If John Wayne had kept his real name, Marion Morrison, he would probably have bombed in Hollywood. It鈥檚 less clear why the Vancouver Island Health Authority wants to change its name.
Without much fanfare, the authority decided it wants to be known as Island Health, although it will keep its legal name. It is making the change without spending any money. Signs will be changed only during maintenance or refurbishing.
Organizations usually change their names because they want to change their message; they want clients or customers to think differently about what the organization does. The change often works on more than one level.
The Workers Compensation Board of sa国际传媒 introduces itself as WorkSafe. The message is: 鈥淲e want you to be safe at work so you won鈥檛 get injured.鈥� The subtext is: 鈥淚f you don鈥檛 get injured, we won鈥檛 have to spend a lot of money compensating you.鈥�
Although lots of people still get injured, there鈥檚 an argument that a subtle reminder to think about safety can鈥檛 hurt.
The health authority argues that Island Health will better reflect the region it serves. Perhaps people on the Gulf Islands and northern islands felt excluded by the use of 鈥淰ancouver Island.鈥� But doesn鈥檛 the new name exclude the mainlanders between Powell River and Rivers Inlet, who are also served by the authority?
It isn鈥檛 the regional designation that matters in health care, it鈥檚 the effectiveness of the doctors, nurses and other health-care staff.
Patients want Island Health, whatever it calls itself, to provide them with good health care. A new name is just window-dressing.
