Steering Committee Member, Cowichan District Hospital Concept Plan

Do you rely on the Cowichan District Hospital to provide high quality care to you, your family and community? Do you feel committed to ensuring that patient and family perspectives are considered in early plans for a new hospital in the Cowichan Valley? If you answered “YES!” to both questions, this might be the opportunity you’ve been waiting for!

Open to: Patient partners in the Cowichan Valley (Duncan, Lake Cowichan, Ladysmith, Chemainus, Mill Bay, and Shawnigan Lake areas)

Lead Organization or Department

Planning Department, Island Health

Aim

Patient partners will be invited to draw upon their experiences of care at the Cowichan District Hospital, as well as their community knowledge to contribute to the development of a Concept Plan for a new hospital in the Cowichan Valley. Patient partners will help the Steering Committee to better understand and consider the perspectives of patients and families from the preliminary planning stage of the new community hospital.

Level of Engagement

This opportunity is at the level of involve on the spectrum of engagement (www.iap2.org). The promise to you is that the health care partner will involve patients in planning and design phases to ensure ideas or concerns are considered and reflected in alternatives and recommendations.

Eligibility

• Resident of the Cowichan Valley with experience accessing health services as a patient, family member or informal caregiver at Cowichan District Hospital.
• Comfortable respectfully highlighting views that may be different from the majority of the group.
• Previous experience in a working group or committee and comfort reviewing briefing materials would be beneficial, but not required (if you are interested in applying, but you not sure if you have the right skills, please contact Leah to explore this further).
• Previously attended a PVN orientation session and completed the Volunteer Agreement. If you have not attended an orientation session but you are interested in this opportunity, please contact Leah Smith directly to see if accommodations may be possible.

Logistics

• Vacancies: 1 to 2
• Date and Time: Friday, June 23, 2017 from 1 pm until 2 pm.
• Location: Cowichan District Hospital, Duncan. All participants are encouraged to attend in-person; attendance via teleconference may be an option from time-to-time.
• Commitment: Ongoing between June to November 2017. Steering Committee meetings will be scheduled every three weeks for approximately an hour. Meeting materials will be sent via email in advance of each meeting. It is estimated that review of these materials may take 1-2 hours.
• An informal interview may be part of the selection process for this engagement opportunity.

Reimbursement

Pre-approved out-of-pocket expenses such as mileage and public transit will be reimbursed.

Background

Island Health recently received approval from the Ministry of Health to complete a Concept Plan for the replacement of Cowichan District Hospital, which is to be submitted to the Ministry and the Island Health Board in late 2017. The Concept Plan process is the first step in building a new hospital in British Columbia. The plan explores the health service needs in the region and is used to request approval from the provincial government to do a full business case for a new facility. If the concept plan is approved, community consultations will be part of the business case process. A Steering Committee will guide the development of the Concept Plan and ensure that the content reflects the local, regional and provincial priorities and requirements. In addition to patient partners, the Steering Committee will include senior leaders from Island Health, the Ministry of Health and the Cowichan Valley Regional Hospital District.

Health Care Partner Contact Information

Leah Smith
Engagement Leader, Patient and Public Engagement | Southern Vancouver Island
778.678.3977
lsmith@bcpsqc.ca