A new Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) director for the Sunshine Coast local health area has been hired to replace director Gerry Latham, who is retiring.
Marie Duperreault, a registered nurse, spent six years in the role of Island Health director for the Alberni Clayoquot Region and in various nursing and senior management roles on Vancouver Island before that. She has also worked as a community health nurse and team leader with the Kwakiutl First Nation at Fort Rupert, and she began her nursing career in Bella Bella, which is part of VCH, in 2002.
Duperreault, who started in the permanent position March 15, replaced Latham, who began serving as interim director in August 2019 after Lauren Tindall resigned to pursue another opportunity in Ontario. Latham’s position was made permanent in November 2019.
Latham said Duperreault’s experience working in rural communities “will support a smooth transition.”
“I am so pleased that VCH has recruited a very experienced health-care leader to move into this role,” she said.
As director, Latham, also with a background in nursing, oversaw the delivery of health services and strategic health-care decisions during the onset, first and second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the initial rollout of the immunization program.
“Everyone went above and beyond to get ready to protect this community and then to care for those who came to us with COVID,” said Latham, who noted in particular the work of the COVID Physician Task Force, frontline staff and the leadership team, the Respiratory Assessment Clinic in Sechelt, and long-term care team “who wrapped the residents in ‘bubble wrap’ protecting the most vulnerable.”
As of March 16, no long-term care facilities on the Sunshine Coast have reported outbreaks.
Latham also thanked fundraising efforts by the Sechelt Hospital Foundation and Sunshine Coast Healthcare Auxiliary.
“Now we have entered the stage of rolling out the vaccine to the Sunshine Coast community – a huge, logistical task yet one embraced by so many public health, physicians, nurses and clerical,” said Latham.
