Recently I had a chance to tour the new construction of the South Shore Regional Hospital Redevelopment. If you drive by our regional site, you can’t help but notice the crane, the trucks and the general activities of construction. What a change a week brings to this site. The newly expanded Emergency Department has cement walls and a roof. The Dialysis Unit has all the sub floor piping that patients will never see, walls and a ceiling. The structure for the ambulance bay has begun and the new access routes at the back of the site are in place and paved. And the large crane which has been instrumental in the build, leaves in early October.

The Foundation staff and I are so pleased to have played a small part in the initial community consultation of this build and in the subsequent equipment fundraising now holding steady at $10.5M.

Within the walls of our hospitals, we extend a warm welcome to the new doctors who have recently moved to start practicing on the South Shore, including Dr. Michael Gibson, the new palliative care physician. I had the opportunity to spend an evening with Dr. Gibson, and other hospital staff, when he first considered practicing in Lunenburg. I was struck by his gentle kindness and warmth. I’m sure you will be too if you have the opportunity to meet him. Dr. Gibson is one of ten new physicians who have arrived on the South Shore since the spring. NSH Physician Recruiter Patti Smith and our own Foundation Physician Settlement and Retention Coordinator Martha Marchand, have been instrumental in the success of bringing and settling these ten physicians. These physicians include a cardiologist, rheumatologist, surgeon, family medicine, a hospitalist among others. Please give them a warm welcome to Lunenburg County if you see them.

Now that the Brighter Days campaign, for the most part, is behind us, we are looking ahead and five years into the future. A retreat is planned for the Foundation’s Board of Directors for the end of October and the new strategic plan is in the works. We are asking ourselves where do we want to be in five years and what ways can we best contribute to our communities. Soon, we will pose that question to you.

May your autumn be as healthy as the air is crisp!

Arleen