Ronald A. Fotheringham
raf@hageman.ca
July 21, 2025
At the corner of Highway #28 and Strickland Street stands the Morton Medical Centre. The sign on the lawn states “Proudly Community Built”. The story behind that statement is a story of significant community achievement. Indeed, the outpouring of community support of Morton Medical’s construction was described by a prominent resident as “nothing short of magical”.
The Morton Medical Centre “miracle” began when four primary care doctors either retired or resigned their Lakefield area practices to join the Peterborough Regional Healthcare Centre as hospitalists. The Lakefield District healthcare situation quickly became dire, leaving more than five thousand citizens without a doctor.
The solution to this untenable situation began in 2003 when Nick Lalani, Lakefield’s IDA pharmacist at the time (and later recognized as the Founder of the project) established the Lakefield Community Medical Support Foundation. Its purpose was to build a state-of-the-art medical clinic in the Lakefield area. “We have a problem, no one’s going to fix it for us, we have to fix it ourselves”. A small group of Lalani’s friends and associates began holding regular meetings to spearhead the planning of a solution to the area’s healthcare crisis.
The Lakefield Primary Health Care Fundraising Campaign started off quietly with direct appeals to the Campaign’s leadership group, their friends, associates and local businesses, raising $900 thousand in the first three years. Then on May 1, 2007, the public fundraising campaign was launched with an initial Town Hall Meeting at Lakefield District Secondary School to discuss the doctor shortage in our community and the need to build a local medical clinic to attract physicians to our area. Bruce Gibson, a local dentist and chair of the fundraising campaign, asked how many of the 400 attendees did not have a doctor. Virtually every hand present went into the air. And Lakefield Lioness-Lions kicked off the drive with a $100 thousand commitment.
The next two years saw an unleashing of commitment and effort in support of the “dream”. It can be said that “everyone” in the Townships of Selwyn-Ennismore-Lakefield (S-E-L) and Douro-Dummer made contribution to reaching the financial goal of $4.4 million. On the Donor Wall, located in the Centre’s waiting area today, thousands of donor names are recognized. A Campaign Office storefront led by Glenda Newson (Secretary of the Campaign Cabinet) and an army of enthusiastic volunteers received $500 thousand in donations ranging from $10 to $10 thousand. Medical Centre’s donors were purchasers of baked goods, used books, donated quilts and art work; they were participants at fund-raising bowling, baseball, golf and euchre tournaments; they supported fund-raising hikes, wine tasting events and car washes; they raised money by attending church events, street parties, yard sales and barbecues; they attended Leahy Family music concerts, Blues Festivals and Horizon Band presentations; they attended dinners/auctions at Wildfire Galas (Murray McLauchlan and Michael Burgess were entertainers), they danced at Charity Balls at Sunset Pavilion and attended the memorable Classic Car Cruise Night. The community’s fundraising creativity and commitment were truly impressive. Of particular note perhaps was a $5100 contribution by three eleven year old students holding an auction of donated items at their school.
Critically important to the Campaign’s success as well was the donation of land for construction of the Medical Centre by the Ambler family, the contributions of local businesses (for example SGS, Lakefield College, Boston Pizza, Paris Marine, Nightingale, and the banking institutions of Canada) and grants by the tax payers of Ontario and the Townships of S-E-L and Douro Dummer amounting to almost $1 million. And another contribution…an anonymous donation of $100 thousand on behalf of a beloved dog, “Jessie”.
“The community spirit behind this project has been phenomenal”, said Tony Ambler, the Foundation’s Chair of Finance. “It’s amazing how this community has embraced the project”, said Ken Pipher, the Foundation’s Chair of Marketing. “In many ways, it’s like the old-fashioned barn-building bee, where neighbours would join-together, roll up their sleeves and get the job done. It’s that spirit of community that will make this happen.” “Build it and they (doctors) will come”, promised Ross Bletsoe, Vice Chair of the Foundation.
By October 2008, the Foundation was so confident in the community’s support of the project that they decided to “break ground” to begin construction of the clinic before the fundraising target had been achieved. Then a major donation by Patricia (a Foundation Board member) and David Morton put the campaign “over the top”. Karl Moher, Treasurer of the Campaign Cabinet said, “looking back, this was the most rewarding project I have ever worked on over the years”.
$4.4 million had been raised, almost twice the amount that had been identified as possible support by an in-depth feasibility study conducted in 2003. A team of dedicated community leaders, an army of enthusiastic volunteers and the outstanding support of thousands of donors had “made it happen”, a model of a community working together to achieve improved healthcare for its residents. In 2024, there were thirty thousand patient visits to Morton Medical Centre.
“We make a living by what we get, but make a life by what we give” – Winston Churchill