Board of Directors
Helen Cooper - President
Helen is a graduate of Queen's and the London School of Economics. In the interim she joined CUSO, teaching English and Math in Tanzania. Upon her return to Kingston, she was elected to City Council in 1980 and Kingston’s first woman mayor from 1988 to 1993, followed by a three-year term as Chair of the Ontario Municipal Board. In the early ‘90s Helen served as President of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario as well as a member of the Premier’s Council on Health Strategy. In the early 2000s she served on the Board of Cancer Care Ontario and the Advisory Council of the Nuclear Waste Management Organization. In 1998 she began her career with the Ontario Public Service, first as an Early Years Community Coordinator, then as manager for delivery of adult developmental services. Upon her retirement in 2015 she became a Distinguished Fellow at the Queen’s School of Policy Studies and President of Oasis.
Catherine Allen
Catherine Allen is a retired nurse who worked in the Medical Intensive Care Unit at Hôtel Dieu Hospital, a visiting Community Care nurse for the Victorian Order of Nurses and St. Elizabeth Health Care, and a nurse in the St. Elizabeth health Care ambulatory clinic. She is a member of the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario and the Gerontological Nursing Association. A Kingstonian since 1971, Catherine is an active volunteer in the local community! She coordinates a monthly Seniors’ Lunch at St. Mary’s Cathedral and is a team lead for their Hot Meals Program. Catherine volunteers with Loving Spoonful’s Open Kitchen program and she is a member of the Friendship Blooms Intergenerational Program at the Kingston Health Centre, which focuses on seniors interacting meaningfully with younger generations.
Allen G. Prowse, BA, BSc, DHA, CHE
Allen has broad experience across the spectrum of health care – having managed acute care and children’s hospital services, led mental health services for the Province of Nova Scotia, managed Ontario’s Mental Health Program, served as Executive Director of the Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington Community Care Access Centre, and subsequently as Vice President – Quality, Partnerships and Community Programs at Providence Care. He is currently Director of Executive Search and Coaching with Palmer & Associates, and Administrative Lead for the Rural Kingston Health Link. He is a member of the Canadian College of Health Service Executives and received his CHE designation in 1987. He is a Member of the Board of the United Way of Frontenac Lennox and Addington, Queen’s Family Health Team (QFHT) Advisory Board, Oasis Supportive Living for Seniors and current Board Chair of Hospice Kingston.
Donna Segal
Donna graduated from Queen’s University with a BNSc and received her MBA from University of Western Ontario. She had a 25-year career within the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care; her last assignment was as Executive Director of OHIP with responsibility to develop physician and other health care provider organizational and funding arrangements and to overhaul Ontario residents’ health card registration and eligibility requirements. She left the Ministry to establish the Ontario Family Health Network as its founding CEO with the intent to encourage the growth of group practices for family medicine and allied professionals. Donna retired as Executive Director with the Health Council of Canada, a time-limited Federal/Provincial organization set up to report on the outcomes enabled by the significant infusion of Canada Health Transfer funding negotiated between the Federal government and the provinces. Donna’s most recent volunteer experience includes the following – Board Member of Oasis Senior Supporting Living (current), Board Member of the Community Foundation for Kingston and Area (current), Vice Chair Ontario 211 (current), Past Chair South East Local Health Integration Network (SE LHIN) and former Board member of Kingston General Hospital. Donna’s family is from Kingston. She has a strong commitment to fostering the development of organizations to support the wellbeing of residents in the Kingston community.
Sarah Webster
Sarah holds a Master of Health Studies and a B.A. in Gerontology and Psychology. Sarah is Manager of the Centre for Studies in Aging and Health at Providence Care and co-Chair of the Specialized Geriatric Service East Committee and the Ontario Collaborative for Aging Well. Sarah began her career running recreational programming in long-term care. She later transitioned to systems-level work and now has extensive experience in the field of knowledge translation and exchange. Sarah is particularly passionate about age-friendly communities and in her role with the Centre for Studies in Aging and Health has contributed to the growth and sustainability of the Ontario Age-Friendly Communities Outreach Program since its inception in 2015. Sarah has provided knowledge translation expertise to numerous groups including Niagara Connects, Behavioural Supports Ontario, Gestalt Collective and the Seniors Health Knowledge Network, among others. She is passionate about building relationships, seeing the big picture and helping people connect to and understand the information that matters to them.
Brian Brophy
1942-2023
The volunteer board and Members of Oasis Senior Supportive Services Inc. acknowledge the passing of Brian Brophy on March 6, 2023. Brian was one of the four founding directors at the incorporation of Oasis in 2011 and subsequently was very active in sustaining the Oasis program as well as continuing to serve as a director. Brian was a very close associate to Christine McMillan, the Oasis founder. The two worked unstintingly together to secure community recognition for the value of Oasis. Brian’s contributions to the Kingston area community, spanning more than fifty years, go well beyond Oasis. He served in various roles on a number of boards and councils, including president of the Kingston Catholic Youth Association, longest serving member and trustee of the Kingston District Labour Council, president of the Kingston Council on Aging, VP of the Kingston Chapter for the Council of Canadians, member of the Ontario Area Council, and member of the Kingston Dental Coalition. Spanning his career he received TMTC (that’s Too Many to Count) awards for the work he did in the local community, advocating for labour rights, workers’ health and safety, injured workers, education, water rights, women’s rights, and seniors’ access to dental services. Brian always showed empathy for the needs and wishes of the Oasis Members. They could always count on him as a true friend. He will be greatly missed by everyone associated with Oasis.