Vision Loss Rehabilitation Canada (VLRC) Announces New President and CEO
TORONTO, April 19, 2021 /CNW/ - Vision Loss Rehabilitation Canada (VLRC), a leading provider of rehabilitation services for Canadians with vision loss, announces today that Patrick Levesque has been appointed as the organization's new President and CEO.
Vision Loss Rehabilitation Canada announces that Patrick Levesque has been appointed as the new President and CEO.
"I am tremendously excited to be joining the team at Vision Loss Rehabilitation Canada," said Levesque. "This organization is a crucial part of the health care continuum in Canada, and the services it provides are integral to quality of life for thousands of Canadians from coast to coast to coast. I am honoured to be able to lead this organization into its next chapter."
Levesque joins the VLRC team with considerable experience in the fields of rehabilitation and health care; he has spent much of his career working with and for individuals with disabilities, particularly vision and hearing loss.
As an executive leader, Levesque worked in a Integrated University Health and Social Services Center in Montreal and facilitated the merger of a new enhanced rehabilitation centre. He led multiple community outpatient programs for all ages, including a unique joint partnership deafblind program with low vision services, and a specialized cochlear implant clinic, serving Quebec residents and francophones in Canada.
After moving to Toronto, Patrick continued to drive organizational growth, strategic transformation, and system change. He has helped shape mental health services for vulnerable people with proactive advocacy, system redesign, and quality improvement actions. Under his leadership, organizations have improved client satisfaction and outcomes, reduced wait times, and managed important cost savings while implementing complex system transformation.
"I am very pleased to see VLRC enter its next phase of growth as a key health care provider in all provinces," said CNIB President and CEO, John M. Rafferty. "Patrick is joining the team at a critical juncture in the organization's history, and I look forward to working with him and the entire VLRC team on our shared goal of creating a more inclusive world for people with sight loss."
VLRC thanks Rafferty for his transformational and dedicated leadership in founding the organization.
Until 2018, the health services now provided by VLRC were delivered through CNIB (Canadian National Institute for the Blind), a longstanding Canadian charity for which Rafferty is the President and CEO. However, Rafferty always believed that the rehabilitation services the charity provided, such as training in mobility and daily living skills, were fundamental to the health and wellness of Canadians with vision loss - and therefore, these services needed to be funded by provincial health systems, not charitable donations.
After years of working with provincial governments to make that case, CNIB eventually achieved full government funding for its rehabilitation services. Shortly after that, Vision Loss Rehabilitation Canada was established as an independent non-profit organization to deliver these services.
VLRC now serves approximately 102,000 Canadians with vision loss and has 44 locations in communities across Canada.
About Vision Loss Rehabilitation Canada
Vision Loss Rehabilitation Canada is a provincially funded, accredited health care organization staffed by a passionate team of certified professionals. The organization provides professional, high-quality and sustainable rehabilitation to Canadians with vision loss now and into the future. Learn more at visionlossrehab.ca.
SOURCE Vision Loss Rehabilitation Canada
