Book review: The Doc’s Side: Tales of a Sunshine Coast doctor.

Issue: BCMJ, vol. 54, No. 2, March 2012, Page 95 News
By: Willem R. Vroom, MD

By Dr Eric J. Paet­kau. 2011. ISBN 978-1-55017-554-7. Paperback: 223 pages. $19.95.

This is an autobiographical book written by Dr Eric Paetkau, former GP and later surgeon who practised on the Sun­shine Coast from 1959 to 2002. 
This book is also a well-written account of the history of medical care on the Sunshine Coast and is filled with anecdotes about many of his colorful patients and colleagues. It will particularly appeal to anyone living on the Sunshine Coast who is interested in how St. Mary’s Hospital in Sechelt came to be. 

For those who don’t live on the Sunshine Coast, read this book anyway, and then on some sunny day visit or, even better, sail into Pender Harbour to Hospital Bay. There still stands the majestic old hospital, now proposed hotel, and when you see the building and its surroundings, you too might want to take up residence in what Dr Paetkau describes as “paradise.”
—WRV

Willem R. Vroom, MD. Book review: The Doc’s Side: Tales of a Sunshine Coast doctor.. BCMJ, Vol. 54, No. 2, March, 2012, Page(s) 95 - News.


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