Dr. Cary came to Caribou in 1877 to aid Dr. Thomas the only graduate physician here, who had been sadly overworked. Dr. Cary practiced a brand of medicine that included barter and trade and continued to serve the needs of his patients until the time of his death on Aug. 25, 1912. At the time of his death, Dr. Cary bequeathed to the town of Caribou a sum of money to build a hospital.
A new hospital was built on the exact spot of Dr. Cary’s home and bearing his name, Cary Memorial Hospital. On March 24, 1924 the first board of directors was elected to manage the Cary Memorial Hospital. The first superintendent Miss Agnes V. Henessey, RN, reported for duty on August 15, 1924. The first patient was admitted to the hospital on Sept. 5, 1924. Gaining the support of the community, the hospital was expanded in 1955 to 66 in-patient beds and in 1967 the town again voted to expand the hospital by increasing the number of beds and services.
A new hospital
Early in 1973, the Caribou Hospital District, which had been formed by an act of the legislature in 1953 to establish funding for hospital expansion, began to make plans for a new 90,000 square foot facility on the Van Buren Road in Caribou. In one of the most one-sided referendums in the history of the town, voters approved the construction of the new hospital by a vote of 1,607–110. The estimated cost of the new hospital was $7 million.
On Aug. 27, 1978, a gala open house drew some 5,000 people to the new Cary Medical center a ‘state of the art’ showcase for modern health care. Clayton Harrington, the hospital Chief Executive Officer, led the transition from Cary Memorial Hospital to the new Medical Center. The new hospital saw expanded outpatient and ancillary departments in such areas as laboratory and radiology. But more than the bricks and mortar, the new hospital was able to recapture the ‘family’ centered philosophy that was such a part of the original Cary Memorial Hospital.
Need for expansion
The hospital has expanded several times since its opening. In 1986, the first expansion was dedicated to the late Dr. Francis Chan a long time Orthopedic Surgeon at Cary. The new complex provided a large community health education center and library. In 1990, the hospital opened a new One Day Surgery Unit, Day Care Facility, and Laundry. The same project opened a new long-term care facility for Veterans, a 40-bed Maine Veterans Home and beautiful Veteran’s chapel.
In 1994, the new Building for Oncology and Specialty Services was opened. The facility would house a new and expanded Oncology suite for chemotherapy, and provide space for more than a dozen clinics provided by physicians traveling from throughout Maine and beyond bringing specialty services close to the homes of patients served by the hospital.
In 1996, the hospital opened a new Center for Women and Children’s Health. This center housed all Obstetrics and Gynecology services along with Pediatric Care. Finally, in 2005, the hospital completed a major renovation of its Emergency Department improving patient flow and providing other service enhancements.
During this period of expansion Cary Medical Center also took on the management of a 9-bed Intermediate Care Facility for the Mentally Retarded in Van Buren, Maine. The center provides extraordinary residential care for patients living with multiple disabilities.
Beyond the growth and expansion of the hospital quality, compassionate care and advancing technology became its trademark. Cary became the first hospital in Northern Maine to establish fixed based MRI services in September 2001. The unit has just this year been replaced with the most advanced system available for community hospitals.
Cary also installed a new 64-multi slice CT scan and has advanced its electronic medicine to such an extent that it is among the top 2 percent of hospitals in the nation in the utilization of digital technology. From point of care nursing documentation to physician order entry, from automated medication dispensing to patient bed-side medication bar coding, Cary has become a national leader in patient safety technology.
Pines Health Services
In the 1980s, the hospital saw the need to create a more effective physician practice management. Many physicians coming out of medical school were no longer interested in a private practice but preferred to become part of a group practice and to be in an employed relationship. To that end Pines Health Services was created.
Today Pines Health Services has five locations throughout central and north central Aroostook County and boasts nearly 60 physicians and mid-level providers. Pines is now a Federally Qualified Health Center providing improved access to patients at all income levels. Pines is an independent organization and is managed by a voluntary board of directors.
Leadership shows the way
Key to the longevity and advancement of Cary Medical Center has been the active engagement of a voluntary Board of Directors who serve deligently in the complex environment of healthcare. Individuals including, Don Collins, Jack Lancaster, John McElwee, Ted Tornquist, Phil St. Peter, David Wakem, Ward Silsbee, Phil Harmon, Paul Haines, Shirley Ayer, Betty Hamilton, Ted Pierson, Allen Hunter, Bob Solman, and others helped to transition the hospital to its new home. Today leaders continue to emerge including our first physician board chair, Dr. Carl Flynn, Scott Solman and Peter Ashley.
Among the key ingredients that have made Cary Medical Center one of the leading rural hospitals in the nation include a dedicated and high quality medical staff. From the founding of the hospital by Dr. Jefferson Cary has come a long line of outstanding physicians.
In more recent times, deceased physicians including, Pediatrician, Dr. Mead Hayward, Internist, Dr. Douglas Collins, Orthopedic Surgeon, Dr. Francis Chan, Ophthalmologist and General Practitioner, Dr. Clement Donahue, Anesthesiologist, Dr. David Chien, ENT Surgeon, Dr. Naveed Farooki, General Surgeon, Dr. Cesar Siruno, and Internist, Dr. Vera Kennedy, spent many years building the tradition of care that is so much a part of Cary Medical Center.
Other physicians, some who have retired after long careers at Cary including General Surgeon, Dr. Fredrick Gregory, Urologist, Dr. C. T. Ho, Pathologist, Dr. Minuro Wakana, Pediatricians Dr. Norm Seder and Dr. Mike Kellum, Internist, Dr. Leland White, and Ophthalmologist, Dr. Tilak Parhiraja, provided for the care of patients throughout Aroostook County.
Today, long serving physicians including noted vascular surgeon, Dr. Pedro Simon, Radiologists Dr. Madjid Yaghmai, and Dr. John Stewart, ER physician Dr. Dan Harrigan, ENT surgeon Dr. Naryanna Prasanna, and Neurologist Dr. Elizabeth Quayle continue to provide stewardship for a medical staff that now is approaching 60 physicians and mid level providers.
Executive leadership has also been and continues to be vital to our success. From Clayton Harrington who led the hospital from 1960 through 1979 including several expansions of the old hospital and the move to the new Cary Medical Center. John McCormack Chief Executive Officer from 1979 through 1996 as the hospital expanded local health services for Veterans, and our current CEO, Kris Doody who has served since 1999 and has guided us through major expansions of our medical staff and our transition into the era of electronic medicine.
A salute to Veterans
In the early 1980s a small group of Aroostook County Veterans met at the Caribou VFW Hall to discuss the idea of creating a health clinic for veterans living in the County who traditionally traveled several hundred miles to Maine’s only VA Hospital at Togus, Maine. Cary Medical Center officials attended the meeting and offered whatever support the hospital could provide. Quoting John McCormack at the time ”Because you never know. Someday Caribou might be the hub of Veterans Health Services in Aroostook County.”
Thanks to the work of a dedicated group of veterans who, like their battle tested comrades would never give up, the rest as they say, is history, a glorious history. For nearly two decades these veterans worked in cooperation with Cary Medical Center, the Veterans Administration, the State of Maine and political leadership and had major victories. Today the campus of Cary Medical Center boasts a VA Outpatient Clinic that sees some 7,000 patient visits every year, and a Maine Veterans Home featuring 40 long-term care beds and 30 residential care beds.
It took courageous men and women to make all of this happen. Men associated with the Aroostook County Veterans Medical Facility and Research, Inc. Cary Medical Center has considered it a privilege and an honor to serve our veterans and we stand ready to continue advocacy for expanding health care services available locally for veterans. This is needed more than ever as brave men and women return home for courageous service in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Volunteers keep on giving
The Cary Medical Center Auxiliary has been the largest financial supporter of the hospital since its inception. Contributing several hundred thousand dollars over the past 30 years the auxiliary not only is a major donor but a major public relations and community relations arm of the hospital.
In 1954 a hospital board member, Harry Smith, remarked to his daughter Celia Cameron that it would be a good idea to organize women in the community to assist the local hospital. After an initial meeting of leading women in the community a larger meeting was held on September 28th to form the Cary Memorial Ladies Auxiliary. Over the next 55 years the Auxiliary would provide a variety of valuable services to the hospital.
The move to the new hospital saw a continued presence of the auxiliary. Among their many projects, the Auxiliary opened a new hospital gift shop. Today the Gift Shop is a major fund-raiser for the auxiliary and is managed completely by volunteers.
The Auxiliary has also sponsored the annual ‘Walk for Care’ Breast Cancer Awareness Walk raising more than $100,000 for breast cancer services at Cary and has just recently completed a major hospital beautification project displaying historical prints along hallways and waiting areas depicting the history of Caribou.
The Cary Medical Center Auxiliary continues to provide great benefits to the hospital. Each year the Auxiliary volunteers to decorate the hospital for special holidays. It would not be possible to count the hours that so many dedicated women have provided for the benefit of the hospital and the patients that we serve. Today the auxiliary is a powerful public relations force for Cary Medical Center. Its members represent a diverse group of women offering many talents and skills. The Auxiliary is a co-sponsor of the hospital’s health fair, and is actively involved in various community projects. While many hospitals have lost their ladies auxiliaries, Cary’s is still going strong. Our hospital would not be the same without them.
Cary also has another strength in its Hospital Volunteer Program currently under the direction of Betty Walker. Each year nearly 80 volunteers donate some 8,000 hours of services to the hospital. From delivering hundreds of pieces of mail every day to copying and distributing the Heartbeat Employee Newsletter, from supporting our Cancer patients to working in the diabetes program from greeting and escorting patients to working at the hospitals special events, volunteers at Cary Medical Center are really making a difference.
The quality beat goes on
When Dr. Jefferson Cary founded Cary Memorial Hospital with the gift from his estate, he recognized the great need that people in this area had for quality healthcare. It is nice to know that after 85 years that is still the hospital’s primary mission. “We are caring people committed to excellence in patient centered care and community wellbeing.” Cary is a national leader in quality. In 1998 Cary Medical Center was awarded Joint Commission Accreditation with Commendation by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations.
Our level of quality is documented through independent and publicly reported statistics. Today the quality performance of hospitals is presented on the internet through hospitalcompare.gov. The most recent data suggests that Cary Medical Center exceeds both the National and State of Maine averages for quality and in numerous areas Cary meets the performance standards of the top 10 percent of hospitals in the United States.
Award-winning health care
In 2009 Cary Medical Center was recognized by Avatar International, an international survey organization that includes more than 300 hospitals nation wide, for exceeding patient expectations for the fifth year in a row. Cary’s senior administrators earned the distinction of being selected as the Top Leadership Team among the nation’s small hospitals by HealthLeaders Magazine. Cary was named a Tier 1 Hospital by the Maine Health Management Coalition for the fourth time in a row, the only hospital north of Bangor to earn such recognition.
MEMIC, a leading workers compensation company named Cary Medical Center as one of 11 recipients out of 20,000 accounts to receive its award for Employee Safety. Cary was the only hospital in Maine to receive this award. Cary’s Rehabilitation Services Department was awarded ‘Honorable Mention’ for clinical care at Avatar’s Annual National Meeting. Cary’s Community Health Outreach Program, ‘Healthy You’ received a ‘Runner-Up’ Award from the Governors Community Wellness Challenge.
Pines Health Services, a physician management organization closely aligned with Cary Medical Center, also earned significant recognition in 2009. Carl Flynn, MD., a family physician with Pines was named Maine’s Family Physician of the Year, and Pines Pediatric Care received an award from the State of Maine Center’s for Disease Control and Prevention for achieving the highest immunization rate for children 2 years of age at 97 percent compared to a state average of 80 percent.
A new era of philanthropy
In 1993 a local Caribou businessman, Bearce Carter, who was a member of the hospital’s Board of Directors presented the idea of creating a foundation to manage the philanthropic program at Cary Medical Center. Later that year the Jefferson Cary Foundation was formed.
A private, non profit, 501-C3 organization, the foundation has an Executive Director, Mary Harrigan, and a Board of Directors. Since 1993 the foundation has managed capital campaigns for the new Center for Oncology and Specialty Services, and the Center for Women and Children’s Health, raising more than $500,000 in the process.
The foundation has also contributed many thousands of dollars for other capital projects and programs at the hospital. The foundation has established a permanent Endowment Fund from which only interest earned may be used in support of the hospital. The fund now exceeds $300,000. The foundation manages the Hospital’s Memorial Funds which are donations given in honor or in memory of individuals. The Tree of Life has been created as a uniquely beautiful donor recognition program and is located in the main lobby of the hospital. The foundation carries on a ‘Tradition of Giving’ established by the hospitals founder, Dr. Jefferson B. Cary and does so in his own name.
The future of health care is here now
Looking over the past 85 years, it is clear that Cary Medical Center has been blessed by the service and talents of some outstanding individuals. From Chief Executive Officers, to dedicated Board Members and outstanding physicians, from dedicated nurses to long serving laboratory technologists and those serving in support roles or as volunteers, it is the people who have made all the difference.
Beyond all of those who have served the hospital it is the communities we serve and their confidence in making Cary Medical Center their ‘Provider of Choice’ that has made the hospital a national leader in rural healthcare. Over the years local people, business and industry have contributed millions of dollars in support of the hospital and the need for that generous philanthropy will continue to be great. It is with a sincere gratitude that we celebrate the 85th Anniversary of Cary Medical Center in partnership with the city of Caribou’s Sesquicentennial Celebration.
During the ground-breaking ceremony for the new Cary Medical Center the following statement was read; ”To be founded on faith and sustained by charity; To be a haven for the sick and hurt; To be a chapel – its works a constant prayer; to be watched over by a merciful and indulgent God. It will be one of the few buildings where the lights must burn 24-hours a day …”
Today Cary Medical Center’s mission goes far beyond caring for the sick and injured, though that is at the center of what we do. “We aspire to create a healthier community”, that is our vision. Promoting healthy lifestyles and prevention of disease, that is the way of the future of health care and the future of health care is here now.
Bill Flagg, director of community relations and development, has the longest tenure on the Cary Medical Center senior management team having been in his current position for over 25 years.
