"I believe strongly in the concept of service and stewardship"
I firmly believe that we, as a society, have a responsibility for the vulnerable around us and that, in general, society has that responsibility. More specifically, I think doctors owe a responsibility to this community for service, and I believe strongly in the concept of service and stewardship. And I think that the community at large should know that these are relative, and they’re just as important and have every right to reasonable health services as anyone else, that these people can be enormous contributors to society if given the opportunity. And I would say to physicians that there’s probably not much more of a rewarding part of the practice of medicine that makes the rest all seem worthwhile if you can just contribute in this way.

"I think serving others is definitely a mission."
I want Canadians to know that it [providing healthcare to street involved youth] is an essential service and that prevention is really beyond being cost-effective, and it certainly is that. When you’re working with young people — it sounds pretty corny — but that is the future, and so if you can intervene and turn someone around at that stage, then it will really make a difference how they live out the rest of their life. That’s what this is about. This is not about tertiary care, where you do fancy things with ultrasounds. This is about sitting in a room with someone and establishing a relationship and making a difference in their life. I think serving others is definitely a mission. I think it’s really the only thing that makes any difference at all. I figure it’s about why we were placed here.

"One of my fundamental beliefs is that none of us is any better than anyone else"
One of my fundamental beliefs is that none of us is any better than anyone else, and all the distinctions we make as a society about some people being better or more worthy or more worthwhile than others, are all false distinctions and I think it does help to work in this field if one truly believes in one’s heart that that homeless person sleeping on that grate is no better or worse than you are yourself. I think you have to have that sense that we all stand equal before God to work with disadvantaged people in the spirit that is not condescending. Where we are is not because we were good and virtuous people but because we were blessed or graced and lucky.

"I do this job because I care about people."
I didn’t go into nursing because I want to get rich. I do this job because I care about people and I care about their health. I think it’s one of the most challenging jobs I’ve ever had and it’s one I enjoy so much that I can’t fathom leaving it and I can’t fathom saying goodbye to so many patients I’ve grown to care about over the years. When you walk in in the morning and you see a patient you haven’t seen since the previous year and their face lights up because you’re back. Those are experiences that you live with for the rest of your life. And it makes the job very meaningful because you know you’re making a big difference in a lot of people’s lives.

"This is a rich experience of life with different people … from birth to death."
I’m getting older now. I’m in my 50s and I feel like this is a rich experience of life with different people, families, from birth to death. I go through their whole life experience. I help them through difficulty when they’re sick and when they get better, I enjoy that. To me it’s like multiple lifetimes. I’ve got my own life, but there are so many other lives that I’ve had the opportunity to share. Not many people can say that they have the opportunity to do this so it’s great to be a physician that way. As a family physician, where you know the family and as a rural physician, where you know the community and work with the community, you have to be part of it and part of the solution as well.