Canton needs leadership and compassion

By Guest

Dear Editor:

Leadership and compassion, with a strong moral compass. These are the defining characteristics I would use to describe Sue Harrington, who is running for a seat on the Canton Select Board.

I have watched Sue grow her veterinary practice from a small practice grossing slightly over $200,000 with a single doctor to a thriving veterinary facility grossing over $2.7 million with three doctors. During that time, the business decisions and the competence of the people she employed allowed for so many people to depend on her for the health of their pets. She doubled the square footage of the practice in order to increase capacity. Decisions leading to that kind of success don’t come without shrewd analytical acumen.

As many of us know, running a business, like running a town, is no joke and requires often hard-placed decisions. Those decisions resulted in the practice winning the MVP award for best hospital in the East territory by Mission Veterinary Partners — an award that considers the performance of 98 hospitals within the region. It requires business acumen, but it also requires a strong sense of trying to do the right thing. Recently, there was a dog brought into the practice that had onset pneumonia. The owner did not want to pay for the treatment and instructed the practice to put the dog down. When Sue heard this, she did not stand by, but actually adopted the dog to save it. Trying to do the right thing.

Sue has been an avid volunteer, donating both considerable time and money to the high school plays. Her designs and seamstress skills are truly amazing, as anyone who has seen any of the plays over the past 15-plus years will tell you. But her compassion toward and with the kids is truly amazing. She is constantly faced with individual problems not only with costumes, but with everything that goes along with helping high schoolers feel good about themselves.

Confidence and self-assuredness building should be in the job description; after all, these kids are putting themselves up on stage in front of friends, strangers, and parents. Sue takes the time to help these kids achieve their hopes, conquer if not challenge their fears, and celebrates their individual successes with them as if they are her own. Problem solving with them, encouraging them, pushing them to be their best selves, all without judging or denigrating their decisions.

These are the characteristics that will take Canton into the future and provide for growth. Leadership, compassion, a strong moral compass, business acumen and common sense. Susan Harrington has all of these and then some.

John Prendergast

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