Kelly named interim CEO of community agency

A new person is in charge of home care in the region.

The Erie St. Clair Community Care Access Centre announced Thursday that its senior director of patient services, Cathy Kelly, has been named interim CEO.

The appointment is effective March 1, when she takes over from current CEO Lori Marshall, who’s been hired as chief executive at the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance.

Kelly joined the CCAC in 2015 and has 25 years experience in health care and community organizations. Kelly said she’s seen impressive improvements at the agency, which serves about 39,000 patients annually in the Windsor-Essex, Chatham-Kent and Sarnia-Lambton regions.

“We continue to reach more people at home, in the community and in schools with our specialized programs,” she said, citing such programs as mental health and addictions nursing; eShift, a program for palliative patients who wish to die at home involving one nurse overseeing a number of patients who are cared for overnight by personal support workers; and telehomecare, which provides remote monitoring and health coaching for patients with chronic diseases.

CCAC board chairwoman Kathryn Biondi said Kelly “leads with great personal integrity and models exceptional skill by engaging with others and achieving results that lead to improved outcomes for patients, caregivers, employees and system partners.”

The CCAC is in the midst of a provincially mandated takeover by the Erie St. Clair LHIN, the agency that plans and co-ordinates health care in the region.

“We want to reassure all of our patients that their care will not be affected by the transition to the LHIN,” said Kelly.