The Houlton Regional Health Services Foundation is moving out of Houlton Regional Hospital and into a new downtown space on Monday after being housed within the hospital for four decades.
The hospital has ended a longstanding space lease agreement with the foundation because they need room to house a long list of expanded services, Houlton Regional Hospital COO Gina Brown said on Thursday.
The move uproots a nonprofit that’s been housed in the hospital for decades and has raised millions for healthcare through events such as a holiday festival of trees and an annual golf tournament.
Despite rumors circulated on social media this week that the hospital had ended its relationship with the foundation and its director, they have always been separate entities with their own governing bodies, Brown said.
“This unfortunate chatter that’s been going on has very little truth to it and is really kind of sad and damaging to the hospital,” she said. “I don’t think they understand the magnitude of the work that’s been done here. And we have nothing but respect for Lori Weston and the Health Services Foundation.”
A misconception exists that the foundation is part of the hospital, but it is not, said Brown, who believes the confusion stems from the foundation being housed within the hospital walls.
“The Health Services Foundation has been in place as long as I remember, and I have worked here for 40 years and remember the foundation for at least 30,” she said. “We hold the foundation in high regard.”
Weston is the foundation’s executive director.
The organization, founded by a group of local doctors, business leaders and educators in 1983, has donated $3 million to the hospital to date and an additional $700,000 to other health services and nonprofits in the region, Weston said.
She added that the group’s activities never focused solely on the hospital.
“It’s been a perfect marriage for us to be here at the hospital and to work with them. [Now] we have a new place to be and we are moving in on Monday,” she said. “At this point we plan to continue to function as we always have.”
Last year the hospital was in severe financial distress. In May 2025, the labor, delivery and postpartum unit closed despite a huge public outcry.
Additionally, executives from Northern Maine Medical Center in Fort Kent took over the hospital’s management. Under the agreement, the Fort Kent hospital’s president and CEO, Jeff Zewe, and Chief Financial Officer Aaron Teachout took on the same roles in Houlton.
The hospital’s financial situation has improved and things have turned around, Brown said.
Since 2025, the hospital has spent $2 million on new and upgraded equipment. They replaced a 32-slice computerized tomography scanner with a 160-slice CT scanner, the biggest bore north of Bangor, Brown said.
The facility has added behavioral health services, pain management and urology, and expanded general surgery. Surgery volume has doubled since last May, Brown said. A cardiology program and wound care will come in the near future, and a gynecologist is joining the hospital in October.
“When you do that you run out of space,” said Brown. “We’re trying to expand in the existing space that we have.”
The foundation, from its new location at 18 Military St., Suite 124, will continue as it always has with its fundraising efforts.
The organization’s upcoming 37th annual fundraiser – the County Open Charity Golf Tournament – is slated Saturday, Aug. 8, at the Houlton Community Golf Course and on Sunday, Aug. 9, at Va-Jo-Wa Golf Course in Island Falls.
“The golf tournament is going on as planned, and stay tuned about other details,” Weston said. “Right now, the only thing that’s changing is us moving.”
The foundation will be in its new space on Monday. The new phone number is 207-694-3353.
