Though a popular phrase states “no man is an island” it’s been Norah Holder’s experience the sentiment also applies to women and hospitals.
The president and CEO of the Collingwood General and Marine Hospital (CGMH) announced last month she will be retiring this spring, after 40 years in healthcare, and more than 12 years at CGMH.
“There are many people I should thank,” Holder told CollingwoodToday. “I feel very privileged to be able to sit back and reflect on the amazing things we’ve been able to achieve by being in service to so many people.”
She is grateful not only to her personal supporters – her husband and son – but to her colleagues and the community.
“You need a lot of people who can support you and help you,” said Holder. “It’s much like healthcare. A hospital can’t do everything on its own.”
Holder began her career in 1981 as a nurse at the Hospital for Sick Children, and she said that first decade was formative for her.
She worked full time in healthcare while also attending school for continuing education to earn degrees and upgrade her qualifications. After working in a senior position at Orillia Soldier’s Memorial Hospital, Holder came to CGMH in 2009 as the vice president of patient services and chief nursing executive and was named president and CEO in 2017.
She said one of the fulfilling pieces of her work as CEO has been getting provincial approval for the first phase of the CGMH hospital redevelopment application, and the go-ahead to work through phase two of the five-phase process.
“Getting to stage two, to me, demonstrates the commitment of the province and the ministry to a hospital development here,” said Holder. “People can argue about the semantics of the development, but [the province] is committed, they understand an investment is required here to build a hospital.”
When the day comes to put shovels into the ground, Holder said she’ll be excited, but inconspicuous.
“I would like to be there quietly in the background saying ‘hurrah, it’s time!’ This community really deserves a developed facility,” she said.
The current hospital building, first constructed in 1956, has been a source of both triumph and challenge over Holder’s leadership term. The current structure is small compared to the service needs and catchment area for the hospital. It’s undergone many renovations as hospital staff have had to find creative ways to expand patient service areas.
“For me, what’s been important is supporting and encouraging innovation to occur,” said Holder. “Because the building does not define who we are, it’s our people and the services. Despite the building, we manage every year to make improvements.”
The hospital foundation and financial support from the community, said Holder, have helped fuel some of that innovation by helping to purchase diagnostic imaging equipment, pay for renovations, and add technology to improve both patient and health care provider safety.
Holder was considering an earlier retirement date, but stayed longer because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The pandemic was a challenge, not only for our hospital, but for all of healthcare,” she said. “The challenges that existed were exacerbated.”
Those challenges included a shortage of human resources, the physical infrastructure of the hospital, and isolated seniors requiring care and support at home.
On the other hand, Holder points to “great” things that occurred because of the pandemic, including setting up and running a field hospital in the Collingwood legion hall, and working closely with what is now the South Georgian Bay Ontario Health Team to provide COVID monitoring at home.
“The challenges have been finances and infrastructure, and moving forward it’s health human resources,” she said, adding it’s another issue magnified by the pandemic.
“It’s not easy at the best of times to provide care,” said Holder. “Working in healthcare, you receive a lot of transferred anxiety and anger, which really isn’t meant for healthcare workers, but it just occurs.”
The heroes of the early months of the pandemic fell from their pedestal as protesters moved into hospital parking lots, angered over mandatory vaccination policies among other things.
“It’s been hard,” said Holder. “I just think health human resources is going to be a very long-term challenge going forward and it’s been magnified by COVID.”
Pandemic aside, the hospital president said the time is right for her to retire. She’s confident in the senior management team, the physician community, and the broader community that works with the hospital to care for patients in different ways.
“I hope my legacy is the understanding that the hospital is not an island … we are a part of a continuum of care,” said Holder. “We need to network and partner and understand what is the right care, in the right place, by the right provider.”
That includes investing upstream into home care services, outpatient programs, and supports that exist outside of the hospital as well as inside it, added Holder.
“This is a South Georgian Bay hospital that works well and requires working well with partners,” said Holder. “We need to keep caring and teamwork as one of our core values.”
Come the spring and following her last day at the helm of CGMH, Holder plans to spend her first year in retirement learning to unplug and unwind.
“This is a 24/7 position and I’m honoured to be in it,” she said.
She’ll be spending time with her family and re-engaging in hobbies like cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, and volunteering in the community.
Eventually, she’d like to travel too.
“I’m deeply, deeply going to miss the people of CGMH,” said Holder. “They’re all amazing. That’s what I’ll miss the most.”
She’s using the end of her career to encourage others to pursue their own journeys into the healthcare field.
“It’s tremendously rewarding. I couldn’t think of a better career,” she said. “Even though there have been ups and downs, I would never change a minute of it … It’s a career where you’re in service and you’re in duty, but there’s so much satisfaction. And there’s a lot of fun in it too.”
Holder’s official retirement date is May 15, 2022.
