Hospice Society unveils new executive director

The Prince George Hospice Society will have a new executive director in the new year.

Donna Flood will take over from Donalda Carson on Jan. 5.

Flood, who said she has been in nursing for more than 30 years and has a long history of leadership in health care, and her family moved from Trail to Prince George two-and-a-half years ago. She was the program lead on a working committee that had been been looking at improving palliative care throughout the Northern Health region.

"I think it's one of those things where everything sort of aligns to a place and time," Flood said Thursday during an introduction to local media at the Rotary Hospice House.

"I've had lots of opportunities in different aspects of health care and actually hospice work - I had done quite a bit of volunteer work in sort of a death and dying home - and then when I got introduced to palliative care in Prince George is when I got introduced to this hospice."

Carson, who will remain on the board until Jan. 30 to help with the transition, will have been the PGHS executive director for 20 years by the time she steps down.

"I'm turning 70 this weekend and when I looked at that number, I thought 'oh, my gosh, what are you doing still working?'" Carson said. "But I feel that it's taken me until now to have enough retirement savings to live comfortably and travel and I just felt it was time to move on and get going with the rest of my life."

Up until now, Carson has been the first and only PGHS executive director.

"I was hired by the board to get the hospice house up and running and prior to that my nursing career had been spent in intensive care, medical floors and long-term care and that's where everybody dies and I didn't realize I was learning the skills through those experiences that brought me here," Carson said.

Carson said she sees Flood as a "very knowledgeable and caring person."

If there is a lesson to pass on, Carson said it's the importance of fundraising.

"When I first came here, I didn't realize I'd be fundraising," Carson said. "It's been a huge education for me."

PGHS president Mike Hickey said that when the board started its search for a new executive director, it was looking for someone who has not only been a nurse but has a good background in business and strategic planning.

A call for applicants drew 20 candidates, some from as far away as the Punjab in India, as well as Ontario, Alberta and all across B.C. Five were interviewed and short-listed to three finalists, "and we're very, very fortunate to end up with someone like Donna," Hickey said. "The calibre of person we got, we're extremely happy with."

PGHS will go through some major changes over the next five years, Hickey predicted.

In November, city council gave third reading to zoning and official community plan amendments that will allow PGHS to purchase property adjacent to the hospice house's location at Ferry Avenue and Clapperton Street.

In 2010, the hospice house grew to 10 beds from five and the expansion will allow it to double again to 20 if necessary.

"We don't know yet what that number is going to be but 20 could be a good number," Hickey said, noting B.C. Premier Christy Clark has spoken about increasing the number of palliative care beds in the province.

Before moving to Trail, Flood spent 12 years in Nunavut.

"That's where you really see that holistic care of people," Flood said.

She also noted that just 10 per cent of the population will die suddenly and without warning while the rest of us will need some sort of end-of-life support.

"That's really what the hospice does," Flood said. "We're there to provide whatever that looks like in a way that supports family and people. It really is a need that we need to talk about and help people with."