Revell with a cause

Sole Health P.E.I. trustee Jim Revell says he will work to maintain trust of Islanders

After his term on the Health P.E.I. board expired at the end of March, Jim Revell did not expect to return to a position of leadership with the agency. He had written up his letter of resignation more than six months prior to the end of his term, hoping it would allow sufficient notice for his departure. He had served on the executive and audit committee and had been a board member for eight years. But, after all of his former colleagues on the Health P.E.I. board stepped down in protest of a new governance model in May, Revell found himself the most desired candidate to head up the health board. Up to the date of his resignation, Revell said he had not seen evidence of a decline in the relationship between the Health P.E.I. board and Minister of Health and Wellness Robert Mitchell. But, prior to accepting the position, he said he sought out opinions from colleagues. “I had a number of questions,” Revell said. “The process I followed, obviously, was to speak to the minister when I was approached, other members of the executive council. I also spoke to the chair and the previous chair and got their feedback,” Revell said. In the end, Revell said he accepted the position because he believed in the work of Health P.E.I. He will serve as an interim trustee until a new board for Health P.E.I. is established, a process that could take between 60 and 120 days. Revell will work largely on a part-time basis while continuing his day job as the CEO of the Insurance Company of Prince Edward Island. He said he first became involved with Health P.E.I. following the 2008 report by British Columbiabased consultant Corpus Sanchez. This report, whose recommendations included establishing one overall agency responsible for the delivery of health services, as well as a renewed focus on primary care, served as an inspiration for Revell. “If you go back to the Corpus Sanchez report, it is one Island health-care system for all Islanders. That is clearly what drove me to be involved, quite some time ago,” he said. In his current role, he faces significant challenges. Because he is the sole trustee, none of the three main committees of the board which focus on quality and safety, compliance and public engagement - are currently active. Revell said his main goals are to provide continuity and stability to Health P.E.I. while ensuring public confidence in the health-care system remains high. He said he planned to continue working with interim CEO Keith Dewar but said the search process for a new CEO has stopped for the time being. The selection of a new CEO was one of the issues that prompted the resignation of the previous board. Former chairman Alex MacBeath said in May that Mitchell rejected the board’s choice for a new CEO. MacBeath also said the changes to Health P.E.I.’s governance model would remove “important checks and balances on the (health and wellness) minister.” When asked about whether he saw the Health P.E.I. board as a check and balance on decisions from the health ministry, Revell said he did not agree. “Not on the ministry,” Revell said. “The board reports to the ministry. I’ll leave that one alone.”