Laura Case is known as a leader with strong relationship skills, an excellent ability to recruit great staff and a deep understanding of operations.
As you may have heard, Joanne Bezzubetz is leaving her position of executive director, community, in July for an exciting opportunity in Ottawa. I am very pleased to tell you that Laura Case has agreed to fill this important position which will ensure that we can continue to pursue the Vancouver True North goals and strategies without losing our momentum. Starting right away Laura and Joanne will be working closely together until Joanne’s departure to enable a complete transition for the many change initiatives that Joanne has been leading and overseeing. This will allow Laura time to fully connect with the community leaders as well as the many stakeholders to understand how best to support their work before Joanne leaves.
Laura is currently operations director for Vancouver secondary and tertiary inpatient psychiatry, and the Burnaby Center for Mental Health and Addictions. She has held this position for 2 1/2 years and in this time has developed a strong team that has:
- shortened the length of stay to improve access for our patients
- realigned staffing models to ensure consistent care 24/7 while meeting the budget
- opened the new tertiary mental health beds in Vancouver (Willow Chest, Willow Pavilion)
- significantly reduced police wait times in the VGH ED (making the VPD efficient and happy)
- developed a team to renew the operations at BurnabyCenter for better outcomes
- and significantly improved access for the rest of the province
Laura is known as a leader with strong relationship skills, an excellent ability to recruit great staff and leaders, and a deep understanding of operations. She also has a broad experience base beyond mental health and addictions. In her 24 years as a leader at Fraser Health, she led the health authority regional acute and community access portfolio. In this role, and other related experiences, she has led significant improvement efforts in the residential care sector, the Fraser “Home is Best” program, and was a key leader in the original development and rollout of the iCARE methodology at Fraser.
As Laura steps into her new role, Monica McAlduff has agreed to serve as Vancouver Acute’s interim operations director for the inpatient and tertiary mental health and addictions portfolio until we can post and select a permanent director. Laura will officially transition into her new role April 8, 2013, working full-time with Joanne and the Community team while Monica takes on the interim position at that time. Thank you Monica!
Thank you in advance for your support of Laura and Joanne as they work together to create a successful, seamless transition.