Memory

I heard yesterday that one of the doctors I worked with at CHEO (when I was so very young!!) has hung up his stethoscope after a long and illustrious career helping heal children of all ages and sizes.

Dr. Bowie was always a quiet authoritative presence  in the ED; filled with as much knowledge as one brain could hold. He wore a gleaming white creases intact lab coat, no matter what time of day or night. I never saw him lose his ‘cool’, always admired his professionalism and of course, was in awe of his skill as a physician.

One memory I do have of the ‘other side’ was his great sense of humour. We didn’t see it all that often but when we did it was usually totally unexpected. I remember getting a particularly hard time during a trauma protocol development initiative….placing cut out feet on the floor in Resus to indicate where each team member should stand…”Is this my set of feet?” Is this?”These look a bit small for me”…etc. as he hopped around the stretcher!

The ED at CHEO is losing an original. I haven’t worked there for 20+ yrs but I imagine that Dr. Bowie has continued to be a force to be admired by all that have stood beside him and worked with him while caring for our most vulnerable and challenging population.

Enjoy your retirement!