Press Release
RVH
At Renfrew Victoria Hospital’s June 17 Annual General Meeting, time was set aside to unveil a plaque naming the new ‘Randy Penney Education Centre’ in honour of Penney’s commitment to the education of others during his 30 year tenure as RVH President and CEO.
Marg Tubman, RVH Board Chair, was on hand for the presentation, and remarked that Penney’s role as an Accreditation Surveyor since 1992, “enabled Randy to bring back information and best practices to RVH.”
From the beginning, Penney was instrumental in bringing new, innovative programs to Renfrew County shared Julia Boudreau, RVH President and CEO.
“Not only did he bring these services to our rural setting, but he made every effort to promote from within, ensuring our staff and physicians acquired the education and training to fulfill the strict demanding requirements. Overall the collective knowledge of our staff has been significantly enhanced with clinical expertise in areas that otherwise would never have happened. This was important to Randy and he made sure it played out this way,” said Boudreau.
In 1993, Randy brought forward the idea of creating an education fund for staff by taking 25 cents from every cup of coffee sold in the cafeteria. The fund grew to include other items in the cafeteria as well as donations for specialty areas such as hemodialysis and palliative care.
In line with Penney’s vision, all staff are eligible to apply to the Education Assistance Fund (EAF) on an annual basis.
“Hand in hand with establishing the coffee fund, Randy has always encouraged staff to pursue ongoing education, to increase their skills, abilities and knowledge. Numerous staff, in nursing, allied health and support departments have achieved certifications, furthered education, and presented at conferences,” stated Julia Boudreau, RVH President and CEO.
The total number of requests for funds from 1994-2021 is 1,622 and the total amount of funds given out is over $445,000. Funds have been accessed by all departments including nursing, physiotherapy, health records, pharmacy, Addictions Treatment Services, medical imaging, human resources, dietitians/kitchen, environmental services, maintenance and others.
Penney has also encouraged many people to pursue their Masters in Health Administration Program (MHA) and has been recognized for his mentorship work by the Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa with the Trudeau Medal Award in recognition of his leadership, initiative and contributions to the business world, the community and alma mater. He was also recognized by the Telfer School of Management with the Preceptor’s Award. recognizing his many years as a preceptor to students during their administrative residencies.
“Thank you for this honour. It’s very humbling and I’m very grateful for this. Over the years I think we have been very successful, in terms of new programs, new services, physical redevelopment, financial health, but all of it is really meaningless if you really don’t have good staff and good physicians. It’s not enough to have these people, it’s important to invest in them,” said Penney, also thanking the Board for its support.
Recognizing the need for a dedicated education space for staff and physicians, Penney seized the opportunity when freed space became available as a result of other infrastructure projects.
It seems very fitting to use this opportunity to honour Randy with a permanent salute to his support and advocacy for ongoing education noted Boudreau.
“Tonight we unveil the Randy Penney Education Centre in honour of your commitment to the education of others. Our goal is that it will be an ongoing reminder of the many contributions that you have made both inside and outside of the walls of RVH towards the importance of education.”
The new centre is located adjacent to Café Victoria.
