Bruce Deachman: Alex Munter’s departure from CHEO leaves big shoes to fill

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The announcement that CHEO president and CEO Alex Munter will be stepping down this fall to take on the stewardship of the Canadian Medical Association shouldn’t come as a surprise. His 13 years at CHEO, making him the longest-tenured head of a children’s hospital in Canada, is a lengthy time to be in such a high-pressure job. And his success has been in no small part due to his almost obsessive focus on the hospital, its patients and their families.

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I can’t recall the number of times I ran into him when I was at CHEO, often unexpectedly, and not cloistered in a corner office, but rather out and about, talking and listening to people. I’ve seen him dressed as an elf, making the rounds on Christmas Day. I’ve watched him push a cart and deliver water, juice and snacks to exhausted workers at the height of the RSV outbreak. I saw him navigate the hospital in a wheelchair, to better understand some of the access issues faced by patients.

Dr. Phil Ritchie, a clinical psychologist who retired from CHEO six years ago but is still involved in staff wellness matters, says he would “crawl across crushed glass” for Munter.

“On his first full day at the hospital, he came up to 6-East, which is our psychiatry in-patient unit, and spoke with the youths there in a way that I’d never seen a leader do before. A lot of leaders say they have an open-door policy, but to follow through with that and be able to talk and make themselves available to anybody is really remarkable. And he always did it in a very genuine way.”

Former Ottawa councillor Catherine McKenney, who worked for Munter for five years when he was on council, remembers him saying that when people called looking for help, it was important to do something for them. “Don’t ever just say, ‘I can’t help.’ No matter who calls or what they’re asking for, do something. Even if it’s not a municipal responsibility, find something, find somebody, a phone number even. Find something for them.

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“With Alex, you’re always moving towards a common good, towards something that you can rally behind.”

That was clearly evident at CHEO, where Munter prioritized mental health, oversaw the adoption of electronic health records to improve efficiency and championed a patient-centred approach to health care. He spearheaded the integration of various health services to improve care for patients and families, notably through the amalgamation of the Ottawa Children’s Treatment Centre and CHEO, in 2016, and, more recently with the long-awaited $371-million CHEO Integrated Treatment Centre, also known as 1Door4Care, which is expected to open in 2028.

Munter’s departure will certainly be a loss for CHEO, and while the hospital will find a capable new chief in the coming months, it won’t easily replace the dedication and zeal that Munter brought to the position.

This shouldn’t come as a surprise, either, given how public service has been in his DNA at least as far back as his high school days, when he started the very successful Kanata Kourier newspaper.

A quick recap: Elected to regional council in 1991 as a 23-year-old, and Ottawa’s first openly gay politician, he was responsible for the city’s health and social services files, and helped guide the city’s campaign to ban smoking in restaurants. He served on council until 2003, and ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2006. In 2007, he became head of the Youth Services Bureau, helping youths at risk, and later the Champlain Local Health Integration Network, before joining CHEO. Motivated by the belief that an early, holistic approach to children’s health serves everyone best, he has strongly advocated on such issues as mental well-being, childhood obesity and nutrition.

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“Putting kids on the path to lifelong health,” he told me in 2017, “is one of the most important things we can do for them, and it’s one of the most important things we can do for our country.”

That last bit, about important things we can do for our country, may offer some light for those lamenting Munter’s decision to leave CHEO. For while his main focus at the CMA is doctors’ issues, his well-honed political skills and considerable knowledge of health care will allow him to advocate more widely, and more publicly, for better policies. We haven’t heard the last from him.

bdeachman@postmedia.com

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