Department of Family Medicine celebrates its beginnings

[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/fam_med_photo.jpg” caption=”Department of Family Medicine, McMaster University, Faculty of Health Sciences, Fall 1976. Back row: Cliff Reid, Tony Dixon, Ross Parker, Niven Thompson, Vince Rudnick, Ted Evans, John Hay; Middle row: Ray Gilbert, John Feightner, Jackie Wakefield, Carl Moore, Doug Wilson, John Shearman, John Premi; Front row: Ron McAuley, Ivan Bracalenti, Bill Seidelman, Dick Barry, Jack Marlow, Sam Costley; Absent: May Cohen, Gerry Cohen, Neil Grant.”]McMaster's Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine has a long tradition of providing a higher proportion of family doctors than other Canadian medical schools.

Now a short film on the history of family medicine at McMaster and in Hamilton has been produced by the Department of Family Medicine. Called, “Celebrating Our History”, it's part of a project to capture and preserve the department's history, which will include permanent displays and an online volume.

The film will take place today (Wednesday, Nov. 3) from 6 – 7:30 p.m. (The film will begin at 6:30 p.m.) in Rm. 3020, Michael DeGroote Centre for Learning and Discovery, McMaster University.

The documentary features many of the department's faculty and professors emeritus, including Carl Moore and his wife Dorothy, Ron McAuley and his wife Joan, Gerry and May Cohen, Linda Comley, John Premi, Jacqui Wakefield, and Doug Wilson. They talk about the early years and the challenges associated with the radically different McMaster model of teaching with self-directed small groups, the development of teaching units, and innovative approaches to faculty development, leadership, and research.

In 1967, the Department of Family Medicine was created at McMaster University. The McMaster Family Practice Unit at Henderson Hospital, one of four teaching sites, opened with its first residents. However, by 2002, all teaching units had relocated to community sites.

“We are what we are because of our beginnings, and we want to celebrate that,” said Cheryl Levitt, chair of the department. “To quote a famous Canadian physician Sir William Osler, '…[it] is good to hark back to the olden days and gratefully to recall the men [and women] whose labours in the past have made the present possible.'”

She said that in planning where we are going, it is important to understand where we have come from. “We were fortunate to have this opportunity to capture the experiences of many of the physicians, nurse practitioners, researchers, department chairs, and staff from the early years of the Department of Family Medicine. We are grateful for their time, stories, photos and memories.”

Collaborators on the project include Levitt, Jessa Chupik and Tina Karwalajtys. For more information, contact Tina Karwalajtys, 905-521-2100 ext.76189, karwalt@mcmaster.ca.