Today marks the first day of Dr. Suzanne Johnston’s tenure as President of the Niagara Health System. Please see the statement below from Dr. Johnston and the attached video message to learn more about her.
“I can’t tell you how much I have been looking forward to today and how excited I am about working together with the NHS team and Niagara residents to shape the future of healthcare in Niagara.
Niagara is an amazing region of communities, and I strongly believe that the NHS is poised to be one of the great Canadian hospital systems. A lot of excellent work by many hands has brought us to where we are today, and I am very impressed with the world-class patient care that I am hearing about and seeing across all of our sites.
One of the first important aspects of my new role will be continuing on the work to build relationships and trust. Our future success is dependent on how we engage the NHS team – our volunteers, staff, physicians – and our communities in our vision for healthcare in Niagara. This engagement includes how we interact with people both inside and outside the organization, and how we respond to their feedback.
I strongly believe in being present and available, and I will be out and about at all of our sites and in the community on a frequent basis.
There is no question the St. Catharines Site is an impressive facility, and I am looking forward to joining the planning that is underway for the south Niagara hospital and two urgent care centres. The future is bright for healthcare in Niagara.”
ABOUT DR. SUZANNE JOHNSTON
Dr. Johnston is originally from New Brunswick. She has more than 25 years of leadership experience in health care and government. Before taking on her current role with NHS, Dr. Johnston served as Vice President, Clinical Programs, and Chief Nursing Officer at Northern Health Authority, an organization serving northern B.C. with over 24 hospitals, 14 long-term care facilities, and community services providing specialized services to diverse populations including aboriginal Canadians.
Dr. Johnston was also Chief Operating Officer for Northern Health Authority’s northwest region, and has worked at the NHA since 2000.
Dr. Johnston obtained both her undergraduate and graduate degrees in nursing from the University of New Brunswick and completed her doctoral studies at the University of Arizona. She participated in executive education at the Wharton Business School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Media contact:
Brady Wood, 905-378-4647, ext. 43111, or 905-380-0884 (cell);
brady.wood@niagarahealth.on.ca
