Timmins and District Hospital board appoints new leader

Mike Baker, president and CEO of Temiskaming Hospital, will take over as Timmins and District Hospital’s new leader on June 1.

The Timmins and District Hospital will soon have a new president and chief executive officer.

The hospital’s board of directors announced that Mike Baker, the president and CEO of Temiskaming Hospital, will replace Kate Fyfe, who is retiring.

“He brings a strong business acumen, a great understanding of the health-care landscape across not just the region, but also the province,” said Melanie Verreault, interim board chair.

“We just see Mike being able to continue that great work that we have going on right now and taking it to the next level, as well.”

Baker has previous experience working in Timmins, including as vice-president of finance, administration and Indigenous Services at Northern College.

He has held the leadership role at Temiskaming Hospital for eight years and understands the challenges the health-care sector endures.

“The challenges are real and you need to step up and you need to make sure that the service levels in Timmins, as in the Cochrane district in total, don’t change because of the challenges that are there,” Baker said.

Daunting challenge

“I’ve put a lot of emphasis on relationships and being positive, being proactive, using evidence to come up with solutions. It’s worked out well for us, so I think I look at it as a challenge. It’s daunting for sure, but I look at it as a challenge that I want to step up to and I want to be an influencer, and I want to make things better.”

Baker also serves on the Ontario Hospital Association as chair of the finance and audit committee. He said his role with the association has helped the provincial government understand the north’s vast geography.

“We’ve been pretty successful in helping them understand that a decision you make that impacts University Avenue (in Toronto) where there are four major hospitals -- these are the same decisions that affect someone in Timmins or somewhere else in northeastern Ontario,” he said.

“The decisions can have significant consequences for the health and safety of our people.”

Baker begins work at the Timmins hospital June 1 and the search for a new president and CEO at Temiskaming Hospital is underway.