Left to right: Mike Nader, Kip Woodward and David Ostrow listen to a comment at the Open Board Meeting on Oct. 24, 2012 in Richmond.
Over 150 members of the public and guests participated in the quarterly public meeting of the VCH Board at the Richmond Oval last night, Wednesday October 24, 2012.
The open meetings, which are an opportunity for the public and stakeholders to interact with Board and Executive members on issues and topics of concern, are held every three months in different areas of VCH. Last night drew a larger than usual crowd, mainly due to a large contingent expressing their support for the Rainier Hotel, a program for former-sex trade workers in Vancouver’s DTES that will change soon when funding from Health Canada comes to an end. The group distributed brochures and asked questions of VCH Chair Kip Woodward and President & CEO Dr. David Ostrow. Both emphasized their support for the women in the Rainier program and services across the DTES, although funding from within existing VCH resources remains challenging.
Prior to the public question and answer session, the audience viewed presentations from Dr. Ostrow on VCH’s new Strategic Framework and True North goals, as well as an overview of services in Richmond by the new COO, Mike Nader. Highlights of the recent Richmond population health survey were also presented by Medical Health Officer Dr. James Lu and Regional Epidemiologist Emily Laflamme.
A video of the meeting, which was shown live via webcast, will be available here within a few days. You will need a webcast viewer such as Silverlight in order to view the webcast.