Page 25 - Dr. Austin MacDonald: How We Got the Hospital Down North

ISSUE : Issue 40

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1985/8/1

Halifax), and went on from there to Toron? to for a couple of years, and finished up with it in 1960 • it's a 5-year course. Had my Royal College qualification in internal medicine. So I set up in Sydney, then. But I didn't finish the story about the fi? nances. There was still around $40,000 to be raised, when I went away to do post? grad work. Now, the board members and the people that worked so hard, they were pret? ty mad at me for leaving, because they wanted me to stay at least until the thing paid off. So, I proposed a plan to them, and they bought it. We called a meeting of all the better-heeled citizens from Bay St. Lawrence to Smokey. And there were about '"'SftlSW' What, you've never been to a Ceilidh? what, you've never been to a what? A Ceilidh • just pronounce it kay-lee and it's all the Gaelic you'll ever need to know! While our Scottish ancestors may have had something of a tongue-twisting language, when it came to parties and generally having a good time, they made it all very simple. And the more the merrier. Wherever you go in Nova Scotia you'll find the good times in full swing and you dont need a special invitation to join in the fun. There's singing and dancing. Good country food. And the world's friendliest hospitality. Vbu'll hear fiddlers andpipers.bucan watch the dancing of jigs and reels (very tricky footwork, and not to be tried by the faint at heart). Highland Games, with such unique pleasures as caber tossing and hammer throwings, are an integral part of Ceilidhs and festivals. Obviously, you don't need to be Scottish or to speak Gaelic to have fun at a Ceilidh. And indeed, our Ceilidh is a celebration for everyone who lives here, and everyone who visits with us. If you like, you can say that the Nova Scotia Ceilidh 1985 is an umbrella, and under which you'll find all manner of pleasures and pastimes. Ybu know, we're all very glad you decided to come to Nova Scotia this year. Whether you head for the glories of Cape Breton, the wilderness solitudes of the Eastern Shore, the warm sea-waters of the Northumberland Shore, the incredible tides of the Fundy and the country pleasures of the Annapolis Valley, the endless beaches of the South Shore, or the special pleasures of Halifax- Dartmouth • we know you'll be glad to be here. Something else. We know you'll come back again. Always, you'll be more than welcome. For more information call Ceilidh locations throughout the province: 20 of them showed up. And the banker in North Sydney, the Bank of Nova Scotia there, he had said, "You can get the money to pay this off from us, provided you can get a group of responsible citizens, each one of whom will take a chunk of this debt." And he said, "I'll expect you to take $5000, at least." (Personally?) Yeah. And I said, "All right." Okay. We had a- bout 20, maybe 25 fellows at that meeting. Everybody took a chunk of it. What they took meant what they knew they could pay off if they got caught with it. I took $5000. One other man took $5000. It ranged all the way down from there to $500. Time we left the meeting that afternoon, we had the commitments all signed and sealed and delivered for the banks, for $40,000. Next day our bills were all paid, you see. So that was the end of the debt for the hospital. They went right on work? ing, the same as they had for years. Long before I was through with my post? graduate course--I think about 3 years from that date--eve? rything was paid off. They didn't owe a cent to anybody in the world. Muscpiodobolt Valley, Bicentennial Theatre and Cultural Centre, VoMr.IohnTiUey, Middle Musquodoboit, Halifax County, N.S., BON 1X0 Port Hawkesbury Recreation Depwtment, Vo Ms. Paula Davis, P.O. Box 10, Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia, B0E2V0 Savoy Theatre, 7o Ms. Shirley Barrett, 19 Union Street, Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, B1A2P6 deCoste, VoMr.IohnMeir, P.O. Box 39, Pirtou, Nova Scotia, B0K1H0 YtumouthArts Regional Council, Vo Ms. leannine Comeau, P.O. Box 511, Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, BSA4B5 The Astor, Vo Mr. John Bird, P.O. Box 1248, Liverpool, Nova Scotia, B0T1K0 Annapolis Royal Development Commission, Vo Mr Paul Buxton, P.O. Box 278, Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, BOS1A0 or contact the tourist bureaus. So that's the kind of people they were. (The community paid off their $45,000 with the same kind of raffles and din? ners and dances and however they did it.) That's right. And you know, it's diffi? cult to keep a group of people working at that intensity for 10 years, and that's what they did. (So when it came time to name the hos? pital Buchanan Memor? ial , how was that de? cided?) Well, I was the one that sug? gested it. Not all the board members were in agreement that night. I had to do some very expert politicking among them to name it Bu? chanan. Buch an an s had done a great deal, you see, for us, for 11 years. CONTINUED NEXT PAGE (25)

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