It appears as if questions surrounding the employment of the vice-president of finance and operations for the Sun Country Health Region aren't going away.It was learned last week that the associate deputy minster and deputy minister for health, Louise Greenberg and Dan Florizone have asked for a report on the procedures that were used in the hiring of Hal Schmidt for the financial post in the local regional health authority's central office in Weyburn. The report, which is due this week, should reveal whether proper due diligence processes were followed and references checked out before hiring Schmidt. Last week, Sun Country's CEO, Cal Tant told The Mercury that he had vetted Schmidt's job application and references himself and had informed the board of directors and chairwoman Sharon Bauche about his findings, including the fact that Schmidt had misrepresented his credentials while applying for a job in Halifax six years ago which led to his firing 12 weeks into the job. Schmidt had noted in his resume that he was a CA (chartered account) when, in fact, he wasn't. Further allegations were made that a forensic audit had to be carried out following Schmidt's departure from a hospital in British Columbia. Sun Country board member Lori Carr, said she heard that the audit in B.C. had been performed and that it supposedly focused on Schmidt's possible misuse of corporate credit card(s) and questionable loans, but since no charges were laid in connection to those incidents, she and others could not pass judgment.Carr, Estevan's lone appointed representative on the Sun Country's 12-member board, said she understood the report requested by Greenberg and Florizone had already been forwarded. "I expect they'll want to meet with Cal and Sharon (Tant and Bauche) after that," she said.The concerns that were raised last week, which focused on Schmidt's hiring, were raised by NDP Health critic Judy Junor. Carr said Tant was aware of Schmidt's misrepresentation at the start, which confirmed what he told The Mercury last week, but she said she didn't know if Tant informed the board members about that situation immediately or later on since she was not a board member at the time. Schmidt has been the CFO for the regional health authority for about two years, while Carr was appointed in February 2009. "I heard about the situations in B.C. (New Westminster's St. Mary's Hospital and Providence Health Care in Vancouver where Schmidt also apparently claimed CA status), but charges were dropped, or never laid because there was no merit," said Carr. Following Schmidt's tenure at St. Mary's, the hospital's board ordered a forensic audit into administration expenses. "One thing I do know about Mr. Schmidt is that he's thorough and our books get audited every year, so if there are any deficiencies, our auditing firm, they'd know it," Carr said. Sun Country's financial records are audited by Virtus Group, an independent accounting firm headquartered in Regina. Because some of the allegations are surfacing in an anonymous fashion, Carr said, "They maybe have to be taken with a grain of salt. If the person or persons have something against Mr. Schmidt, why did they wait for two years before raising these concerns?" She admitted though, that anonymous sources may have just uncovered the information in recent months. When the questions surrounding Schmidt did surface at the Sun Country board session, Carr said that Bauche "went to Cal and Hal and asked for explanations and got them, so now we're dealing with it. We'll let the ministry assess the report. I don't think at this point the board is looking at letting him (Schmidt) go." She said there is a dearth of competent health care professionals to fill administrative needs. "Everything I see of him I see he is very competent in his job and the financial position at Sun Country doesn't necessarily require the CFO to have a CA," said Carr."Do I think he's getting a raw deal? I think he is."Carr was then asked to comment on another concern that has been circling around Sun Country regarding hiring practices and policies. She was asked about the board's policy regarding the hiring of family members within the administration, something that has occurred in Sun Country but is unrelated to the Schmidt situation. She said she didn't believe there was any direct policy regarding nepotism in the hiring practices and that as long as the public/open bidding for the jobs was carried out, if the person being hired happened to be a wife, daughter, son or other relative of an existing administrative employee, and met the qualifications, she saw nothing wrong with it."In many instances these would be unionized jobs, so they'd be pretty thorough in scrutinizing, making sure the hiring process went through properly," she said.
