For the first time since the Sunrise Health Region was formed in 2002, the Town of Canora does not have a representative sitting as a member of regional health authority board.
On October 5, when the provincial government announced the appointments to the board of directors, Doris Kopelchuk of Canora was recognized as one of three outgoing board members. She had been on the board since 2009. The other two outgoing members are Walter Streelasky of Melville, who had been on the board since 2006, and Janet Hill of Yorkton, who was a founding member of the Sun-rise Regional Health Authority in 2002.
New to the Sunrise Regional Health Authority are: Garth Harris of Preeceville, Beatrice Boychuk of Ituna, Deborah Schmidt of Yorkton, and Bob Drayer of Sturgis.
Lawrence Chomos of Esterhazy was re-appointed as the board chairperson. He has served as a member of Health Authority since March of 2007. Serving the region since April of 2011, Donald Rae of Yorkton was re-appointed as vice-chairperson.
Also returning are Health Authority members: Dave Schappert of Langenburg, Shirley Wolfe-Keller of Invermay and Gordon Gendur of Yorkton. Schappert has served on the regional health authority since February of 2009. Wolfe-Keller and Gendur have served since May of 2012.
Speaking about the outgoing members, Chomos thanked them and said: 鈥淲e will miss these dedicated board members for their thorough knowledge of the region and compassionate representation of the public we serve.鈥�
The appointments also fill a vacancy from July of 2014 when Murray Dalton of Preeceville retired as a board member, a position he had held since May of 2012.
Sunrise Regional Health Authority is the official name of the Sunrise Health Region board of directors.
The new members will receive extensive orientation to the region which over-sees health services for 59,551 people in the region, with an overall catchment area of 120,000, according to a Sunrise press release. The annual budget for health services in the Sunrise Health Region is in excess of聽 $221 million and services are provided by its 2,945 staff members working in the community and in 23 facilities managed by the health region.
The appointment of members and the identification of chairperson and vice-chairperson are made by Order of Council of the Government of Saskatchewan. All members serve at the pleasure of the Minister of Health for three-year terms.
North Valley Health District, Assiniboine Valley Health District and the East Central Health District amalgamated in 2002 to become the Sunrise Health District. Jennie Ortynsky of Canora served on the Assiniboine Valley Health District board before the 2002 amalgamation and then she served as a board member for Sunrise from 2002 to 2009 when Kopelchuk was appointed.
