New Chief of Staff named
John Swinden, Chair of the Stevenson Memorial Hospital Board of Directors and Annette Jones, President and CEO, are pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Oswaldo Ramirez as the hospital’s new Chief of Staff.
Dr. Ramirez is a familiar face at Stevenson, having worked as an emergency physician for the past nine years. He most recently served as Chief of Emergency Medicine, a role he assumed in 2006.
“Our physicians, staff and patients know and respect Dr. Ramirez, both for his skills and for his commitment to this hospital and this community,” Swinden said. “I know he will continue to bring the passion he has always displayed for improving emergency medicine to his new role as Chief of Staff, and I look forward to his enthusiasm and leadership in the coming years.”
In addition to his responsibilities as the new Chief of Staff, Dr. Ramirez will also continue as the Chief of Emergency until a successor is ready to take the reins.
“It is truly a privilege to represent Stevenson’s medical staff as Chief,” said Dr. Ramirez. “Over the past several years we have made great strides in improving quality of care for patients, and I am confident we will continue on that road to success.”
Dr. Ramirez says his immediate goals are to continue the drive to have the Ministry of Health approve a new emergency department and operating rooms for Stevenson Memorial Hospital. Dr. Ramirez completed his Family Medicine Residency training at Cape Breton Regional Hospital in 2004 and is one of the founding members of the first Family Health Team in this community.
Under Ramirez’ leadership as Chief of Emergency Medicine for seven years, Stevenson has taken great strides to improve wait times for patients. The hospital is currently ranked 2nd in the province out of 74 high volume emergency departments for shortest wait times. Our patients ER arrival to in-patient bed time has seen the biggest improvement moving from 29 hours in 2011 to less than 18 hours today. Most patients are admitted to their in-patient bed within 9 hours - a 22 per cent improvement over the baseline we started from in 2010.
Outside the hospital, Dr. Ramirez is a member of the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters and has completed several volunteer missions to Ecuador, as part of rural and family medicine assistance program and the emergency medical assistance team.
Please join us in welcoming Dr. Ramirez to his new role as Chief of Staff.
