CARIBOU, Maine — With a fire extinguisher handy just in case, representatives of Cary Medical Center and the USDA Rural Development agency ceremonially burned on Tuesday the original bond that helped finance the new hospital which opened in 1978.
About 30 hospital staffers, board members and supporters cheered the milestone that relieves the hospital from an annual payment that was more than $100,000 each year and more than $200,000 some years.
“The ability of the hospital to service this multimillion dollar mortgage over the past 40 years is thanks to the work of many past board members who gave of their time, hundreds of hours, to prudently manage the hospital’s financial position,” said Cary Board Chair Rob Kieffer during an early Tuesday afternoon presentation in the Chan Center of the hospital.
Kieffer also praised the trustees who set the stage for the new hospital.
Cary Medical Center Board Chair Rob Kieffer, left, and Kris Doody, CEO of Cary Medical Center and Pines Health Services, hold an enlarged copy of the original mortgage for the hospital as it begins to burn during a Dec. 19 mortgage burning ceremony. (Christopher Bouchard)
“The visionaries that did the groundwork, including the legislative efforts, creating the Caribou Hospital District and who garnered the support of the entire community to create Cary Medical Center could hardly have imagined the award winning hospital we have today,” said Kieffer, whose late father was former state Sen. Leo Kieffer. “The new hospital was a marvel for its time featuring all private patient rooms. The hospital was also designed with expanded outpatient facilities for the laboratory, radiology and rehabilitation services.”
Timothy P. Hobbs, state director of USDA Rural Development, said in a prepared statement, “This is a landmark day for Cary Medical Center. I am pleased USDA Rural Development could be a vital partner in the original loan and look forward to continuing to work with leaders of excellent rural healthcare facilities like Cary Medical Center to provide critical medical services in rural Maine communities.”
The bond or mortgage that was burned in a metal trash can outside the Chan Center on Tuesday represented about $2.5 million of the original $8 million cost to build the hospital. Much of the rest of the capital funds were raised through the Maine Municipal Bond Bank and paid off in 1998.
But the hospital also benefited from several hundred thousand dollars contributed by local donors. That community support has been a constant throughout the near 40 year history of the medical center and the foundation of the hospital’s success, according to Kris Doody, the hospital’s chief executive officer, who also spoke to those gathered Tuesday.
“The people of this community and the greater Caribou area have given of their money, their talent as volunteers and their time on various boards and committees for nearly half a century,” said Doody, who was born in the former
Cary Memorial Hospital, served as a volunteer candy striper, a registered nurse, and surgical services manager on her way to being named hospital CEO in 1999. “We are so grateful for the generosity that has helped us continue to grow vital services, keep up with technology and secure the future of our hospital.”
The $2.5 million bond that helped finance the new hospital was originally made through the Farmers Home Administration, now the USDA Rural Development. The document that was burned during the ceremony (a replica of the original) was signed on Nov. 30, 1977, by then president of the Cary Memorial Hospital Board of Directors, Donald Collins, the father of U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, and the late Jack Lancaster, then treasurer of the board. The late Clayton Harrington was the hospital’s executive director at the time and led the move to the new Cary Medical Center in July 1978.
“As they say, we stand on the shoulders of giants who came before us”, said Kris Doody. “There are so many individuals who have contributed to our ability to be standing here today at this historic moment. Today, with our valuable partners at Pines Health Services, our incredible staff, together with our volunteers, the hospital auxiliary, the Jefferson Cary Foundation, the Cary Estate, the Caribou Hospital District, along with our unique and extraordinary relationship with Aroostook County Veterans, we are stronger than ever and we are made even stronger by celebrating the retirement of our original debt.”
Kris Doody, CEO of Cary Medical Center and Pines Health Services, applauds as an enlarged copy of the Cary Medical Center’s original mortgage burns in a metal trash can outside Cary Medical Center during a Dec. 19 mortgage burning ceremony. (Christopher Bouchard)
Kieffer also announced Tuesday that Jim Davis, CEO of Pines Health Services, was leaving to take a position in Washington state to be closer to his family. Kieffer said that moving forward, Doody would manage that organization as well, effective immediately.
Following the mortgage burning ceremony hospital leaders held an informal meeting with officials from USDA Rural Development to discuss future plans for the development of a medical office building on the hospital campus, according to Cary Community Relations and Development Director Bill Flagg.
Plans for such a building, Flagg said, are still in an early, conceptual phase. He said that members of both Cary Medical Center and Pines Health Services are discussing the project to bring all doctors, physicians, and administrators from both organizations, who are currently spread out around the city, to one location on the hospital campus.
Flagg’s office, for example, now is located on Hatch Drive, over a mile away from Cary Medical Center.
Money freed up from paying off the mortgage, could “possibly” be used to fund the building, according to Flagg.
