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The provincial government recently announced the formation of the Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs). LHIN 14 or the Northwest LHIN will serve from Kenora to Manitouwadge, and from Hudson Bay to the Ontario-Minnesota border. Ennis Fiddler, former chief of Sandy Lake First Nation and chair of the Menoyawin Health Centre in Sioux Lookout, was named as one of the eight members of this new organization.

From the Ontario government press release ... "Local Health Integration Networks are local health organizations designed to plan, integrate and fund local health services – including hospitals, community care access centres, home care, long-term care, mental health, community health centres as well as addiction and community support services – within a specific geographic area."

Click here to read the entire gov't press release about the LHINs.

Click here to read the announcement for the formation of the Northwest LHIN.

Click here to read the Thunder Bay Chronicle Journal coverage of this announcement.

New look for health care: Planning will take place in the region under LHIN

By Ward Holland - The Chronicle-Journal

June 29, 2005

The way health care is managed in Northwestern Ontario is about to change.

Provincial Liberal MPPs Michael Gravelle and Bill Mauro announced Tuesday that the government has created 14 Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs), one of them for this region.

“My first thoughts are that I’m pleased that health planning is now taking place in the region,” said Maurice Fortin, executive director of the Canadian Mental Health Association.

The LHINs will plan for, integrate and fund local health agencies, such as hospitals, community care access centres, home care agencies, and mental health and addictions agencies.

“We believe they are going to dramatically change how we do health care in Ontario,” Gravelle (Thunder Bay-Superior North) said at a news conference in Thunder Bay.

Currently, the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care oversees local health agencies.

“We are creating LHINs because local health services are best planned at the local level by people familiar with the needs of the community,” Health Minister George Smitherman said in a statement.

“You can’t micromanage a $33-billion health care system from an office in Toronto.”

John Whitfield, a former mathematics professor at Lakehead University, was introduced as chairman of the region’s LHIN.

The Northwestern Ontario LHIN will begin operating in early September, he said.

Gravelle praised Whitfield as “a true gentleman who certainly knows how to work with people.”

Two other board members have also been named. Janice Beazley, vice-chairwoman, is a health executive from Fort Frances; and Ennis Fiddler, is a teacher and CBC radio broadcaster.

The other six board members haven’t been selected and Gravelle said they will be chosen on merit.

Gwen DuBois-Wing was introduced as chief executive officer of the LHIN. She is a registered nurse with more than 15 years experience in health care management.

“She’s smart, she’s organized and she’s a system thinker,” Whitfield said.

“The status quo isn’t good enough anymore,” DuBois-Wing said. “Changes are needed. And that’s what we’re here for.”

DuBois-Wing was director of the Northwestern Ontario District Health Council from 1998 to 2005. The council disbanded in March.

She said the LHINs are “substantially different” than health councils which gave advice. LHINs will determine health needs and where dollars will go.

The boundary of the Northwest LHIN will extend from Kenora to Manitouwadge, and from Hudson Bay to the Ontario-Minnesota border.

Fortin said the Canadian Mental Health Association is part of a large region that extends from Parry Sound to the Manitoba border.

The Ministry of Health’s regional office is in Sudbury.

“I think that people have felt like we’re poor cousins,” Fortin said. “We’re less connected.”