The Board of Directors of the Provincial Health Ethics Network is composed of twelve individuals. As stipulated in its bylaws, four of these are elected by the general PHEN membership, four are appointed by the Council of Chairs of the Regional Health Authorities and Boards of Alberta, and the remaining four are appointed by the Board itself.

1. Appointed by the Regional Health Authorities

Thaine Olsen

Thaine Olsen was appointed to the PHEN Board in December 2007. Until recently, he has served as a member of the Chinook Health Board since 1998. As part of his board responsibility, he chaired the Ethics Committee for Chinook Health, and has been involved extensively with consultations and conferences with patients, family and staff. His three decades of teaching and administrating in schools throughout the province has given him many opportunities to deal with ethical issues and conflicts. Thaine previously served on the PHEN Board from 2001-2004, and looks forward to the opportunity to be involved once again.

   
Carol Secondiak

Carol Secondiak was appointed to the PHEN Board in December 2007. She is the former Chair of the Palliser Health Region Board, and is a co-founder and Director of Nursing at ECS Safety Services Ltd., an independent occupational health practice with six offices throughout Alberta. Her extensive background in healthcare includes working as a Registered Nurse and Independent Nurse Practitioner (from large settings as the Foothills Hospital, to a small Arctic Nursing Outpost). She was appointed to the Premier's Task Force on Crystal Meth, which culminated in October 2006 with the release of the final report, "Fighting Back", which contained 73 recommendations. Over the years, Carol has been extensively involved in numerous community organizations and has participated in a number of regional and provincial associations.

   

2. Elected by the PHEN Membership

Joan Cody

Joan Cody was elected to the PHEN Board by the membership in May 2006. She is presently the chair of the PHEN Board. She is a Registered Nurse with 30 years experience in both Ontario and Alberta. Her experience includes acute care, medicine, home care and palliative care. An administrator with Extendicare (Canada) Inc, Joan has managed the Athabasca Continuing Care Centre for the past 11 years. She is a member of the Aspen Regional Quality Council and the Aspen Regional Ethics Committee. Joan has her certificate in Palliative Care and recently completed PHEN’s Introduction to Bioethics course. Her interests in ethics lie particularly with resource allocation, accountability for service delivery and end of life issues.



Eleanor Stewart


Kevin Davediuk
was acclaimed by the membership to the PHEN Board of Directors in December 2010.  He is a Union Representative for the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees.  He has worked in Alberta's long-term care industry since 1996.  As a Regional Director with Extendicare, Kevin oversaw the operations of the company's northern Alberta and Manitoba homes.  In his current position as Union Representative he is tasked with negotiating the best outcome for those he represents and does so while educating his teams about respecting everyone's values and needs in the process.




Perry Mill

Perry Mill was elected by the membership to the PHEN Board of Directors in May 2009. He is a bioethics enthusiast (with interests in the ethics of clinical error, professional conflict of interest, organizational ethics, and informed consent), and is a graduate of the PHEN Introduction to Bioethics distance education course. Perry has a B.Sc (Physical Therapy) from McGill University and a Master's Degree in Public Administration from the University of Victoria. Prior to his current position as Coordinator, Corporate Policy, Alberta Health Services, Perry practiced physical therapy in Ontario, B.C. and Alberta hospitals, and worked in policy analysis with the B.C. government. Perry enjoys life in Red Deer with his wife and two boys.



 Eleanor Stewart
Dale Olsen was acclaimed to the PHEN Board of Directors in December 2010.  He is the Director of Mission Effectiveness at the Good Samaritan Society in Edmonton and has been a PHEN member many years.  He was the corporate lead on the establishment of the Society's ethics committee, is the coordinator of ethics education opportunities for Good Samaritan Society staff and chaplains to bring to light and address ethical issues arising in their work.





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Eleanor Stewart was elected by the membership to the PHEN Board of Directors in May 2008. She is a speech-language pathologist who works with children and their families with a variety of developmental difficulties including neurological disabilities, Autism Spectrum Disorders, and issues arising from prematurity. Eleanor holds a Ph.D. in Rehabilitation Science with a focus on ethics in rehabilitation medicine, and teaches a series called the Ethics Sampler for graduate students in the U of A's Faculties of Medicine and Dentistry and Rehabilitation Medicine. She consults with the Alberta College of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists on ethics in the professions, and regularly writes and presents on ethics topics for her professions. Eleanor's family and friends are important to her and she likes to spend as much time as possible with them cooking, playing, and generally hanging out.


3. Appointed by the Previous PHEN Board

Dr. Albert de Villiers Dr. Albert de Villiers was appointed to the PHEN Board for the term beginning May 2007. Dr. de Villiers, a Public Health specialist, is the Medical Officer of Health for Peace Country Health, and as such works extensively with Public Health and Environmental Health to ensure public safety when it comes to communicable disease control and environmental health risks. He is leading the regional effort around Pandemic Influenza planning and is an active member of the Alberta Pandemic Preparedness Ethics Working Group. He currently chairs Peace Country Health's Regional Ethics Committee and provincially, has served on the Community Research Ethics Board of Alberta (CREBA) since 2004.





Ed Hall


Ed Hall has been a community representative on the Palliser Health Region Ethics Committee for the past twelve years, and currently serves on its Ethics Consultation sub-committee. After obtaining his Master of Social Work degree, he embarked on a rewarding, 23-year career as a therapist, social worker and regional manager with Alberta Mental Health Services. In 2001, he retired and established a successful private practice providing individual, marital and EAP counseling services until 2006. He also taught social work at Medicine Hat College from 2005-2007. Ed decided to fully retire (almost!) but still conducts home assessments for an adoption agency, and was appointed to the PHEN Board for the term beginning May 2007. He and Brenda, his wife of thirty years, live in Grand Prairie.
Margaret Plain

Margaret Plain was appointed to the PHEN Board for the term beginning May 2004 and was re-appointed in 2007. She has been a Capital Health Board member since 1994 and served for 15 years as an Alderman for the City of St. Albert. Prior to the creation of health regions, she was a member of the Sturgeon Hospital and the Capital Care Group Boards.