For Immediate Release:
Thursday June 27, 2002

GTA/905 Healthcare Alliance Welcomes New Chair, Jane Watson

Trainer, consultant and author, Jane Watson is ready to use all the skills at her disposal in her new role as Chair of the GTA/905 Healthcare Alliance when her official duties begin July 1st of this year. Watson is the fourth person to hold the position of Alliance Chair since its inception in 1996 and succeeds outgoing chair, Gale Mossman. The Alliance is a group of eleven hospital corporations in the regions of Durham, Halton, Peel and York working for fairer health care funding on behalf of its growing population.

The former Board Chair of the Credit Valley Hospital, Watson has also run her own consulting company for the past 18 years. Her business acumen and long service record with the Credit Valley Hospital is augmented by her personal experience with cancer. Watson lost a father and a father-in-law to cancer while she struggled with her own rare form of throat cancer.

Her experience with the disease led to her advocacy work as Chair of Citizens for Cancer Centre West. She describes herself as a "triple A" personality," which is reflected by the number of committees she participated on during her eleven years with the Credit Valley Board. She also sat on a regional committee with the Ontario Hospital Association and dedicated herself to building relations between hospitals in the region of Peel.

Today Jane is ready to continue her strong advocacy work as Alliance Chair in order to champion the need for fair funding for 905 residents. Her own successful fight with cancer has provided Jane Watson with an insider's perspective of the healthcare system and the need for more services closer to home.

As Alliance Chair, Watson would like to "enhance the Alliance's reputation as a highly respected and informative body that will effectively deal with the growth and capacity issues that exist for area hospitals."

Says Watson: "I want to do my part to ensure that GTA/905 residents receive appropriate healthcare funding for necessary services. By working with the government in a non-adversarial way I believe we can successfully address the capacity issues that exist."

Watson believes in a "hands on" approach as Chair and expects to work actively to ensure the growing health care needs of 905 residents are met through appropriate funding.

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The GTA/905 Healthcare Alliance is a group of eleven hospital corporations from the regions of Durham, Halton, Peel, York and surrounding areas. Alliance hospitals include: Halton Healthcare Services, Joseph Brant Memorial Hospital, Lakeridge Health Corporation, Markham Stouffville Hospital, Rouge Valley Health System, Southlake Regional Health Centre, The Credit Valley Hospital, Trillium Health Centre, Whitby Mental Health Centre, William Osler Health Centre, and York Central Hospital.