A Fond Farewell to Dr. Kevin Smith, President and CEO, St. Joseph’s Health System
Elder care that has been redefined to help our region’s seniors have better transition between hospital and home, a model that brings integrated care to our most vulnerable patient population and is now being adopted across Canada. These are only a sample of the ways Dr. Kevin Smith has positively shaped healthcare in our region by living the legacy of the Sisters of St. Joseph.
After 23 years of distinguished service, Dr. Kevin Smith, President and CEO, St. Joseph’s Health System is departing to lead University Health Network. He departs from our organization with gratitude for his dedication to improving the health of our region.
Dr. Smith leaves the St. Joseph’s Health System uniquely positioned as a network of sister organizations that truly cares for patients throughout every stage of life. As an organization, St. Joe’s is more impactful thanks in part to Dr. Smith’s advocacy for better health outcomes for the citizens of region.
“As our CEO, Kevin was and is an inspiration and a healthcare innovator of national and international renown. He is driven to improve how we deliver service, find new knowledge, inspire learning and scholarship in the service of those who suffer. Most of all he embodied our mission with patients, residents and their family’s needs at the centre of what he did and challenged us all to do. We wish him all the best in this new phase of his career,” says Dr. David Higgins, President, St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton. With Dr. Smith’s departure, Dr. David Higgins will also assume the role of Acting President and CEO of St. Joseph’s Health System.
In addition to his role as President and CEO of St. Joseph’s Health System, seven years ago Dr. Kevin Smith also became the CEO of Niagara Health, coupling our two organizations in a way that positioned us to collaborate and improve care across our region.
“Kevin’s leadership, his dedication to constantly doing what is best for patients and families, and his forward thinking, have always ensured Hamilton was on the map when it came to health care innovation,” says Donna Cripps, Chief Executive Officer, Hamilton Niagara Haldimand Brant Local Health Integration Network. “With Kevin at the helm, St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton launched the pioneering Integrated Comprehensive Care (ICC) model which enables health care providers to communicate with each other more effectively, makes points of transition in care seamless and less confusing for patients and their families and has resulted in better patient outcomes.
Not only has Dr. Smith helped create a more technologically advanced and effective healthcare system across the Golden Horseshoe region, his work has influenced, and will continue to better our healthcare system at a provincial level.
“Over the past ten years Dr. Kevin Smith has provided tremendous leadership to the provincial health system,” says Dr. Bob Bell, Deputy Minister of Health and Long-Term Care. Examples of his exceptional leadership can be seen in “his role as Chair of CorHealth, in the development of bundled approaches to post discharge care, (in the) implementation of standardized order sets or development of artificial intelligence (initiatives)... Kevin has served the citizens of Ontario very well and will continue to do so.
As a leader, Dr. Smith is a champion of the research and academic mission of St. Joe’s. His mandates have supported clinical teachers who are educating the next generation of health care providers and researchers who are seeking answers to questions that have the potential to improve the quality of life for thousands in our community, our country – and throughout the world. One of the ways he has fostered a culture of innovation is by strengthening St. Joe’s relationship with McMaster University.
“Kevin Smith is one of those exceptionally rare individuals who can work in many dimensions and at many levels. At one moment, he is viewing the “forest” at the 50,000 foot level. The next moment, he has focused on the individual blade of grass… Kevin can understand the patients’ perspective, the healthcare providers’ perspective, and the government perspective,” says Dr. John Kelton, past Dean and Vice-President, Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University and current Executive Director, Michael G. DeGroote Initiative for Innovation in Healthcare. “Kevin’s unique ability allows him to identify the key elements from each view point to find the common denominator. He is a remarkable person with great gifts and perhaps best of all, he is a nice person.”
What has made Dr. Smith a distinctive leader is how he has thoughtfully joined the Mission of the Sisters of St. Joseph with pushing the envelope of innovation in healthcare. This has been his signature way of contributing.
“Kevin is a patient, resident and client-focused, visionary leader, who challenges, supports and empowers in the ongoing quest to achieve excellence in care, education and research,” says Sister Anne Anderson, Chair, St. Joseph’s Health System.
As part of his departing message to staff at St. Joe’s, Dr. Kevin Smith encouraged staff to look ahead and recognize that our strength lays in collaborating across the spectrum, encouraging them to remember that every little act of kindness from one care provider to one patient, adds up.
“As I say farewell to everyone who is part of St. Joe’s, I would like to thank you and encourage you all to envision yourself picking up the torch of the legacy of the Sisters of St. Joseph,” says Dr. Kevin Smith, President and CEO, St. Joseph’s Health System. “Know that what you do makes a difference every day in the lives of our patients and their families, in tangible, important and meaningful ways.”