CHC: "We have been able to combine our administrative overhead costs and to make more effective use of existing staff, without increased cost to the Ministry of Health. This will result in more collaboration in planning and less duplication of work, which in turn adds up to savings for the taxpayer."