Greg Hoffort has gone from the frying pan to, well, another frying pan.
Hoffort recently took over as the executive director of St. Joseph's Hospital after serving as the administrator for the RM of Estevan for a number of years. Both organizations have endured a tumultuous year - the RM was hit hard by the spring flooding and is still dealing with the aftermath while the hospital has been struggling with a lack of doctors.
Hoffort was at the forefront of the RM's flood response and the subsequent recovery. As the new man in charge at St. Joe's, he will be tasked with helping the hospital deal with not only the physician shortage but the other issues that come up on a daily basis.
Hoffort said his first week at St. Joe's was spent getting himself acclimated and thus far things are going well.
"I've been thrust right into things; into a score of meetings and getting to know everyone and just trying to learn the ropes and the processes and procedures. It's been a learning week and that will continue, but so far so good."
Although he has been with the RM for roughly 16 years, Hoffort is hardly new to the health-care game.
Much of his education is in health care and he served as director of Systems Lifeline and the administrative assistant at the hospital from 1990 to 1996. He also served as executive director of St. Joseph's Foundation from 1994 to 1996 and was the commissioning and equipment co-ordinator for the hospital during the building of the present facility from 1989 to 1990.
Hoffort said that past experience left him with the lingering feeling that at some point he might like to return to the health-care field and when the opportunity arose to replace outgoing director Normand Poirier, he jumped at it.
"I had a great career at the RM of Estevan and enjoyed going to work every day, but it was something that was always in the back of my mind," he said. "More recently with the RM and City getting involved to try and help with some of the health-care impediments, it kind of rekindled that desire I had and the opportunity presented itself."
After leaving a job that had many challenges, Hoffort has moved into another that also has a host of issues. Without question, the most pressing one is the doctor shortage that has gripped the city. Hoffort said a number of positive steps have been taken but there is much work still to be done.
"There is progress being made there. It is not something that is going to be handled overnight. There are several interested physicians. There seems to be a lot, if not too many hurdles for some of them to have to clear to come to our community, but having said that, there are several expressing interest so we are optimistic."
Hoffort added another challenge will be maintaining a solid working relationship with the Sun Country Health Region. There has been a growing level of unhappiness locally with the health region and its perceived bias towards Weyburn so keeping a good line of communication between St. Joe's and Sun Country will be crucial.
"We will be seeking to continue an open dialogue and to move things forward," Hoffort said. "We have a large region and we see St. Joseph's as a vital part of that region, as I am sure they do, so there needs to be constant communication."
Although they are longer-range targets, Hoffort said he and the St. Joseph's board will also continue to work towards getting regional hospital status for St. Joe's and obtaining a CT Scanner for the hospital.
"We think Estevan is a prime location (for a regional hospital) given its location in the region and the accessibility to the entire region. Ninety per cent of the population is within an hour of Estevan and that is, in our mind, something, that is huge."
Hoffort added they met last week with officials from the STARS air ambulance program to scout where a helipad could be located and he is hopeful that service will be available to Estevan next year.
