As it moves towards a new single-entity skills-based board of directors, the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance is coming in line with other rural hospitals across the province.

Supervisor Rob Devitt says they’re going to set the bar high.

“There are more than 200 statutes in Ontario that place responsibility and accountability in a hospital director. The accountability and liability in of a hospital director in law is the same as the accountability and potential liability of a director of a publicly traded corporation. The big difference is a hospital director is a volunteer”, explains Devitt.

The board will have 12 elected members – six from each of Chatham-Kent’s municipal wards, one from local First Nations communities, and the remaining five will include what Devitt calls “citizens at large” from across the region.