(Jimmy Trieu is Alexandra Marine and General Hospital’s new chief information officer/vice president of corporate services. Laura Broadley, Goderich Signal Star)
AMGH Welcomes Jimmy Trieu
Laura Broadley, Goderich Signal Star
Jimmy Trieu is Alexandra Marine and General Hopsital’s new chief information officer/vice president of corporate services as of June 20. He answered questions for the Signal Star last week so Goderich could get to know him.
Where were you before coming to AMGH and why did you decide it was the right place for you?
I’ve been in healthcare since the mid-90s with the last 10 being at an executive level. Before coming to Goderich I was in Exeter at the South Huron Hospital Association as the director of corporate affairs for about two years. I did a year at Conestoga as the chair of the health sciences program and before that I was in Stratford for seven years. I’ve been around the hospital sector for a long time. I left it to go to Conestoga and the education field. I realized quickly that healthcare was my passion, and so that’s why I came back.
When this opportunity at AMGH presented itself, it was an opportunity that was very interesting to me. I wanted to use my skills to bring Goderich and the hospital into the future of healthcare.
AMGH is the largest healthcare provider for Huron County. I think it has a really important role in setting the healthcare plan for the county. It’s a collaborative environment with the staff, nurses and physicians, that’s what really drew me to AMGH.
What are your short term goals as you begin your work at AMGH?
It’s about getting to know the business, getting to know who the people are, and understanding the processes.
I want to make sure that the staff has the supports in place for them to carry on their day-to-day business. I think with that in mind it’s certainly my role to make sure that they are able to do that.
It doesn’t matter where you are in healthcare you face the same issues. It’s about how you manage those issues within the community you’re serving.
I can tell the staff has a real sense of pride in the healthcare they provide and the organization as well. Everyone puts their best food forward in terms of providing patient care.
What are some of your long term goals?
I want to get a sense of what is needed out in the Town of Goderich, out in the surrounding communities. What do we need to do to keep the hospital viable in terms of the services provided?
The hospital needs to keep recruiting to have the best talent in place for the organization. And really, it’s to grow the hospital profile within the community and connecting with those partners that are out in the community. As we look into the future of healthcare, it’s about building those relationships, it’s about knocking down the four walls of the hospital and looking beyond our own means to work with the community partners. That’s really what it’s about. How do we work together in times of finite resources?
What are your impressions so far of Goderich and its implications for healthcare?
Goderich has the fastest growing senior population in Southwestern Ontario. That knowledge allows us to tweak our services to provide for that population.
We have to look at the services we provide and determine how to cater those services to seniors in the community.
Are there any challenges so far that you’ve identified?
I think for us challenges would be our space, our footprint of the hospital. We’re really confined by what’s here I the present. If we were looking at growing some of our services that we provide for the community, we might look at changing the space a little bit.
There is also the fiscal challenge. We’ve heard that over and over again. Our costs continue to rise but our finding doesn’t. How do we continue to provide those services based on a restricted budget that we get from the ministry?
What do you want the Goderich community to know about AMGH?
The message that I would want the public to know is that AMGH is here, we’re here to stay, we are constantly looking to improve the services that we provide, and our staff are fully dedicated to quality patient care and excellent outcomes for all those that come into our hospital.
We live in challenging times, but I think our staff has really stepped up to work under those constraints and deliver that quality patient care.
Note: Questions and answers have been edited for clarity and/or brevity.
Source: The Goderich Signal Star
