Head Of High River And District Health Care Foundation Retires

A familiar face to High Riverittes is leaving his post.

Michael Brown is leaving as Executive Director of the High River and District Health Care Foundation.

"My joke is always that if I had hair it would be grey, I'm getting old enough and I've had the privilege of doing all sorts of fabulous things with the foundation and I'm so lucky, but it's time," he says. "There's always pushes and pulls when you change jobs and I just realized that it's time to let some young blood in that can do new things with the foundation."

He says on the "pull" side he's got a two and a half year old grandson, an old house that needs fixing up and some hikes in the mountains that he can still do.

He says the staff and the whole community have been great to work with over the last twelve years including the $1.6 million raised for the Cancer Care Centre.

"This community supports everything the foundation does, the people in High River and Nanton and our surrounding rural communities really get what it is about our community and they want to enhance health care here, all the service groups, Rotary, the Lions, Kinettes, everybody has been just fabulous." Brown says. "Likewise I've had the opportunity to work with some great people on the board, people who volunteer their time and talents to make this foundation run, AHS people, for eleven of those 12 years I've worked with Lise Brisebois-Blouin on the foundation board and she was just terrific."

He also singled out Fund Development and Communications Officer Cathy Couey, Rhonda Bews and before her Cheryl Holmes and the team they had in their office.

Brown says the foundations yearly Dinners and Auction events have always been big parties that raised large amounts on money but two stood out for him.

"One was just this last fall when obviously we couldn't put on a dinner and auction, we couldn't have 400 people in the Memorial Centre and so we pivoted and the George Canyon and Aaron Prichett concert over at the drive-in, that was just fabulous. But for me personally two years ago we put on our dinner and auction at the Bomber Command Museum in Nanton, we hired a 12 piece big band, they played swing music from the 40's, we raised, I think the most we ever raised at that event, my dad was a veteran from the war, he flew Mitchell B25 Bombers so to be able to do that with the foundation was a dream come true."

He says the foundation always considered itself a steward of its donor's money and strived to invest it well.

He hopes a number of good candidates put their names forward for his position.

Brown says he'll still be involved in the community.

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