The new CEO and President of the Listowel Wingham Hospital Alliance is settling into her new role.
Esther Millar recently took over from the retired Karl Ellis. Millar has an extensive background in healthcare, and has a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, as well as a Master of Business Administration.
Millar has served as a senior healthcare executive across the province, including in acute care, public health, long-term care, and mental health.
After taking on the new role with the LWHA, Millar says she's excited to be a part of a great rural healthcare team, and she's looking forward to tackling challenges facing the healthcare sector. Those include recruitment, retention, facility upgrades and expansion of services.
On that note, Millar says the LWHA has plenty of recent successes to celebrate. That includes the CT scanner project in Wingham, with an install time of July 2025. The Wingham and District Hospital Foundation is attempting to raise $3.6 million to facilitate the new machine, and at the time of writing have raised over $3.1 million.
Additionally, Millar points out that a key service has reopened in Listowel.
"We're happy to announce that our obstetrical services have reopened effective September 16 in Listowel, and it was really warming to hear the first cries of a newborn baby and our staff and our volunteers and board are just so excited about it," Millar enthused.
There are also key additions to the LWHA staff that Millar highlighted.
"We've recruited our surgeon, and we have our surgeries now at both sites again. We continue to do some renovations in our buildings, installing some new HVAC systems and some minor repairs," Millar noted.
Also, Millar says the LWHA will be expanding and enhancing the Ontario Breast Screening Program in October, in conjunction with Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
"The LWHA is a breast assessment centre, so we're held to very high standards in terms of breast health assessment. So, the services are being expanded to those aged 40-49 and we're very proud of the processes," Millar explained. "The team's always looking at quality improvements, so that we can be sure that as we get more people looking for services, we can protocol them right through from the time they ask for an appointment, through biopsy, and we're really happy to say we're well within the 7 week target for Cancer Care Ontario."
Millar says moving forward, she's excited to continue making the LWHA a top tier healthcare network in rural Ontario and further connecting with the supportive communities that LWHA calls home.