Kincardine medical clinic officially renamed Hawthorne Community Clinic

It's official: the Kincardine Community Medical Clinic has been renamed the Hawthorne Community Clinic.

The ribbon-cutting was held Monday morning, with Duncan Hawthorne, retired president and chief executive officer of Bruce Power, and his wife, Lesley, joining Kincardine deputy mayor Jacqueline Faubert and Huron-Kinloss deputy mayor Wilfred Gamble, for the event.

"Welcome to the Hawthorne Community Clinic," said Faubert. "As Duncan (Hawthorne) would say, it's not the walls of the facility that are important, it's the dedicated professionals who care for us inside the building. He also says that recognizing leadership at all levels is the key to success. On behalf of council and staff, and the Municipality of Kincardine, thank you Duncan and Lesley, for all that you have done for this community."

Hawthorne said that when the farewell was held in Ripley back in April, he and Lesley were moved by the huge turn-out of people, plus the extensive number of well-wishes, as they got ready to return to the United Kingdom May 1.

"But then, when the mayor of Kincardine said that the municipality was renaming the medical clinic in our honour, we were overwhelmed," he said. "We were overcome by this gesture. I was fortunate that there was a break in the proceedings because I don't think I could have spoken at that moment.

"This is a sure sign of how much our time here has meant to the community. We appreciate that our name is on a health care facility."

Hawthorne said Kincardine is a special place and he expects that acting president and chief financial officer Kevin Kelly, and corporate services vice-president James Scongack will continue to support this community.

"This is a friendly community," he said. "Everybody helps out everybody else - giving their time, donations and financial support. It's easy as the corporate CEO of Bruce Power to support the community as well. That's been my greatest pleasure, helping people get through tough times. And this Hawthorne Community Clinic will help people too.

"Thank you all for this kind gesture. It means a lot to us."



Duncan Hawthorne speaks to the local press about what it means to have the medical facility in Kincardine renamed the Hawthorne Community Clinic