Date: 10/10/2023

A hospital is made up of bricks and mortar and lots of modern equipment, but at the heart of every hospital is the people who devote their careers to caring for others. In December, CA Dean Hospital will say goodbye to Steve Douglass, an extraordinary leader who has served as director of facilities since 1987.

Steve recently shared a few memories from his many years at CA Dean, his thoughts about the new hospital, and his plans post-retirement.
 
Q: What’s something about the current hospital that people might not know?
A: The main electrical panel in the 1917 building is the original one. It has pull switches and big old fuses. It’s on a piece of slate. It’s still reliable to this day. Just down the hall is a water-powered elevator, which was one of two in Maine when we stopped using it around 2006.
 
Q: What’s a moment from your career you’ll never forget?
A: One is the power outages. In 2000, we had World War II surplus generators, and I cringed every time they came on. It took some convincing to get the new generators, and when we finally got them, we went 16 whole months without an outage. The CEO at the time asked me every couple of weeks if we were using them, and I had to say “no.” Finally, we lost power for 22 hours on a Saturday morning in February when the transmission line to Greenville went down. The generators worked perfectly.
 
Q: What’s a personal memory you have about the old hospital?
A: My son was born here in 1986, and there weren’t even TVs in every room. I had to bring a portable TV over for my wife and hook it up. She was in the hospital for six days. The hospital has come a long way since then, and it’s about to take another big step forward.
 
Q: What will be the biggest benefit of the new hospital?
A: Everything will be brought up to the standard of what a hospital should be. In the 1967 building, the hallways are too narrow, the bathrooms are tiny, and there aren’t showers in the rooms. The new hospital will have all the amenities for our patients.
 
Q: What will you do after retirement?
A: I’ll care for the grandbabies and work on some projects at the house and the camp. My son and daughter will probably have projects for me to work on. I’ll miss the people at CA Dean. I always considered it an honor and a privilege to work here.