Once he is officially designated as medical health officer for the Sunshine Coast, Dr. Geoff McKee will have the power to shut down the Sechelt Hospital.
But that’s extremely unlikely, his predecessor Dr. Paul Martiquet said. “We work collaboratively, rather than escalating issues,” Martiquet said in an interview at the Gibsons Health Unit.
McKee will replace Martiquet, who is retiring as MHO at the end of this year. Until then McKee plans to spend half his time on the Coast, as Martiquet teaches him the job.
The position encompasses research, advocacy and educating the community on health issues. It also includes the power to act against persons or places that pose a health risk.
“He [McKee] will have a lot of power,” Martiquet said. “The Public Health Act is a very big stick where he can close restaurants. He can close the hospital if he found practices that were endangering people’s health.”
The act would also authorize McKee to take other actions to protect public health, such as inspecting vehicles for infections or issuing health alerts.
But first, the position needs to be provincially designated by an order-in-council, which would come from Lt.-Gov. Judith Guichon. The date of designation is uncertain, but there will be no gap, Martiquet said.
McKee was interviewed by Coast Reporter on Nov. 21, his second day of training as MHO. He called the Sunshine Coast “a healthy community,” but added that he quickly learned it has problems.
He said he is alarmed that many people are moving to the Coast because of high rents in Vancouver and then not finding housing here. “That’s something that needs to be a priority for discussion with the community, with politicians, and also within health because housing is a core determinant of health.”
Martiquet explained that a lot of the job involves persuading politicians to consider people’s health when creating policies. During the next month, he and McKee plan to meet with as many public officials as possible. The day of this interview they visited the Sunshine Coast Regional District office to learn about water systems.
“What jumped out on me was the enthusiasm of the elected officials to address some of the challenges,” McKee said.
Martiquet, who has been medical health officer for 25 years – longer than any other MHO in the province, he said – predicted McKee will have an intense and steadily increasing workload. In addition to topical issues such as the opioid crisis, broad trends need to be addressed. For example, Martiquet said, the average life expectancy on the Sunshine Coast is about three years lower than in West Vancouver.
Since the Coast joined the North Shore Coast-Garibaldi health delivery region in 2001, the “little joke” has been that the Coast brought down the entire region’s statistics, he said.
The mainly rural nature of the Sunshine Coast works against it, he said. Rural people have more illness than urban people. That correlation became one of two key reasons McKee was selected from among eight people short-listed for MHO, Martiquet said. The hiring committee, led by Lauren Tindall, Vancouver Coastal Health director for the Sunshine Coast, liked his background in rural and aboriginal health, Martiquet said.
McKee did much of his medical training in rural areas of the Kootenays and the Okanagan.
As for the aboriginal connection, he has Métis ancestry on his father’s side from the Red River area in Manitoba. He worked at the Centre for Aboriginal Health and the Network Environments for Aboriginal Research, both on Vancouver Island, where he met with Aboriginal groups.
“Speaking with elders was one of the most powerful moments for me. You could really see the personal side as well as the emotional side,” McKee said. ”They had strength and resilience. You see how you can support them on their own journey to health.”
That inspired him to pursue a career in public health and the MHO position, he said. “I’ll be excited to help bring some new ideas here, once I’ve identified the priorities. I hope to add to Paul’s legacy and continue the great work he has done in the community.”
