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Home arrow Articles arrow Just Katharine arrow The doctors' bones
The doctors' bones
Written by Katharine Mott   
Page 3 of 4

The more Mark talks about his work environment, the more excited he becomes. There is great camaraderie among his colleagues; they work as a team, each with a specialty.

The big news is the soon-to-be-formed Maritime Centre for Head and Neck Cancer, being sponsored jointly by the university and the hospital. It will employ a wide range of professionals—doctors with different specialties, dietitians, nurses, and speech and language pathologists. This is an exciting initiative and will help to keep our specialists anchored in this region. (This venture doesn’t fall under the list of those supported by the usual cancer fundraising organizations, so donors and additional sponsors are always welcome!)

Mark likes being in the Halifax area. He’s close to the salt water, and it’s a pleasant ride from home to the hospital. His daughters Victoria, Alexa and Sara get to enjoy growing up in much the same way he and Tammy did. And it’s a quick skip to his PEI home for visits and to operate the clinic he runs there.
I can personally attest to both Drs. Watson and Taylor being skilled and caring medical professionals—I met each of them fairly recently and somewhat by accident. My former family doctor had to go on medical leave herself, so I was given a list of four doctors who would take on some of her patients. I knew nothing about anyone on the list, and thought I should investigate which new doctor and I would be a good fit. To start, I made an appointment with the one I considered to have the best parking. That was Dr. Watson. I was delighted when I met her: she was perfect! I’m a fairly healthy and active person, and wanted someone who would work with me in routine health matters. After a brief chat, we agreed that we would become doctor and patient.

I had a mishap with some flood-waters a few months ago. A dark night trip over an unbarricaded bridge found me sitting in chest-high freezing water until I was rescued 45 minutes later. The event made the weekend newspaper a couple of days later. Who called and left a message that included her home phone number in case I needed her? Dr. Watson! I doubt that would happen in many Canadian cities.

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Discuss (1 posts)

Brian Scully
The doctors' bones
Aug 20 2008 13:38:13
Re: The Doctor's Bones July/August 2008

Hello Katherine:

Your article focused on MDs, but alas there are many other types of professional Maritimers out there who would come back in a nanno-blink of an eye, given half a chance (you and I have talked about this in the past, as I have with Jim G.). Medical doctors have a built-in advantage, in that their scarcity and importance to the public are very visible; other less-immediately obvious groups don't fare quite so well, but still have much to add to the Maritime way of life, the economy, and the environment. Case in point, I have an MSc in marine biology (educated at 3 Maritime universities) and in late years, in an attempt to become &quot;value-added&quot;, have undertaken - and just completed - a graduate level certificate in geospatial science (you know... things like GIS and GPS, the latter which you might have in your car, or in your case in your fishing vest). To boot, while completing this certificate, I earned the Ryerson University Gold Medal, plus a scholarship. Not bad for an ol’ boy from the coast, but will it bring me home to make my contribution, after being 24 years away? I hope so, but after years of trying to retrace my steps back, I honestly don’t know.

We’re all out here, and we’re waiting (but not passively) to do our bit to aid the Maritimes in their quest to, in Stan Roger’s words, “rise again”. Just waiting for a nod and a wink, and we’ll be there with kit and clan in tow.

Cheers,
Brian

Brian Scully M.Sc., Cert. GIS Educ.
Aquatic &amp; Geospatial Sciences Teacher
Field Station Coordinator (Lachute, Qc) ScullyB@vaniercollege.qc.ca
Environmental &amp; Wildlife Management Program www.vaniercollege.qc.ca/ewm
Vanier College (CEGEP) – Main Campus
St-Laurent, Qc, Canada
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