Stanton Hospital's top administrator leaves
Colin Goodfellow was instrumental in offering space for homeless to sleep at night
John McFadden
Northern News Services
Wednesday, April 12, 2017
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Stanton Territorial Hospital is looking for a permanent chief operating officer after the previous one left after only eight months on the job.
Stanton Hospital's then chief operating officer, Colin Goodfellow, sits at his desk in January. The top administrator at the hospital no longer holds the position after only eight months on the job. - NNSL file photo |
The Department of Health and Social Services has confirmed Colin Goodfellow is no longer the hospital's top executive. He came to the city last September after having been the chief executive officer for the hospital in Kemptville, Ont., near Ottawa.
The circumstances behind Goodfellow's departure are not being made public by the government. It is not clear if he was fired or left on his own. Yellowknifer was unable to contact Goodfellow directly, but did reach out to David Maguire, spokesperson for the NWT Health and Social Services Authority, to find out what happened.
He responded by e-mail.
"Colin Goodfellow is no longer the chief operating officer for Stanton Territorial Hospital. In the interim, Les Harrison will assume the duties of chief operating officer effective April 10, 2017," he stated, adding no further information would be released by the department.
Goodfellow was still listed on the GNWT directory on Monday but had been removed from it as of yesterday.
It was unclear whether Harrison would continue his duties as executive director of the NWT Health and Social Services Authority.
When top bureaucrats leave a government organization it is not uncommon for them to sign a waiver forbidding them to speak about the circumstances surrounding their departure. It is unclear if that is the situation here. In his short time here, Goodfellow was likely best known for instituting a policy whereby homeless people were allowed warm up in the hospital lobby during the winter months.
"It's not a shelter," he explained at the time.
"But they can sit there and warm up."
The policy seemed to go over well except with the union representing hospital workers - the Union of Northern Workers.
In January, the union local's second vice-president Marie Buchanan told Yellowknifer she had concerns about staff safety.
Maguire had not responded as of press time to a question about whether homeless people can still spend time in the lobby.
The union did not return calls as of press time.
The 56-year-old Goodfellow indicated to Yellowknifer in previous interviews he expected to be in Yellowknife through the opening of the new Stanton Hospital, which is planned for next year. He told Yellowknifer that he had thoroughly enjoyed overseeing the hospital and its roughly 560 full and part-time employees for the past five months.
"It's a great gig - an absolutely fantastic opportunity," he said.
