Duane Hicks
The Northwestern Heath Unit’s board of health announced yesterday afternoon it has appointed Dr. James Arthurs as acting medical officer of health (MoH).
The board also has applied to the minister of health and long-term care for Dr. Arthurs to be appointed as the health unit’s permanent MoH.
“The board is very pleased that we filled the position with Dr. James Arthurs,” said board chair John Albanese.
“The board is looking forward to 2009 being a healthy year, and a more easy one,” he added, noting with Dr. Arthurs on the job, now some of the workload will be taken off health unit administration, like CAO Mark Perrault.
“He’s going to be a big plus for the Northwestern Heath Unit, especially for us in the north, where we so badly need doctors,” said Albanese. “He’s going to be a good addition to the Northwestern Health Unit.”
Albanese said Dr. Arthurs looks forward to working with the health unit’s board and staff to fulfill their mandate to promote and protect the health and well-being of the residents and communities in the Kenora and Rainy River districts.
Dr. Arthurs has a long list of credentials on his résumé. A board-certified physician hailing from the northwestern United States, he studied pharmacy at Washington State University before graduating from medical school at the University of Washington.
He then completed his internship training, with an emphasis on family medicine and emergency medicine, at Hennepin County Medical Centre in Minneapolis.
He then continued his administrative medical education with the American College of Physician Executives before completing a Master’s degree in medical management (equivalent to getting a Master’s degree in public health and business administration) from Tulane University in 2001.
He then had a residency/fellowship in public health and preventative medicine at Oregon Health Sciences University.
Dr. Arthurs is a member of the American College of Preventative Medicine and was certified by the American Board of Preventative Medicine in 2003. This is equivalent to being a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in Canada.
He has since worked in community health in Washington and Oregon.
Dr. Arthurs and his Canadian-born wife, Dorothy, then moved to Kenora in October. Last month, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario granted Dr. Arthurs a Certificate of Registration to practice medicine in Ontario.
Albanese joked that Dr. Arthurs is an avid outdoorsman and “already is acclimatized” to living in environments similar to Northwestern Ontario, noting he and his wife once were professional sled dog racers in the Yukon and Alaska.
With public health vacancies a problem across Ontario, the search for a new MoH here has been a long one since Dr. Pete Sarsfield retired from the health unit in 2007.
The health unit came close to finding a replacement for him after Dr. Monika Dutt accepted the board’s offer of employment as its new medical officer of health and chief executive officer last December.
But she withdrew her application for the position in mid-May after a disagreement with the board.
Until Dr. Arthurs was appointed, Dr. Nancy Cameron of the Thunder Bay Health Unit has been acting MoH for the Northwestern Health Unit, with Albanese saying she “did a super job.”
“We were very pleased she helped look after the Northwestern Heath Unit’s 14 offices,” he noted.
