Pulsimeter

 Call for nominations

BCMA and CMA Special Awards
 

BCMA Silver Medal of Service Award

BCMA members are encouraged to nominate physicians or laypersons for the BCMA Silver Medal of Service award. The medal will be presented at the BCMA’s Annual General Meeting in June 2006.

Physician nominees must have 25 years of membership in good standing in the BCMA, the CMA, and the BC College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia. Non-medical candidates may be laypersons of Canadian or foreign citizenship.

Criteria for the award include one of the following:

• Long and distinguished service to the BCMA, or
• Outstanding contributions to medicine or medical/political involvement in British Columbia or Canada, or 
• Outstanding contributions by a layperson to medicine or to the welfare of the people of British Columbia or Canada.

Nominations for the BCMA Silver Medal of Service may be made by any BCMA member in good standing. Submit the candidate’s curriculum vitae and your reasons for nominating the individual to the BCMA Membership Committee, 115–1665 West. Broadway, Vancouver, BC V6J 5A4 by 30 November 2005.

CMA Honorary Membership

The BCMA is able to submit nominations to the CMA for individuals to receive the honor of becoming a CMA Honorary Member (previously called CMA Senior Member Award). Candidates must be age 65 or older and have been a member of both the BCMA and the CMA for the immediately preceding 10 consecutive years, including the forthcoming year 2006. They must have distinguished themselves in their medical careers by making a significant contribution to the community and to the medical profession.

To nominate a candidate for the CMA Senior Member Award, send a letter outlining the reasons for your nomination along with the individual’s curriculum vitae to the BCMA Membership Committee, 115–1665 West Broadway, Vancouver, BC V6J 5A4 by 30 November 2005.

CMA Special Awards 2006

Further information on criteria, including nomination forms for the CMA special awards can be obtained from the CMA website: www.cma.ca/index.cfm/ci_id/1368/la_id/1.htm (through selecting “About CMA,” and “Awards from CMA”). Alternatively, contact the Canadian Medical Association, Committee on Archives, c/o Ms Kathy Hannam, Corporate Affairs Directorate, 1867 Alta Vista Drive, Ottawa, ON K1G 3Y6, 1 800 663-7336 extension 2280 to obtain a nomination form. Nominations must be sent to the CMA by 30 November 2005 along with a letter of nomination and the individual’s curriculum vitae.

F.N.G. Starr Award. Awarded to a CMA member who has achieved distinction in one of the following ways: an outstanding contribution to science, the fine arts, or literature (non-medical); serving humanity under conditions calling for courage or the endurance of hardship in the promotion of health or the saving of life; or advancing the humanitarian or cultural life of his or her community or in improving medical service in Canada.

CMA Medal of Service. Presented to a CMA member for excellence in at least two of the following areas: service to the profession in the field of medical organization; service to the people of Canada in raising the standards of medical practice in Canada; personal contributions to the advancement of the art and science of medicine.

CMA Medal of Honour. Bestowed upon an individual who is not a member of the medical profession who has achieved excellence in one of the following areas: personal contributions to the advancement of medical research, medical education, health care organization or health education of the public; service to the people of Canada in raising the standards of health care delivery in Canada; service to the profession in the field of medical organization.

Sir Charles Tupper Award for Political Action. Awarded to a member of the CMA’s MD-MP Contact Program who has demonstrated exemplary leadership, commitment, and dedication to the cause of advancing the policies, views, and goals of the CMA at the federal level through grassroots advocacy efforts.

May Cohen Award for Women Mentors. Submitted by the mentee and presented to a woman physician who has demonstrated outstanding mentoring abilities.

CMA Award for Excellence in Health Promotion. Awarded for individual efforts or a non-health sector organization to promote the health of Canadians at the national level or with a national positive impact.

CMA Award for Young Leaders. The CMA will present the Award for Young Leaders to one student, one resident, and one early career physician (5 years post-residency) member who has demonstrated exemplary dedication, commitment, and leadership in one of the following domains: political, clinical, education, research, or community service.

Award-winning docs

Dr Rod Andrew, 
CPSBC Award of Excellence
Dr Andrew is recognized for his compassionate care as a family physician and for his significant contributions at several levels of medical education. He was an energetic and respected teacher of residents. He developed and was the director of the community model of a family practice residency program used at St. Paul’s Hospital. His practical and timely faculty development program was graciously and generously shared with other teaching sites across the province. He became an early advocate and expert in the re-training of international medical graduates. He is currently the director of the successful program for IMGs that he developed at St. Paul’s Hospital.

Dr Andrew Sear, 
CPSBC Award of Excellence
In 1980, when I was looking for a place to work and settle in northern BC, I kept hearing about a young GP in Quesnel who did everything well. It was high praise and my first knowledge of Dr Andrew Sear, than, as now, exemplifying the best of rural medicine.

Dr Sear settled in Quesnel in 1974 and has lived and worked there ever since. He is a doctor’s doctor. He personifies full service medicine, giving leadership across the clinical spectrum. He is also an instructor and runs obstetrical rounds in Quesnel. He is the perennial anchor of anesthetic services in his community. When doing a better job of chronic disease management recently became a focus for community family medicine, Andrew was an early adopter and leader, especially in the Diabetes Collaborative.

His contribution goes well beyond clinical practice. In common with other rural communities, Quesnel has been highly dependent on a succession of doctors recruited from other countries. Andrew has regularly served as sponsor for most of the other members of his clinic. During periods of high attrition, when the five-doctor group might be as many as three short, Andrew has kept clinic staff employed by digging deeply into his own pocket.

Survival-through-perpetual-recruitment also means giving of oneself by extending warm hospitality to colleagues and their families. Andrew and his wife, Caryl, have been legendary in this respect.

Finally, Andrew has done our profession proud through his big-hearted participation in community events. Whether running a Teddy Bear Clinic at Billy Barker Days or playing Santa Claus at the hospital on Christmas Day, Dr Sear has been a larger-than-life presence in his adopted town for more than 30 years.

—Galt Wilson, MD
Prince George

Dr William Hunter, 
innovation award

Dr William Hunter recently won the Cecil Green Award for Technology Entrepreneurship given by the BC Innovation Council.

President and CEO of Angiotech Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Dr Hunter is leading the commercial success of a BC company whose innovative products are making a difference to patients worldwide. Since he co-founded Angiotech Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in 1992 as a medical student, Angiotech has become a global leader and pioneer in the emerging field of drug-coated medical devices and biomaterials.

The award recognizes an individual, small team, or company who has started or developed a technology-based company in British Columbia that has demonstrated the ability to make and sell nationally or internationally commercially viable, innovative, world-class products over a sustained period of time. The 2005 award winners were formally recognized at a gala awards dinner on 17 October 2005.

Farewell Dr Brodie

Dr Brian Brodie, chair of the Board, resigned from the BCMA at the end of September.

Dr Brodie stepped down from all his duties and positions both on the BCMA and CMA. He has worked most diligently and arduously on behalf of the association and the profession and has provided us with many years of excellence in his service on the Board and Executive. He always gives 100% of himself to his duties both to the association as well as his patients. He is now at the stage of his personal life that requires him to spend much more significant and quality time with his young family and his wife.

We all wish Dr Brodie and his family well, and thank him for the tremendous work he has done for the BCMA. We hope to welcome him back to the BCMA Board again in the future.

—Mark Schonfeld, MD
CEO, British Columbia Medical Association

 Changes to Professionally Inactive membership classification

Effective 1 January 2006 all members who qualify for the Professionally Inactive membership classification, other than those who currently enjoy complimentary dues status, will be charged a minimum level of membership dues. This means that starting in 2006 there will be no distinction between members in this classification based on years of membership.

What will this action mean to you?

1. If you already qualify as a Professionally Inactive member (retired from practice and earning less than $30000 annually) and are paying no dues, there will be no change in your status.

2. If you are currently a Professionally Inactive member with less than 26 years of membership, in 2006 your membership dues will be reduced from $141.24 to $53.50. Your CMA dues for 2006 will be $121.00, for total BCMA/CMA dues of $174.50.

3. Members awarded the BCMA Silver Medal of Service or CMA Honorary Member (formerly CMA Senior Member) status will continue to enjoy complimentary membership from both the BCMA and CMA.

Why was this action made?

A number of factors have driven this decision, which was not made without a great deal of thought and research. The BCMA has had the most liberal provisions for awarding complimentary membership of any of the provincial medical associations and, as a result, has by far the greatest number of members paying no dues. Many professional organizations have ceased offering (or have never provided) complimentary dues to senior members. However, the impetus for this change really started in 2005, when CMA ceased waiving dues for any members other than those in the Honorary Member category. All of the other provincial associations followed suit with the CMA’s action at that time. BCMA requested a 1-year moratorium to examine all of the alternatives and determine the best course of action. Given all of the foregoing factors and as BCMA has conjoint membership with CMA, the decision was made to charge a small amount of dues to all Professionally Inactive members.

For information regarding membership classifications, please contact

Juanne Cormack:
604 638-2806
e-mail jcormack@bcma.bc.ca

—Sandie Braid, CEBS
Assistant Director, BCMA Benefits