October, 2002

Campaign Leader Awestruck At Support

Former hospital employee Rosemarie Donkin (left) is shown above looking over an Above & Beyond campaign sign with campaign volunteer Cathy Pipe. Donkin and other employees responded to the campaign through Code Green, contributing $125,000 for the fundraising effort.

Morris Haugg remain awestruck at how the community responded to what some felt was an impossible task. While amazed, Haugg, who active in the Above & Beyond Campaign from start to finish, always believed the residents of Cumberland County would rise to the challenge presented them. "The generosity of Amherstonians and the people of Cumberland county never ceases to amaze me," Haugg said. "How they rise to so many fundraising campaigns seems to be limitless."

Looking back at the campaign, Haugg said there are three parties who made the new hospital possible and serve much of the credit for the new facility in Upper Nappan. "Blake Daley has the foresight to set up the foundation. He recruited me and together we recruited Roger Bacon," Haugg added. Bacon became the chief inspiration and, in his own unique way, got things going and kept things on line throughout the campaign. "No one spent more time traveling and visiting and calling people than he did," Haugg said. "His reputation as chair and his own commitment to the cause made it possible for others to come on board." It was also through Bacon's efforts that the first significant donation of the campaign was received - a $500,000 contribution from a donor who, to this day, wishes to remain anonymous.

Haugg also credits Cumberland County;s municipal leaders for working to make this project work. "There's no doubt in my mind that without their leadership and contribution of taxpayers' money that this project would've been possible," he said, pointing out Joyce Gouchie, Amherst's mayor in the early stages of the campaign, an Gerald Read, the county's warden, were instrumental in bringing their respective councils on board.

Volunteers were also instrumental in the campaign's success, Haugg said, adding there are still times he wonders how the task was accomplished. "There are times I still have to ask how did we do it? It was so much better that I could ever have imagined," Haugg said.

While the community celebrates the opening of the new hospital, Haugg hopes it also makes good use of it. "As a citizen, I would hope the population has faith in this new institution and in our medical people so we can best make use of it," Haugg said. "We cannot continue to think what we have here is not good enough, that we have to go to Moncton or Halifax."

He feels the new hospital is much more than a health care issue, but is an economic issue as well and should be part of this region's economic future. "It's important for Cumberland County to have this kind of health care facility," Haugg added. "Just like the town needed a new high school, it needed this new hospital to be a viable economic part of Atlantic Canada."

Residents must be very vigilant and ask why they have to travel to Moncton for services when they could be provided in Amherst. "The next step is to fill it and use this facility," he said. "We have to make sure it's fully staffed with as many specialists as we can get. We shouldn't have to go elsewhere."