Many county residents have likely at one time or another received care from Dr. Douglas Fiddler.

Fiddler a longtime physician with the emergency department at the Minden hospital was piped and applauded out of the Minden HHHS facility on May 17 upon his retirement.

Fiddler worked shifts at the Minden ER for some 23 years. When he started the hospital was located in a small building along Bobcaygeon Road where the Minden Animal Hospital is today.

“Since then he has been a valuable and integral member of our Minden emergency department team” Carolyn Plummer CEO of Haliburton Highlands Health Services wrote in an email to the paper. “He was instrumental in helping establish the current physician staffing model in the Minden ED and has played a significant role in helping ensure top-quality medical practices have consistently been in place there. As you can see from the photographs our team thought very highly of Dr. Fiddler and wanted to honour his contributions and show him how much he has meant to the organization. We are certainly sad to see him go and we will miss his presence in the ED; however we wish him all the best in the next phase of his life.”

There were words of praise for Dr. Fiddler from staff and board members at HHHS as well.

During a HHHS board meeting last week chief of staff Dr. Kristy Gammon said Fiddler was “a stalwart advocate and supporter for patient care in the county and we will miss him.”

“The board expresses their appreciation very much for the services he rendered in Minden” said HHHS board chairman Dave Bonham.

Peter Oyler chairman of the board of the HHHS Foundation called Fiddler “an institution in Minden.”