- Dan Gibson retires from Dartmouth General Hospital Foundation Board – ‘Contributed extraordinary Leadership, Generosity & Vision’ In His Nine-Year Term
By Andrew Macdonald
A Halifax & NS housing business leader, Dan Gibson, has over the summer retired from the board of Dartmouth General Hospital Foundation.
He served the maximum nine-year term.
The foundation’s able CEO, Steve Harding, said Gibson “contributed extraordinary leadership, generosity, and vision.”
The Macdonald Notebook caught up with Gibson, a former senior executive of Clayton, a subdivision builder, which is a part of the Shaw Group of Companies.
Clayton is the subdivision builder behind 60-year-old Clayton Park, Baker Drive and West Bedford, among some of its projects.
NS and Halifax business leader, Dan Gibson, retired from the Dartmouth General Hospital Foundation after serving nine years on its board of directors. (Dartmouth General image).
Gibson retired from Clayton eight years ago.
“There’s a lot of incredible things and a lot of incredible people at (Dartmouth General’s) Foundation, but also at the Dartmouth General,” says Gibson.
Gibson “welcomed” The Notebook opportunity to chat about his tenure and the things he and the other board members have been able to accomplish.
“I won’t go into too much about the challenges (in healthcare), because we read about them every day in the paper. But, that aside, there is a lot of incredible things happening and a lot of incredible people who are providing great healthcare for Nova Scotians, and in particular Dartmouth General and east Halifax,” Gibson tells The Macdonald Notebook.
“My involvement started just prior to my retirement” from Clayton. “I spent 26 years with the Shaw Group here in Halifax, and I was a partner for 15 years and loved working for that company. It is one of Atlantic Canada’s great business success stories and continues to be – and it was a real privilege to have the opportunity to spend a big chunk of my career there.”
Dan Gibson, a retired senior exec with Clayton and the Shaw Group, wrapped up his nine-year term on the board at the Dartmouth General Hospital’s foundation over the summer. (Dartmouth General image).
Gibson joined Dartmouth Hospital’s Foundation in 2016.
“It was really looking for an opportunity, particularly in (career) retirement, I could hopefully get involved and help make a difference, in this case, with healthcare delivery in Dartmouth and the eastern Halifax region.”
“There are about 100,000 people who are served by the Dartmouth General. It’s a significant part of the community, and being a Dartmouth person since the early 1970s – I am transplanted from Alberta, having spent my youth there, but my living adult years in Dartmouth, I have always tried to be involved in the community,” he adds.
“Dartmouth General is one I watched for a few years, and I had friends on the hospital Foundation, and they spoke highly of work being done over the years, and it was really an opportunity to support the community and see what the hospital has been doing and see how I could contribute (as a board member).”
A year and a half ago, the Houston government designated Dartmouth General a regional hospital, something Gibson calls “very significant”.
“That regional status is really significant. It means a few things, one of which is that it has meant a lot of healthcare is being distributed beyond the traditional QE II Halifax sites. For example, orthopedic surgery – a significant number of those (operations) are being done in Dartmouth. And, the other thing it puts (more focus) on what can be done from that site. And, it enhances Dartmouth General’s presence in the community – and that attracts new donors, as well,” Gibson says.
“I think a year and a half ago, the province acquired all of the lands around the hospital for future expansion. It really means that Dartmouth General is really set up to become a major regional health centre in the future for all of Halifax.”
Dan Gibson, left, Fred Smithers, and car titan, Al MacPhee at a Dartmouth General Hospital Foundation event. (Dartmouth General image).
Dartmouth General’s Foundation has significant donor support from leading business leaders, such as Fred Smithers, car dealership czar Rob Steele, theO’Reganauto empire family, car dealership titan Al MacPhee, and the J& W Murphy Foundation.
Al MacPhee owns MacPhee Ford in Dartmouth. He is a major supporter of the Dartmouth General Hospital Foundation. Behind him is Hospital Foundation CEO Steve Harding. (The Notebook).
Dartmouth’s First Lady, Gloria McCluskey, supports many of the hospital foundation’s fundraisers, and she recently donated a handmade quilt to a silent auction at the foundation’s very successful June lobster dinner event. The lobster dinner raised just over half a million dollars.
Stephen Harding, Gloria McCluskey, and DGH Auxiliary members Shirley Webber-Hill and Donna Purcell, holding up the beautiful quilt Gloria made. (Dartmouth General Hospital Foundation image).
Gibson: “I’d say in the last ten to fifteen years or so, a lot of donors and potential donors have become aware of the work and care that is being provided by Dartmouth General. Obviously, it is Steve Harding’s job (as Foundation CEO), and he has an amazing team, and he has been CEO since 2019. And through his work, his team’s work and the leadership at the hospital and its staff have really elevated the presence of Dartmouth General in the community and (what it stands for).”
Harding and his team identify new donors and have a strong communication focus, explains Gibson.
“The J & W Murphy Foundation is one example. Once they were made aware of what is going on there, how their financial contribution will help, and the recognition they get, obviously, which Steve and the team do an outstanding job (promoting donations),” adds Gibson.
“Even after the money comes in, the job is not over. That’s because the Murphy Foundation continues to contribute funding beyond their original donation. All that is to say that it is leadership, connecting donors and improving healthcare and working really collaboratively with those donors. Steve and his team have done a phenomenal job.”
Dartmouth General has doctors who have done residencies with the prestigious Mayo Clinic and MD Anderson in Texas.
“What is interesting about that, doctors and specialists they have aspirations and they are attracted to health facilities that are acquiring the latest equipment so they can deploy the best healthcare thinking available in the world, and they are attracted by a couple of things: Some of these doctors are from Atlantic Canada and have gone away to be educated by the Mayo Clinic or where ever, and then they look at an opportunity to come home and they are attracted by the innovation going on, the enhancements and improvements to the hospital and its equipment and then the culture at Dartmouth General,” explains Gibson.
Steve Harding, CEO of Dartmouth General Hospital Foundation, with foundation direct or fundraising, Carolyn Marshall. (The Notebook).
While observing as a former board member, he says the culture at Dartmouth General among its staff is a positive one.
“It’s a different culture. It is spawned from a community hospital, and I think there are over one thousand medical staff working there, including medical professionals, doctors and nurses and support staff working there. It has a unique culture. It is almost like a family operation. It feels like that, and that has been carried on by Dr. Natalie Chang, the medical lead at Dartmouth General, who is outstanding, and before her Dr. Todd Howlett, who is now with the NS Health Authority.”
“They are really to be credited for the culture at the hospital. One of the things that has amazed me the most…is the dedication of the staff at the hospital. When we think of the working conditions they deal with every day in Emerg or through COVID, they do an amazing job – not enough can be said about what they do.”
“A big part of that, somehow, they have this culture thing working that ultimately helps deliver the best healthcare possible today, notwithstanding challenges, but they rise up and beyond every day,” Gibson tells The Macdonald Notebook.
“I am always amazed by that, looking in as a Foundation member but also as someone who has gone to Dartmouth General a few times for different things – I am always amazed when I go there. And think Wow! These people are amazing. It’s a unique culture.”
Dan Gibson, left, Jamie Thompson, Paul O’Hearn, Bruce Delo. (Dartmouth General Hospital Foundation image).
