TAMC Centennial Potato Plot launched
Staff photo/Scott Mitchell Johnson
COLLABORATIVE EFFORT — The Aroostook Medical Center’s Centennial Potato Plot was officially dedicated Monday on a 2-acre section of potato field on U.S. Route 1 between Presque Isle and Caribou. The project is part of TAMC’s 100th anniversary. After the russets are harvested this fall, they will be put in special commemorative 5-pound bags and distributed to state legislators, hospital employees and attendees at the annual Fall Health Fair. Here, Sylvia Getman, TAMC president and chief executive officer, discusses the unique collaborative effort as, from left: Bob Umphrey, president of Northeast Packaging Co.; Scott Smith, farm manager for Cavendish Farms Operation, Inc.; and Lynn Lombard, chair of the TAMC board of trustees, look on.
PRESQUE ISLE — Aroostook’s rich agricultural heritage and its ties to the efforts to open Presque Isle’s first public hospital were celebrated Monday in a county potato field with the launching of a unique collaborative effort.
Officials from The Aroostook Medical Center, Cavendish Produce and Northeast Packaging Co. came together to officially dedicate the TAMC Centennial Potato Plot on a 2-acre section of potato field on U.S. Route 1 between Presque Isle and Caribou. The project, which is part of TAMC’s 100th anniversary, was announced in a roadside field near the landmark PT Barn approximately three miles north of Presque Isle.
“There is really no more appropriate place for an organization like TAMC — that comes from The County and from the people — to celebrate 100 years of service to the people than here on the land,” said TAMC President and Chief Executive Officer Sylvia Getman. “It’s especially appropriate because our roots are tied certainly to the community, the county and to agriculture.
“When attorney Frank White first conceived the idea of building a public, charitable hospital in Presque Isle in the spring of 1908, he made frequent trips to outlying farms and neighboring smaller communities by horse and wagon, soliciting donations of any and all size,” she said. “It was through the efforts of White and other community leaders, and largely with the support of the county’s agricultural community, that that Presque Isle General Hospital was incorporated April 8, 1912.”
Once established, Presque Isle’s first public hospital continued to rely on the generosity of the community. According to a manuscript entitled “People Make the Difference … A History of Presque Isle’s Hospital” written by Marilyn Dean and published in 1984: “As the hospital served the people, the people served the hospital. Through the years, the hospital was sustained by donations of money, furnishings, equipment supplies such as linens, toys for the children’s ward, bandaging from the Red Cross, and food items such as potatoes, chicken, jellies and jams, canned goods, fresh baked bread and homemade chicken broth.”
The two acres of russet potatoes for the TAMC Centennial Potato Plot, which were planted around May 20, were donated by Cavendish Produce. Plans are for TAMC employees and their family members to harvest the field by hand in early October and to celebrate another county tradition — harvest.
“We are very pleased, excited and proud to be a part of this project,” said Scott Smith, farm manager for Cavendish Farms Operation, Inc. in northern Maine. “We want to be good neighbors and partners in supporting the local hospital — we always have been and want to continue to be in the future.
“Agriculture has long been a mainstay of the Aroostook County economy and part of the fabric of our communities for generations,” he said. “It is very fitting that we officially dedicate the TAMC Centennial Potato Plot today to reflect both that tradition, as well as the important role TAMC has held in ensuring people in our region have access to the highest quality health care over the past century.”
Plans for what will happen with the potatoes once the field is harvested involve the other partner that has come to the table to support the project. According to Bob Umphrey, president of NEPCO, a special commemorative 5-pound bag will be designed to recognize TAMC’s centennial. That process will include an art contest to engage members of the public.
“We are launching an open contest to help us design one side of this special bag,” said Umphrey. “We invite residents of Aroostook County and others who have been touched by TAMC — as so many have been over the past century — to submit their artwork to be featured on a special bag that we, at Northeast Packaging Co., will produce later this summer in time for the harvesting of the potatoes that are being grown here in this Centennial Potato Plot.”
The design contest is open to all ages and will run through Thursday, July 12. A special entry form, complete with contest rules and a designated area to match the printable space on the potato bag, is available and will be mailed to prospective entrants. For more information on the contest or to have an official entry form mailed, call 768-4044 or e-mail bcaron@tamc.org.
A panel of judges from the NEPCO, Cavendish and TAMC will review the entries and pick a winner. The selected design will be unveiled at the Maine Potato Blossom Festival on the judges’ reviewing stand Saturday, July 21, just prior to the parade during a new event called the Spuddy Recovery Triathlon organized and co-sponsored by TAMC.
“I’m really thrilled at the innovative nature of this project and how it so nicely reflects our traditions here in Aroostook County,” said Lynn Lombard, chair of the TAMC board of trustees. “We are so grateful to these two generous companies for working collaboratively with TAMC and making this unique project possible. As we continue to mark 100 years of The Aroostook Medical Center, our hope is to engage as many residents as possible in the celebration. Certainly, the TAMC Centennial Potato Plot will be a very visible reminder all summer long and into the fall of the significant contributions of both the agricultural community and TAMC to our wonderful quality of life here in The County.”
Once the potatoes are harvested and placed in the special commemorative bags, TAMC will send the spuds to statewide elected officials and other dignitaries. U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) has agreed to see to it that a bag is delivered to the White House.
In addition, TAMC intends to provide commemorative bags of potatoes to attendees at their annual Fall Health Fair, which this year will feature a theme of Harvest, History and Health.
