Premier Doug Ford says hospital board has to make ‘tough decision’ about CEO’s Caribbean vacation
NDP Leader Andrea Horwath is calling on the board of St. Joseph's Health System to take action after its CEO vacationed in the Caribbean while staff in Hamilton, Niagara, Brantford, Guelph and Kitchener put their lives on the line" fighting COVID-19.
Dr. Tom Stewart took a family trip to his private home in the Dominican Republic over the holidays and returned Tuesday, according to an apology memo sent to staff Wednesday that was obtained by The Spectator.
How those workers go to work everyday, respecting their CEO and taking direction from somebody who just so flagrantly ignored the advice and the rules around non-essential travel - that's a question I hope the board is asking itself," said Horwath. Those workers, I'm sure, are wondering how can this be the case that they are making such sacrifices while their CEO is off jaunting around on a beach during the Christmas holidays."
The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) is also asking about consequences after alleging St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton fired a registered practical nurse in November for flying to the United States to visit her parents.
The hospital has to account for its own contradictory behaviour," said Michael Hurley, president of CUPE's Ontario Council of Hospital Unions. It acts decisively, on the one hand, for its lower-ranking staff who travel, but with respect to the CEO, it appears to be quite accepting."
Premier Doug Ford said it's up to the health system's board - not the provincial government - to determine what to do about the trip. Although he noted that MPP Rod Phillips resigned as finance minister on Dec. 31 after returning from a two-week Caribbean trip to St. Barts.
They're going to have to make a tough decision," said Ford. I made the tough decision with my finance minister."
Phillips is one of a growing list of Canadian politicians to come under fire for international vacations, including longtime Conservative MP for Flamborough-Glanbrook David Sweet, who travelled to the United States and has since resigned from his role as ethics committee chair while announcing he will not seek re-election.
We take it very seriously when people aren't following the instructions, not only of the province of Ontario but the federal government, on restricting travel - especially outside of the country," Ford said at a news conference focused on how COVID-19 has been getting into Ontario from outside of Canada.
Stewart's trip has already prompted his resignation from a number of boards that provide COVID-19 advice to the province, including the Health Co-ordination Table, the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table and the Long-Term Care Incident Management System Table.
Now focus has turned to his leadership of a massive health-care system that includes St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton, Niagara Health, St. Mary's General Hospital in Kitchener, St. Joseph's Health Centre in Guelph, St. Joseph's Lifecare Centre in Brantford, St. Joseph's Villa in Dundas and St. Joseph's Home Care.
Where is the board on this," said Doris Grinspun, CEO of the Registered Nurses' Association (RNAO) of Ontario, who called the trip disappointing" and shocking."
She pointed out that, as someone who advised the government on COVID-19 restrictions, he ought to have known better."
A statement attributed to St. Joseph's Health System senior vice-president Brian Guest said it was an approved vacation from Dec. 18 to Jan. 5. But so far, the health system has not answered questions on whether the board knew Stewart was vacationing internationally, despite federal and provincial advice against non-essential travel to stop the spread of COVID-19.
Guest also hasn't answered questions about whether any other health system leaders travelled.
I made a regrettable decision to travel outside of the country for which I am truly sorry," states the apology sent to staff on behalf of Stewart. I know that my decision to travel was incorrect and that you are disappointed in me. My greatest regret, after you have sacrificed so much over the last 10 months, is that I have let you down."
A Niagara Health employee, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about their superior, called the apology - sent via email by president Lynn Guerriero - appalling."
He did not even apologize to us himself," said the employee. If he wanted to apologize, he should have done it himself, not have it sent by email through someone else."
He said hospital system staff, overwhelmed by rising cases, patient deaths and outbreaks, were deeply insulted by Stewart's trip. They were also frustrated that Stewart was out of the country when the hospital system - and the region - needed someone with the premier's ear to advocate for COVID-19 vaccines for Niagara.
Where was he? He wasn't advocating to get our doctors and nurses vaccinated. He was in the Dominican," the employee said.
St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton held a town hall for staff Tuesday, but a source says Stewart did not attend. Screenshots of staff comments show many questions about why he wasn't present.
Where are you Tom Stewart," says one comment. Have the guts to show your face and don't leave it to someone else to apologize. You have lost our respect."
Horwath says the board needs to send a strong signal to those workers that notwithstanding the action of the CEO that in fact that their work is valued."
I would suggest that the board at St. Joe's needs to take some action to show the people of Hamilton that they understand that this was unacceptable and something needs to be done about it," said Horwath, MPP for Hamilton-Centre
Both CUPE and RNAO said many health-care workers saw their time off at Christmas cancelled as the second wave of COVID-19 is on a steep increase, pushing hospitals and seniors' homes to their limits.
The great irony there is that very few hospital staff actually get vacations approved over the Christmas period," said Hurley. You would hope that the hospital executives would show leadership which is not, You can't have any vacation but we'll be taking ours.'"
Grinspun said she worked over the holidays desperately" trying to find staff for long-term-care homes devastated by outbreaks.
As the leader ... when people are working on the front lines 24-7 and likely the ICU is full like every other ICU in Ontario - how dare you just take off on vacation?" she said. Front-line health-care workers need us ... He owes a huge apology to his own staff because if I were one of them I'd be devastated."
Stewart takes home the third highest public-sector salary in Hamilton at $629,715 in 2019, including taxable benefits.
It's not the first time that his leadership has been questioned. He resigned as Mount Sinai's top doctor in 2013 amid a scandal regarding third-party contracts with the Ornge air ambulance service.
An investigation by The Toronto Star revealed Mount Sinai paid Ornge founder Chris Mazza $256,000 in public money - with no proof Mazza did some of the work for which he was paid. In addition, Ornge paid Stewart $436,000 over seven years to advise Mazza and Ornge on medical issues. Ornge could not confirm what work Stewart had done for the air ambulance organization.
Stewart was never implicated in any criminal wrongdoing nor accused of doing anything improper during an Ontario Provincial Police investigation into financial irregularities at Ornge.
Stewart told the St. Catharines Standard in 2018 that he left his post at Mount Sinai to avoid any appearance of impropriety that could affect the hospital.
-With files from Grant LaFleche, The St. Catharines Standard
Joanna Frketich is a Hamilton-based reporter covering health for The Spectator. Reach her via email: jfrketich@thespec.com