BROCKVILLE – The province has named the person who will oversee the struggling Brockville General Hospital.
The Ministry of Health announced Thursday it has appointed Kevin Empey to address the challenges facing the health care facility and he will start immediately.
Empey, the former CEO of Lakeridge Health (the cluster of Oshawa area hospitals) from 2008-2016, is described as a “well-respected, senior health care leader with a strong financial background.”
Empey, a chartered account, will wield a lot of power in his role, allowing him to make decisions in the same capacity as the hospital board, the corporation and all its employees. He will report directly to the health minister.
The province had announced Sept. 21, 2016 it was appointing a supervisor after getting a request the South East Local Health Integration Network.
In September, BGH took out a $5.3 million loan from the South East LHIN to meet it obligations.
That loan needs to be paid back by March, by a health care institution that is already facing a $4.2 million deficit from 2016.
The hospital parted ways with its CEO, Tony Weeks, in July and appointed an interim president and CEO, Wayne Blackwell.