Opening/Chair: Laurie Sandeson acted as chair for the meeting  and lead the singing of O'Canada and minute of reflection. 

 

Happy Mug: There were plenty of happy Rotarians today including Alana who announced she was heading to a new job;  Lydia who told a great story about Mme Oussematou who got two "new" hearing aids through a donation; Matt who was happy about for successfully completing the Bluenose marathon;  Jean for a quick recovery from surgery to her neck.; Jim Gould and Joanna for good family times and Kirk for his upcoming trip to the US for a sports photography workshop and he is also moving his studio back to Truro so we're all happy about that.

 

Attendance: Les reported 56% before makeups.

 

Fun Fines: Al fined all those who did not know what tune DG Jim played on his last video newsletter. Many did not know it was a rendition of "Twinkle twinkle little star". 

 

Visitors/Guests: Janet Knox, President and CEO of the Nova Scotia Health Authority and Marie McCully Collier local Boardmember.

 

50/50: Chair for the day Laurie had the winning ticket and found she joker.  The pot was small as it had be won recently. 

 

Member Health: Everyone was glad to see Judy is back at the meetings and back to work. 

 

Committee Reports: Dave Mills reported on the year book solicitations and asked people to get their reports in.

 

Secretaries's Report: none 

 

President's Report:  President Kevin reported on his yearbook solicitation and asked others to step up the pace.  He reminded people that the next Director's meeting is at his home tomorrow evening, June 7 at 7:00pm.  All invited. 

 

DG Jim was on hand to present Kevin with the official Rotary International Presidential Citation (Gold level).  He congratulated the club for the hard work. 

 

 

 

Speaker: Janet Knox, president and CEO of Nova Scotia Health Authority, is an accomplished health executive and leader with extensive experience across the health system in Nova Scotia, Canada and beyond. She has passion for developing best practices in health care and a commitment to innovation and managing resources effectively to achieve positive outcomes. She is a strategic thinker who focuses on the future while preserving the best of the past and honouring the lessons learned.

A registered nurse by profession, Ms. Knox holds a Master of Nursing from Dalhousie University, a Master of Business Administration from Saint Mary’s University, and she is a Certified Health Executive with the Canadian College of Health Leaders. She was a surveyor with Accreditation Canada for more than 10 years.

Ms. Knox served as the president and CEO of Annapolis Valley Health from 2004 to 2014. She assumed the additional role of president and CEO of South Shore Health from May to September 2014.

Ms. Knox has demonstrated a commitment to supporting community and economic development in Nova Scotia. She currently serves on the Board of Governors for Nova Scotia Community College, the 211 Board of Directors and HealthcareCAN Board of Directors. She is also a past member of the Board of Directors of Brigadoon Children’s Camp Society.

Janet described the model for heath care delivery in NS. She explained how the authority is accountable to the Department of Health and has accountability measures to report every 90 days. 

 

She explained that the Authority responds to the Department of Health strategy and that their role is to deliver health care based on that strategy in NS as well as have a role to help meet the needs of the other maritime provinces for specialized care.  

 

She claimed that the authority is the largest single employer in Nova Scotia.

 

There have been significant improvements achieved since amalgamation with a reduction in wait times and a balanced budget. It has been a major challenge to bring the nine regional organizations together but it has been done.  

 

The fact remains, however, that NS has the second worse health status in the country and yet it has the second highest spending per capita in the country. 

 

There is the need to develop strategy to improve the general health of the community and the Authority has been conducting discussions on how to manage those challenges. She suggested that Rotary could have a role to play in helping to engage the local community.

 

Janet mentioned the Community Wellness Grants and that this fund is community based. She gave examples of how small amounts of money can have big impacts on community health. She also pointed out that there is a nice linkage with the 6 areas of focus that Rotary has. 

 

Janet ended by thank the club for the work we do. 

 

Jean Morris thanked Janet for her presentation.