September

The stars have aligned for Dr Charles Webb, a Vancouver-based family physician with a focus on geriatric general practice. A last-minute decision to pursue medicine led Dr Webb from South Africa to northern Manitoba and southeastern BC before he arrived in Vancouver, where after 2 decades of satisfying work running his practice he’s also in a role that fulfills everything else he’s wanted in a medical career. BCMJ Assistant Editor Joanne Jablkowski spoke with Dr Webb 1 month into his presidency about his background, life experiences, and goals.

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“You will go into the wrong room,” my colleague stated. “No, I will not.”

“Yes you will.”

“Will not!”

“Will too!”

“Will not,” feeling a little like a third grader, I hesitated.

“Your exam rooms were across the hall from one another in the old office and now they are side by side,” my colleague explained. “Trust me, when the doors are closed you won’t remember which one you were in and you will go into the wrong one.”

Dr Margaret Colbourne

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I would guess that most of us who practise medicine feel as though we are pretty independent, self-motivated, and self-reliant. We work hard, we have made sacrifices to get here, and we feel pride in our autonomy. I have written before about the essential partners I think we need to make our professional and personal lives work, but surrounding us and providing the keystones in our professional foundation is our greater collegial community. This is easy to overlook until you are specifically reminded of it.

We often hear about lifestyle being related to risk factors for chronic diseases. Recent self-reported data released from Statistics Canada on the Canadian Community Health Survey reveal the following trends.

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