Dr. Verna Yiu. (Government of Alberta)

By rdnewsNOW Staff

New Leadership Search Underway

Dr. Verna Yiu leaving AHS as President and CEO

Apr 4, 2022 | 2:08 PM

The Alberta Health Services Board has announced the departure of Dr. Verna Yiu and the launch of a search process for a new President and CEO as the healthcare system shifts to pandemic recovery and renewal.

“We are very grateful for Dr. Yiu’s tireless leadership through the worst days of the pandemic, and we thank her for her years of dedicated service and commitment to AHS and to Albertans,” said Board Chair Gregory Turnbull, QC. “We have been planning for an orderly transition.”

“I have had the extraordinary privilege to lead Alberta Health Services for the past six plus years,” said Dr. Yiu. “I would like to thank all staff, physicians and volunteers for their steadfast care of Albertans and their ability to put patients and families first, particularly as we have navigated through the past two pandemic years. I took on this role in 2016 because I saw an opportunity to further solidify culture, teamwork, and excellence within the organization.”

“I believed that we could develop better relationships with our patients and families, and with Alberta communities,” continued Yiu. “I am so proud and grateful for all AHS team members as well as our advisory groups and councils, and all the foundations who support AHS.”

AHS officials say the Board will appoint an interim President and CEO shortly to ensure the organization has leadership and stability. A search committee was formed several months ago, and the group has started a search process. The Board has asked Mauro Chies, Vice President, Cancer Care Alberta and Clinical Support Services, to serve in the role of interim CEO on a temporary basis.

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“AHS team members have worked incredibly hard through extreme challenges over the past two years,” said Turnbull. “I’m amazed at their resilience and ability to provide quality care to Albertans every single day. There has always been a plan to transition leadership, and on behalf of the Board, we thank Dr. Yiu, her leadership team, and every AHS employee.”

“We are excited about the future, and in particular we look forward to delivering on key priorities such as the expansion of surgical and acute care services, continuing care, the EMS improvement plan, enhanced mental health programs and services, and workforce recruitment and retention,” added Turnbull.

“I want to thank Dr. Yiu for her leadership over the past six years, and once again thank all the staff at Alberta Health Services for the work they do every day,” said Jason Copping, Minister of Health.

“It’s time to move forward with an ambitious agenda to improve and modernize the health system, and renewed leadership at Alberta Health Services will support delivering those changes.

“The AHS board has been planning for some time to start the recruitment process for a new CEO at the end of Dr. Yiu’s extended term. The agreement with Dr. Yiu that the board announced today will bump up the timeline for the transition and help the system move forward.

“We promised Albertans better access to surgery and a stronger publicly funded health system with better access overall. The pandemic has changed the timelines but it hasn’t changed the goals. They’re multi-year commitments and we need to move forward on them, supported by renewed leadership at AHS.”

Meantime, the Opposition NDP says the UCP government has sacked Dr. Verna Yiu as CEO of Alberta Health Services in a bid to win the support of extremists head of Jason Kenney’s leadership review.

“Today, the UCP has pushed public healthcare in Alberta even deeper into chaos,” said David Shepherd, NDP Critic for Health. “The UCP’s firing of Dr. Verna Yiu comes at a critical time for our province and for public healthcare in general. Dr. Yiu has served Alberta as the head of AHS for six years including the most difficult years in the history of our province.

“She has capably managed Alberta’s hospital system through a pandemic while the UCP did everything in their power to make the situation worse.”

The NDP says Dr. Yiu also clashed with the UCP over her decision to require healthcare workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19, which has killed 4,074 Albertans. The NDP says Health Minister Jason Copping later directly interfered in this clinical decision and rescinded the requirement in March.

“It’s clear that Dr. Yiu put the health and well-being of Albertans first during an unprecedented public health crisis. Apparently, under the UCP, that’s a firing offense,” Shepherd said. “Think about that. Multiple UCP MLAs, indeed even ministers, who actively undermined and undid public health measures have faced no consequence for their actions. But Dr. Yiu is being fired for fighting to protect public health.”

“To Dr. Verna Yiu, on behalf of our caucus, thank you,” Shepherd said. “You have served Albertans well through good times and bad. You guided our hospital system through waves of COVID that were far worse than they had to be due to the failures of the UCP. You deserve far better than the ugly treatment you got from this failed government.

“To frontline healthcare workers: This is a willful and deliberate effort to destabilize Alberta’s public healthcare system. You deserve better than this as well. Alberta’s NDP stands ready to deliver better for you,” said Shepherd.

“Using AHS or its leadership as a scapegoat for the government’s political failings has long served as a convenient means of deflection, and it’s safe to say we are seeing that again now,” said Chris Gallaway, Executive Director of Friends of Medicare. “In the face of so many ongoing, unprecedented challenges in our health care, the last thing we need is more instability. The least the government could do is show some accountability and transparency when it comes to the leadership of our vital public health care system.”

“We are concerned that this will be used as an opportunity for the appointment of a leader who will more readily support the acceleration of the government’s privatization agenda,” added Gallaway. “We will be watching closely as we await the announcement of AHS’ new president and CEO.”