Thunder Bay, December 11, 2018 – The North West Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) Board of Directors presented the fourth annual North West LHIN Leadership Award on Tuesday, December 11, 2018, at the LHIN’s Board meeting in Thunder Bay. The award acknowledges outstanding transformation, partnerships and leadership excellence across Northwestern Ontario’s health care system. In August, 2018, North West LHIN-funded Health Service Providers and Service Provider Organizations were invited to nominate individuals, teams, and organizations from across the region for the Leadership Award. This year, the Board of Directors awarded successful recipients from three categories. Gil Labine, Board Chair of the LHIN, announced recipients in the categories of Collaboration/Partnership, Diversity and Inclusion, and Value Creation:

Mary Berglund Community Health Centre Hub’s Client Focused Care = Community Wellbeing Initiative was awarded with the North West LHIN Leadership Award for their exceptional practice in value creation. Client Focused Care = Community Wellbeing is a multi-dimensional evidence-based initiative designed to enable delivery of better integrated, consistent, client-centred care and programs at the neighbourhood level. Using a grassroots approach, care and services are reflective of the need of the community members. The objective is to give each person in the community of Ignace the best quality of life. The initiative demonstrated better holistic care, high rates of sense of belonging in the community, increased client and family trust in health care, and improvements in health care utilization. It laid the foundation for the Mary Berglund Community Health Centre Hub, as a sector leader, to deliver patient-centred care.

Photo (left to right): Dr. Rhonda Crocker Ellacott, CEO, North West LHIN, Chicki Pesola, Board Member-Mary Berglund Community Health Centre, Heidi West, Executive Director, Mary Berglund Community Health Centre, Gil Labine, Chair, North West LHIN Board of Directors