Cheshire Medical Center launches community campaign to build a new future for care in the Greater Monadnock Region

Keene, NH — Cheshire Medical Center (Cheshire), a member of Dartmouth Health, announced a community-led $42 million fundraising capital campaign to modernize its 52-year-old facility and better serve the growing needs of its patient population for decades to come. The announcement was made at the medical center’s annual meeting at the Keene Country Club. The campaign has already raised $39.2 million, with $2.8 million in additional donations needed to meet their goal.

The campaign, called “Our Community, Our Future,” seeks to raise $42 million in capital funds to support three critical areas of need for the nonprofit medical center. These include improvements to and expansion of operating room facilities, an expansion of Dartmouth Cancer Center services, and an outpatient service expansion including enhancement and improvements to existing services.

“From its earliest days, Cheshire Medical Center has been a bedrock of compassionate, community-centered care for generations of patients and their families across this region,” said Joseph L. Perras, MD, president and CEO of Cheshire. “With the public launch of this campaign, we are giving our community the power of partnering with us to build a new future for the medical center, one that will make a measurable difference in their own lives, and to our ability to care for patients in the community. From the most innovative facilities and technologies to supporting surgery and cancer care, to greater access and advanced outpatient medical services and physicians we are going to transform our care delivery.”

Though launching publicly today, this campaign has been years in the making. It is built on the generosity of early donors who have pledged significant gifts, including a $25 million transformational, anonymous gift from a local Keene family made in 2024—the largest single gift within the Dartmouth Health system in its history. This early support underscores the long-term impact that the medical center has had on so many local families, with total funds raised in striking distance of the $42 million necessary to fund construction. Broad community participation in the public phase of the campaign will be crucial to taking the final, critical steps toward completion.

“For a small city like Keene, surrounded for many miles by rural towns, the importance of Cheshire Medical Center, offering the personal touch of a community hospital with all the resources of an academic health system, can’t be understated in the region,” said Joanne M. Conroy, MD, CEO and president of Dartmouth Health. “The tremendous generosity from a family in the community to kickstart our capital campaign, and many other area residents who have contributed thus far, demonstrates the affection and appreciation for Cheshire within the Monadnock Region. On behalf of Dartmouth Health, I want to extend our sincere gratitude for this transformative gift, which will have an immeasurable impact in furthering our goal of improving access to healthcare for rural communities.”

Embarking upon this modernization project, Cheshire made strategic, targeted choices to improve facilities and services that will be most acutely felt by the people of Keene and surrounding areas:

• With cancer cases on the rise, both in the Greater Monadnock region and around the country, an expansion of radiation services through the purchase of a second linear accelerator—and construction of an addition to house it—means more patients can receive cancer care close to home provided by Dartmouth Cancer Center, New Hampshire’s only NCI designated comprehensive cancer center, without having to travel farther than necessary for daily radiation appointments.
• With Cheshire County’s aging population, more people require surgery than ever before, and improvements and expansions to Cheshire’s operating room facilities and capacity will support this growing need, while allowing surgeons and support staff the ability to adapt to more emergency surgeries locally.
• Cheshire is actively reimagining the medical center facility to create greater access to advanced outpatient care, beginning with expansion of Gastroenterology and additional cancer care treatment spaces. Earlier this year, Cheshire completed the last phase of construction of the Family Medicine Residency space, located at its Maple Avenue campus, and is now planning for the utilization of the remaining space in that building. The implementation of the Family Medicine Residency Program is helping to address the shortage of primary care physicians in the region. 

“From the beginning, this campaign has been powered by the people who live and work here, and every gift—no matter the amount—moves us closer to providing the world-class facilities and services our patients deserve,” said Sandra Phipps, Cheshire’s vice president of philanthropy and community relations. “We’re thrilled to have the residents of Keene and surrounding areas play a leading role in helping us fund an expanded, modernized medical center that supports them and their families—one that is built on comfort, accessibility, and healing.

To learn more about “Our Community, Our Future” and to get involved, visit cheshiremed.org/cheshire-health-foundation.