JUST FOR C
A
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D
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APRIL 2008
DOCTORS
life + leisure
sample
Spain
taste sherry+
tapas in Jerez
pedal the
Maritimes
tour the gentle
coast on bike
+
stopover in
Stockholm
the spring ﬂavour
of asparagus
Jaguar revived?
blooming
celebrations
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JUST FOR C
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DOCTORS
CONTENTS
APRIL 2008
life + leisure
APRIL 2008
Editor and Art Director Barb Sligl
Editorial Assistant Adam Flint
Contributors Dr. Dara Behroozi
Lin Beardsley
Dr. Mel Borins
Dr. Susan Biali
Dr. Holly Fong
Dr. Marlene Hunter
Lauren Kramer
Dr. Chris Pengilly
Dr. Neil Pollock
Manfred Purtzki
Dr. Kelly Silverthorn
Cherie Thiessen
Corey Van’t Haaff
Cover photo Dr. Susan Biali
Advertising Sales Manager Ruth Findlay
Senior Account Executive Monique Mori
Account Executives Trisha Chu
Chandra Meyer
Classified Sales Ninh Hoang
Sales Office Advertising In Print
710 – 938 Howe St.
Vancouver, BC V6Z 1N9
Canada
Phone: 604-681-1811
Fax: 604-681-0456
Email:
[email protected]
Associate Publisher Linh T. Huynh
Production Manager Judy Huynh
Circulation Fulfillment Kim Lam
Research & Sales
Development Adam Flint
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: CTC; DR. SUSAN BIALI (2)
Founding Publisher Denise Heaton
Just For Canadian Doctors is published 8 times
a year by In Print Publications and distributed
to Canadian physicians. Publication of
advertisements and any opinions expressed
do not constitute endorsement or assumption
of liability for any claims made. The contents
of this magazine are protected by copyright.
None of the contents of the magazine may be
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In Print Publications
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16 12
FEATURES
12 sip + savour in Spain
Tour Jerez in Andalusia with Dr. Susan Biali,
sampling Tio Pepe, tapas and ﬂamenco along the way
16 pedal the East Coast
Tour the seaside roads of the Maritimes on two wheels
COLUMNS
DEPARTMENTS
8 doctor on a soapbox
5 April mix
Death is not a disease
9 aqueous humour
It usually comes down to fate
10 the wine doctor
Inspired storage
11 the food doctor
Spring supper in a snap
27 tech works
Fluff medicine?
where/when/what: places to go,
things to do, and lots to see
21 CME calendar
29 classiﬁeds
34 MOA’s corner
37 sudoku
38 small talk
with Dr. Chloe Joynt
28 the wealthy doctor
Trim your tax bill
33 travelling doctor
Unleash your artist
35 tales from the trenches
Spring—and love—is in the air
36 motoring
COVER PHOTO:
Dr. Susan Biali
travels to Jerez,
Spain, to sip
the sherry,
taste the tapas,
and dance the
ﬂamenco.
What’s up with the Jaguar brand
www.justforcanadiandoctors.com
Printed in Canada.
April 2008 JUST FOR CANADIAN DOCTORS
3
FROM THE EDITOR
spring
into action
The bike is a vacationer’s best accessory.
There’s no better way to leisurely explore a
new place than by coasting along back roads
through farmers’ ﬁelds and so-quaint-they’recliché villages. Or even just pedalling to the
local beach; it’s faster than walking yet slow
enough to literally smell the ﬂowers.
Of course, it helps if the locale you’re
cycling in is conducive to travelling on two
wheels (easy grade, spectacular scenery, cosy
villages and accommodations, fabulous fare).
One such idyllic cycling region is the Loire
Valley in France, where last summer I cycled
from castle to castle (like the Château de
Chambord, below) and gorged on galettes
and crêpes (French cuisine deserves all the
kudos it gets). But for a can’t-miss bike tour
destination that’s closer to home go to the
Maritimes, and especially Prince Edward
Island (see page 16). The “gentle” isle seems
made for cycling. In fact, the East Coast is
riddled with great bike routes: Nova Scotia’s
Lighthouse Trail, Newfoundland’s Viking Trail,
and Québec’s Eastern Townships.
If you prefer a different kind of tour—on
foot and all about the food and drink—follow Dr. Susan Biali’s tapas-and-sherry route
in Jerez, Spain (see page 12). More fabulous
ﬂavours and ambience to taste, imbibe and
soak up…
Or escape to Hollyhock Island on the
West Coast for spring rejuvenation (page 7).
Take classes on wellness from big names like
Dr. Andrew Weil and Eckhart Tolle (Oprah’s a
devotee), or go for the yoga, salty sea breezes, spa cuisine and therapy…Ahhh, bliss!
For simple-yet-colourful spring celebrating, there are cheery cherry blossoms popping up across the globe. Follow the pink at
festivals in Vancouver, Washington DC, and
Osaka, Japan (pages 5 and 6).
The ﬂowering buds (and warmer
weather!) are reason enough to get outside.
And if you’ve got stories
about tackling the great
outdoors (or any sports
challenge), please let
us know. We’d love to
feature your off-call
adventures.
Barb Sligl, BA, MPub
feedback@InPrint
Publications.com
4
JUST FOR CANADIAN DOCTORS April 2008
what/when/where > april
books | food | shows | gadgets | places | getaways | gear…
mix
©OSAKA CONVENTION & TOURISM BUREAU/©JNTO
BLOOMIN’
BEAUTIFUL
P
ink cherry blossoms are the ﬁrst bursts of colour
after winter’s monotony, a spring awakening
that’s celebrated wherever there’s a profusion of
ﬂowering trees—cherry, plum, apricot, apple. (See more
cherry blossom festivals on page 6.)
In Japan, cherry blossoms are especially revered; the
cherry blossom, sakura, is the national ﬂower of Japan,
and blossom viewing has been a custom since the 7th
century. In the traditional custom of hanami, people hold
sake-drinking parties beneath trees in full bloom.
Cherry trees are everywhere in Japan—at
any historical site, castle, park, shrine, temple, and
schoolyard. One popular urban hanami spot is Osaka
Castle. Hanami crowds gather under the blooms in the
Cherry Blossom Passageway on the
grounds of the famous ﬁve-layer
fest
donjon. Osaka Castle’s sprawling
60,000-square-metre grounds are ﬁlled
with blossom admirers, food vendors
and taiko drummers—all celebrating the pink blossoms.
Japan National Tourist Organization; jnto.go.jp
April 2008 JUST FOR CANADIAN DOCTORS
5
april
art
a bit of the Louvre close to home
Can’t make it to Paris this spring? Go to Seattle instead…
The Seattle Art Museum (SAM)
will be the only West Coast venue
for Roman Art from the Louvre, an
exhibition of masterworks from the
famed collection of the Musée de
Louvre in Paris, France. Showcasing
approximately 180 prime examples
of Roman art drawn from the
Louvre’s unsurpassed collection,
the exhibition brings to life ancient
Roman society from the ﬁrst
century BCE to the fourth century
CE. Visitors will meet emperors
and members of the imperial
court, elite and ordinary citizens,
women and children, soldiers,
gladiators, foreigners and slaves.
The masterworks include mosaics,
frescoes, terracotta statuettes,
monumental sculptures and marble
reliefs. The exhibit will be at SAM
until May 11. For more information
go to seattleartmuseum.org.
1
2
gear
—Lauren Kramer
> 1 Mosaic Panel, late 2nd century a.d.
• © AFA / Musée du Louvre / Anne Chauvet;
Courtesy of the American Federation of Arts
> 2 Cameo with Jupiter, Imperial Roman
Era • © AFA/ Musée du Louvre / Daniel Lebée
and Carine Deambrosis; Courtesy of the American
Federation of Arts
fest
2 more spots for pink BLOOMS
> 1 VANCOUVER CHERRY BLOSSOM FESTIVAL, VANCOUVER, BC
Each spring over 36,000 ornamental ﬂowering cherry trees bloom in Vancouver,
like these trees in VanDusen Garden. Local “Cherry Scouts” monitor the spectacular displays for a
Cherry Blossom Viewing Map. Navigate the pink! From March 25 – April 20. vancouvercherryblos
somfestival.com > 2 CHERRY BLOSSOM FESTIVAL, WASHINGTON, DC A rite of spring
in the US capital, when 3,000 cherry trees, a gift from Japan in 1912, surrounding the Jefferson
Memorial on the Tidal Basin, blossom in a sea of pink and white. The 2008 festival is set for March
29 – April 13. nationalcherryblossomfestival.org
1
2
6
JUST FOR CANADIAN DOCTORS April 2008
fold it, pack it, ride it
the bike for bike touring
You’ve heading to the Loire Valley in France—and hear
that it’s a dream to cycle from château to château along the
easy-going river bank. Or maybe you’re off to PEI (see page
16). If it wasn’t such a hassle, you’d bring your bike. But
what if your bike was built to be the ideal travel accessory?
The Brompton is a full-sized bike made in West
London, UK, (available in Canada) that folds easily into a
compact, portable package. Brilliant!
Practicality meets sleek engineering in every detail—
from the hinges and frame to the ﬁnish and luggage system
(yes, living out of panniers is possible…and comfortable!)
Everything on a Brompton is designed to make it easy to
fold (the process takes under 30 seconds), handy to carry
and—most of all—fun to ride…so you can take a seat
and coast the open road pretty much anywhere, whether
that’s in the neighbourhood or across the globe.
For bike touring, the P Type Key Model (shown here)
has all the necessary features for leisurely long stretches of
riding: six well-spaced gears, multi-positional handlebars,
rear rack and lighting.
So on your next getaway, take your bike with you and
promote pedal power. You’re in charge of your journey. Go
to brompton.co.uk to ﬁnd a Canadian dealer near you.
— B.S.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP RIGHT: COURTESY BROMPTON; COURTESY NATIONAL CHERRY BLOSSOM FESTIVAL; VANDUSEN GARDENS
mix
spring escape
retreat Nourishment for the
body, mind, and soul
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: TOURISM BRITISH COLUMBIA/GREG OSOBA; COURTESY HOLLYHOCK (3)
Hollyhock holiday on Cortes Island in BC
Wedged between the British Columbia mainland and Vancouver Island,
just where the famed Desolation Sound beckons, are the Discovery
Islands. One of them is Cortes. Of course getting there is half the
fun, especially if Hollyhock is your destination. From the Vancouver
mainland it will take you three ferries, but whether you choose to ﬂy or
drive, the scenery en route will nourish your senses in itself.
This 25-year-old internationally known educational retreat centre
offers an extensive range of sessions—110 in 2007 alone. While
75% of its guests come for the courses, the remainder simply arrive
to revitalize themselves: to swim in the ocean, to try a little morning
yoga or a sunrise row, to attend the frequent presenter’s evenings, and
to enjoy the delectable vegetarian fare harvested from Hollyhock’s
gardens, often supplemented with fresh seafood. If this is beginning
to sound just too healthy, guests are invited to bring their own wine to
dinner—and do.
The workshops range from singing to the spiritual, from the arts
to animal communication—an extensive diversity. Many, such as Dr.
Andrew Weil’s courses on Integrated Medicine and Healthy Aging,
ﬁll to capacity. Dr. Weil (below), who is director of the Program of
Integrated Medicine at the University of Arizona, has published 10
books and emphasizes the therapeutic relationship, encompassing
both conventional and alternative therapies. His sessions, which
are attended by physicians, nurse practitioners, nutritionists and
therapists, as well as the general public, teach integrative strategies
which promote healthy aging. (You can read much more about Dr. Weil
and his Hollyhock connection at drweil.com).
Other physicians hold their own in sessions like Dr. Gabor Maté’s
When the Body Says No: Mind-Body Health. A doctor who works
with drug and alcohol addicts in
Vancouver’s infamous Downtown
Eastside, Dr. Maté has teamed
up with Yona Bar-Server to give
a ﬁve-day workshop combining
his insights with Bar-Server’s
experiential body-and-breath
techniques. The night we were
there his presentation was on
addiction.
Environmentally sensitive,
well before “carbon footprint” had
entered the language, this beautiful
and dedicated centre has as its
mission…to inspire, nourish and
support people who are making the
world better. Sounds like physicians
to me.
More information on courses, how to get there, Cortes Island, and the resort
can be found at hollyhock.ca. —Cherie Thiessen
april
mix
D O C T O R O N A S O A P B O X D R . C H R I S P E N G I L LY
Death is not a disease
Physicians are the best qualiﬁed to make life-support decisions
A
recent story from Manitoba raises so
many sundry subjects that I could
write a book rather than an essay.
The story to which I refer is concerning
Samuel Golubchuk, aged 84, who was
admitted to the Grace Hospital in Winnipeg
with cardiac problems and pneumonia. He
had preceding head injuries from a fall. He
was put on life support until all therapeutic
interventions were exhausted. His attending
physicians then felt that he had no chance
of recovery to any degree of quality of life;
they decided to discontinue the patient’s
ventilation support—freeing up an intensive
care unit bed for a potentially salvageable
patient.
This case is still very alive. The physicians
are frustrated in their attempts to follow
8
JUST FOR CANADIAN DOCTORS April 2008
the new Manitoba College of Physicians
and Surgeons’ guidelines on terminating
life support. The family’s position is that
it is against their Orthodox Jewish faith
and doctrine to do anything that would
our decisions have to be second-guessed by
lawyers and judges. We physicians are the
ones with the depth of medical knowledge.
The policy was decided by a College of
qualiﬁed and experienced physicians with,
Somehow we physicians are going to
have to stand up and be counted, to
re-establish respect from the public
expedite the patient’s death.
I argue that in this case, switching off
life support for this man would not be
expediting his death as much as stopping
the delay of his death. Without life support
he would very probably have died naturally
and peacefully some time ago.
This medical decision was then usurped
by the courts. A temporary restraining order
on the physicians was ordered until the case
came to a full judicial hearing. The family
states that at whichever level they lose the
case they will appeal to a higher court until
it reaches the Supreme Court of Canada.
In the same week as this story ﬁrst
ran, Québec and British Columbia tabled
bold steps to try to continue to sustain
the exponential cost of Medicare. To some
extent I have sympathy for the provincial
politicians, when an ever-greater proportion
of their budget is consumed by the medical
portfolio while their hands are tied by the
Canada Health Act.
My next premise is that the Medicare
system cannot afford to fund an intensive
care unit bed in a futile case. I will be
accused of putting a dollar value on a
human life. I am not. If there is a reasonable
chance—even a slim chance—of recovery
to a useful form of life, money should not
be a consideration. Thank God for Medicare
for this. But when reasonable recovery is not
remotely likely, I do not advocate euthanasia
(this is another entire subject for another
entire essay) but I do feel that a natural
death should not be frustrated.
Another consideration is how physicians
have lost so much respect in society that
no doubt, input from lay members. Yet it is
delegated to the legal profession to make
these decisions.
Mr. Golubchuk’s family are treating the
legal decisions like the driving test. Keep
taking it until you pass. Why bother to
have a Provincial Court decide the case if
both sides are going to appeal whatever
decision is made? The zigzag from Provincial
Court to appeals court, to High Court and
eventually to the Supreme Court is a futile
extravagance.
We are in the new millennium and times
are changing. New and exciting diagnostic
and therapeutic measures are available—
things that could not have even been
imagined a few years ago. The problem is
that these new measures “save patients’
lives”—this means that patients do not die;
they survive to require ongoing supportive
and often very expensive care. My bone
marrow, stem cell and kidney transplant
patients are examples of this.
In order to be able to continue these
advances in medicine, tough decisions are
going to have to be made. Somehow we
physicians are going to have to stand up
and be counted, to re-establish respect from
the public, because we are the ones best
qualiﬁed to make these decisions. Decisions
that will stand and not be undermined
by small interest groups and the judiciary
system.
How do we do that?
Read my next column.
Dr. Chris Pengilly is Just For Canadian Doctors’
current affairs columnist. Please send him your
comments at [email protected].
AQUEOUS HUMOUR DR. DARA BEHROOZI
Cause & effect
Our paths are staked by fate and lots of lady luck
O
depends as much on luck as anything else.
As humans we like to think cause and
effect works in everything—even in the
outcome of our own lives. Be good, behave
yourself, look after your body and good
and active, still heli-skiing or surﬁng—
ne of the interesting beneﬁts of
though they have mostly given up on the
having spent my younger days
frigid waters of the Paciﬁc in winter and
working in a host of small towns
head down to the warmer Costa Rican
before ending up in the big smoke, is that
waters, where I suspect they spend most
there are quite a few groups of doctors
who I have come to know quite well but
now see very infrequently. I see the odd
one at a meeting or conference and quickly
set about exchanging news and gossip. It’s
certainly a bittersweet experience.
On the one hand, it’s very nice, at the
of their time sipping margaritas with the
age of 45, with grey hair and wrinkles, to
surfboard sitting idly beside them.
meet doctors who still regard you as their
However there are always less fortunate
“junior colleague.” I met them ﬁrst when
ones. Those who are struggling with major
I was in my late 20s or early 30s and they
health problems, ﬁnancial disasters or
were my current age. I’m following behind
ntigua_CdnDoctors_
pr08.qxd 3/25/08
5:47
PM marriages.
Page 1 One could just as
multiple
failed
them
so to speak.
easily head down their path too. Which path
It’s good to see many of them vigorous
We want to believe that there is an
inherent fairness in the universe
things will happen to you. We want to
believe that there is an inherent fairness in
the universe.
However that isn’t necessarily true.
Sure, if you don’t smoke, you are less likely
to get lung cancer, if you are nice to your
spouse and
CONTINUED ON PAGE 34
Swaying Palms,
Invigorating Adventures
and Heartwarming Smiles
Blend lazy relaxation with
island excitement
Here in Antigua and Barbuda,
we’re famous for hundreds
of pink and white silky sand
beaches. Find your own private
cove for two or a lively spot for
family fun. But our islands offer
more than just sand and surf!
Explore bustling city streets
filled with welcoming faces.
Enjoy galleries and museums,
exotic dining, sporting activities
and bird watching. Relax in
your favourite style of
accommodation – whether a
quaint B&B, boutique hotel,
all-inclusive resort or luxury
villa. A customized vacation
experience awaits you – just a
4 1/2-hour non-stop flight from
Toronto.
For insider info on island
highlights and things to do,
simply contact us:
Antigua and Barbuda
Tourism Office
60 St. Clair Avenue East,
Suite 601,Toronto, Ontario
M4T 1N5
416-961-3085
[email protected]
www.antigua-barbuda.ca
April 2008 JUST FOR CANADIAN DOCTORS
9
THE WINE DOCTOR DR. NEIL POLLOCK
Inspired storage
F
or some, the wine cellar is a practical
nook with shelving to get the bottles
up off the basement ﬂoor. For others,
it’s a serious 10-year commitment to aging
and perfecting wine in extreme isolation.
And still to others, it’s a vineyard hideaway
burrowed away in your home draped in
deep, rich millwork and stone—a perfect
place in which to sample your project
Cabernets or share a Merlot and a cigar with
good friend.
The wine cellar may never replace the
kitchen as the social hub of the home, but
cellars that people create, especially when
I return to see them, is that wine cellars are
like photo albums and a way of collecting
memories of where we’ve been. We’ll travel
to Italy and we’ll bring a bottle or two back
and collect it, and the memories are stored
in our cellar, like with pictures in the pages
of a photo album. When you walk into a
wine cellar it’s like a journal. It’s a story.”
And more than that, for the wine
aﬁcionado, proper storage for wine is about
respect. “I think what’s also meaningful
about the wine cellar is that, if it’s done
Sleeping Grape Wine Cellars’ handiwork is seen in
Dr. Neil Pollock’s new vineyard hideaway at home (right).
it’s fast becoming the most talked about
room in the house.
A few years ago Graham Schulz realized
a niche market for building beautifully
crafted wine cellars. A carpenter for more
than 20 years, he took his expertise and
developed Sleeping Grape Wine Cellars,
a company that is now in high demand.
Schulz sat down with me and spoke about
his wine cellars, his love for carpentry and
the reason why Sleeping Grape Wine Cellars
is now a premium wine-cellar builder.
“What I think is great about wine
collection is that it creates community,” says
Schulz. “You don’t really collect wine by
yourself, you collect wine with your friends
and it becomes a community activity. One
thing that is interesting about the wine
10
right, it’s a way to honour the winemaker,”
says Schulz. Sometimes at a restaurant
your favourite wine is served too warm and
you ﬁnd yourself saying, as Schulz puts it:
“‘You know what, this wine is better than
this. You can’t do this to this wine,’ and you
send it back.” Serving and storing wine duly
honours its winemaker. A great deal of love
and effort goes into winemaking. When we
drink it we should be mindful of that.
With wine’s ever-growing popularity,
wine cellars are becoming a hot commodity.
They’re the new social hub of the home;
people are utilizing them. Clients ask Schulz
if there’s anyway they can squeeze some
chairs into the space. They tell him they
want to enjoy camaraderie in their wine
cellar. “It’s a very social room,” says Schulz.
JUST FOR CANADIAN DOCTORS April 2008
And when the ﬁnal product is revealed
it’s the customer’s expression that gives
Schulz the most reward; “We’ve all seen
beautiful kitchens; every house has a
kitchen. One thing we don’t all have is a
wine cellar. The wine cellar, as a room in
the house that has a 1,000 bottles, has
an atmosphere and space that we aren’t
used to. When you open the door to the
basement and there’s this wine cellar, with
millwork ﬂoor to ceiling that just sparkles
with the lighting, it always exceeds what
people are expecting and it’s great.”
I asked Graham what should be
considered when building a wine cellar.
Temperature, humidity, light and vibration
were the most important things on his list.
vibration “Not an issue we have to
contend with often, but don’t put your wine
cellar underneath a set of stairs where there
would be bumping and banging. There
might be movement of your wine.” Wine
needs to be kept still, lying on its side to
keep the cork wet.
temperature “Wine is alive, it’s growing
and it grows at a pace. If you overheat the
room or overcool the room you affect that
natural growth rate,” says Schulz. So, if you
put your wine in a hot room you’ll speed the
growth process, just like if it’s too cool you’ll
retard the growth. The perfect temperature
for a wine cellar is 13 – 15 degrees Celsius
(55 – 58 degrees Fahrenheit), give or take
a degree or two (people’s stringency on
this differs). If your wine is between 10 – 18
degrees Celsius (50 – 65 degrees Fahrenheit)
it should be ﬁne. But avoid frequent drastic
changes from hot to cold: “The number-one
killer of wine is a dramatic shift of climate,”
says Schulz.
humidity “I think there is a
misconception about wine cellars being
damp, wet rooms—they’re really not,” says
Schulz. “In fact, too much moisture is going
to hurt your wine and it’s going to create
mould.” The condition of the cork is an
important gauge; if the room is too dry the
cork can shrink and air gets in the bottle.
And geographic climate is a consideration;
in the Northwest you don’t have to
compensate for humidity, but in the east or
COURTESY SLEEPING GRAPE WINE CELLARS
Create a vineyard hideaway in your home
T H E F O O D D O C T O R D R . H O L LY F O N G
south extreme dry or humid conditions will
require adjustments.
light “Light has a negative effect on
wine. You want it to be a dark place,” says
Schulz. Smell is another consideration;
“You don’t want your wine sitting next to
a bunch of paints or hockey gear.” Try and
keep it neutral says Schulz: “Some people
build wine cellars out of cedar and certain
types of cedar over time will have an awful
aroma.”
And, with wine being continually
bought and collected, a wine cellar will
grow over the years. Schulz explains the
basic rule of thumb to building a wine
cellar: “Keep an inventory and always build
for double of what you currently have.”
Sometimes people build a wine cellar and
“ﬁll it to the brim.” But, once you have
a place to collect your wine and the
wine cellar becomes a favourite
room in the house, you’ll
soon start looking
around for more
wine. “When you
buy a stamp book
you’re going to
start looking for
stamps more than
before you had a
stamp book,” says
Schulz. “So anticipate
growth.”
With Schulz’s
knowledge
and excellent
craftsmanship it’s
no wonder that
Sleeping Grape Wine
Cellars has reached
its in-demand status.
The wait for one of
these custom-built
wine cellars now
exceeds six months.
Although quick to
note he’s not a wine
connoisseur, Schulz’s
respect for the winemaker
shows in every wine cellar he
builds with absolute perfection and
elegance. He just ﬁnished mine.
ISTOCK
For more information on Sleeping Grape Custom Wine
Cellars, go to sleepinggrape.com or call 604-790-6667.
Send your questions and feedback to
[email protected] and visit his
website on everything to do with wine at
vinovancouver.com. Dr. Neil Pollock is a
member of the Wine Writers’ Circle of Canada.
He limits his practice to no-scalpel, no-needle
vasectomy and infant circumcision.
Spring supper
in a snap
Raise a glass to fresh seasonal produce
S
eeing the bright yellow and purple
crocuses on awakening lawns always
lifts my spirit as we shrug off the
shroud of winter.
With the warm spring sun comes the
ﬁrst robins and the desire to shake off the
heavier hearty foods that sustained me
over the cold months. So when I was in
the grocery store recently to pick up
something for dinner, I noticed asparagus
was on sale.
This led me to think
about how traditionally
spring meant the return of
fresh asparagus
and peas. These
days, with NAFTA,
asparagus and sugar
snap peas
seem to
be available almost
all year. However
they are not quite as
sweet as those from the
farmers’ markets.
Tasting the inherent
sweetness of newly picked asparagus and peas that are simply
steamed with a pat of good butter
and some lemon juice brings the
same pleasure as eating a vine-ripened garden tomato. Their sweetness
can also be enhanced with something
salty, making a delicious pairing with
crispy bits of pancetta or bacon.
One of my favourite spring dishes
is a creamy pasta dish with crunchy bits
of pancetta and vibrant green slivers of
asparagus or tender fresh peas. Because
it’s a snap to prepare, you can spend more
time outdoors in the warm sun. Enjoy it with
a good crisp Sauvignon Blanc such as the
Allan Scott from the Marlborough region in
New Zealand or a more ﬂoral Marsanne by
the Australian producer Tahbilk. Whatever
you choose, raise a glass to spring and the
small farmers for whom everything still has
a season.
spaghetti with pancetta & asparagus
(serves 4)
250g pancetta, diced into 1/2-inch pieces
500g asparagus, woody ends trimmed
2 shallots, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons salt
225g spaghetti
1/3 cup whipping cream
2 lemons’ zest
1/2 a lemon’s juice
2 tablespoons Italian or ﬂat-leaf parsley,
chopped
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
pepper, freshly ground
Slice asparagus on the diagonal into pieces that are
approximately 1 – 1 1/2 inches long and 1/4-inch
thick.
Fill a large 6-quart pot three quarters full of
water. Add 2 tablespoons salt and bring to a boil.
Cook the spaghetti in the boiling water, stirring
occasionally until al dente. Ladle out a cup of pasta
water. Drain pasta in a colander.
In a large heavy skillet, heat the olive oil over
medium-high heat until hot and shimmering but
not smoking. Cook pancetta, stirring until brown
and edges are crisp, about 7 – 10 minutes. Stir
in shallots and cook about 1 minute. Add the
asparagus slices and cook until just tender, about 2
minutes. Pour mixture into a large serving bowl.
In the same skillet, simmer the cream over
medium heat until slightly reduced, about 1 minute.
Add the lemon juice and simmer another minute.
Add the lemon zest and the parsley to the cream
mixture. Add the drained spaghetti and cheese. Toss
to coat. Add 1/4 cup or enough pasta cooking liquid
to moisten. Add the pancetta and asparagus mixture,
combining well. Season to taste with pepper.
Variations: Substitute the asparagus with 1 cup
of fresh shelled peas.
Dr. Holly Fong is a practicing speech-language
pathologist with three young children who is
always trying, adapting and creating dishes at
home.
April 2008 JUST FOR CANADIAN DOCTORS
11
travel the world
I
I tingle with gleeful anticipation as Daniel
Sanchez Rodriguez bustl busily behind the
tall counter. My lan is working!
OPPOSITE PAGE FROM TOP Dr. Susan Biali in
position for a ﬂamenco class at the bodega of
Gonzalez Byass, makers of Tio Pepe sherry.
> A restaurant front in Jerez. THIS PAGE FROM TOP
References to sherry are found everywhere in
Jerez, like this decorative mosaic of dancers. >
Orange-tree-lined street in Jerez.
Whenever I travel somewhere new and exotic, I take lots of photos and jot
down my impressions. I love travel, writing and photography so much that I once
considered becoming a full-time travel writer, but in the end I decided that there
were too many other things I wanted to do in life (like becoming a dancer!).
I’d mentioned to Sanchez Rodriguez, the self-proclaimed brazo derecho (right
arm) of the legendary El Gallo Azul tapas bar in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain, that
I was thinking of writing a travel article about the many delights of Jerez, and I
asked him if he could give me a mini-tutorial on the area’s legendary tapas scene.
His eyes sparkled in response—“Sit down, and we’ll get started!” he told me, after
which began the aforementioned bustling behind the bar.
El Gallo Azul is probably the most recognized landmark of Jerez. The tall,
round, brick building with bright yellow awnings sits right at the centre of this
small Andalusian city’s social and shopping district. Pedestrian-only streets
shoot off in two directions from the Gallo, ﬁlled with chic boutiques and rows
of umbrella-topped tables fronting the ubiquitous tapas bars, restaurants, ice
cream and pastry shops. I came to Jerez to study at its Festival Internacional de
Flamenco and soon discovered that, dancing aside, few experiences top the
sense of well-being one gets while sitting at an outdoor table on Calle Larga,
drinking crisp, cold sherry and enjoying a mouth-watering assortment of tapas
with the surprisingly warm rays of spring’s Andalusian sun baking a smile onto
your face.
Sanchez Rodriguez places a basket of breadsticks on the bar and then pauses
dramatically. “The ﬁrst tapa!” he announces with a ﬂourish. He artfully places a
Timbal de Huevo (“egg drum”) on the bar in front of me. In Granada, the famous
and inﬁnitely more tourist-oriented Andalusian city off to the east, the tapas
usually consist of sorry paella or gloriﬁed ham sandwiches. Looking at the timbal,
I see that I have arrived in the Paris of tapas. I’m almost afraid to touch it, much
less eat it.
“The timbal, our most famous, prize-winning tapa, consists of an egg delicately
stuffed with lobster, topped with an exquisite salmorejo sauce.” The walls behind
him, lined by rows of “Best Tapa” awards from a long list of Spanish tapa festivals,
conﬁrm his proud claim.
“We’ve been banned from that tapas festival since 2004,” he points, “because
we won the tapa category three years in a row.”
As I move to plunge my fork into the timbal, Sanchez Rodriguez throws
his palm forward. “You can’t taste it like that!” he exclaims. He whips out a tall
stemmed glass, places it on the counter, and ﬁlls it with light golden liquid. “La
Ina,” he pronounces, “Jerez’s best Fino Seco”. The world-famous sherry of Jerez.
Though I haven’t actually tasted anything yet, I’m so ﬁlled with glee that I’ve
totally forgotten I’m supposed to be at a ﬂamenco class in half an hour.
The timbal tasted even better than it looked, and I looked up from my plate
to see a vision arising before my eyes: Sanchez Rodriguez had been busy lining
up tapa after tapa on top of the bar’s glass case, each ﬂanked by its own tall
glass of golden sherry in varying tones. He described each plate: tuna cooked
in Amontillado sherry, topped with creamed potatoes and onions “burnt” with
vinegar de Jerez; monkﬁsh in pepper sauce; a tiny king prawn burger. Each with
its perfectly paired glass of sherry. Why wasn’t anyone else around to witness this
deﬁning moment in my life?
As I ate, drank, and tried not to faint with pleasure, Sanchez Rodriguez told
like Tio Pepe
and Tapas?
tour Andalusia’s
urban sherry route
story and photography by Dr. Susan Biali
travel the world
OPPOSITE PAGE FROM TOP The tapas and sherry
crowd outside the legendary El Gallo Azul tapas
bar. > The iconic El Gallo Azul building in the
heart of Jerez. > Tapas at Gonzalez Byass.
> Daniel Sanchez Rodriguez serves sherry
and tapas at El Gallo Azul. > Three-hundredyear-old sherry fermentation barrels. > Potted
geraniums on a Jerez windowsill. THIS PAGE
Tasting tapas at the bodega of Gonzalez Byass.
+
if you go
WHEN TO GO > Spring or early fall (Jerez gets cold
in the winter and unbearably hot in the summer). HOW
TO GET THERE > Jerez has its own airport with
connecting ﬂights from most major airports in Spain.
It’s also easily accessible by bus and train from Sevilla
(about one hour away). SPECIAL EVENTS >
Book your hotel well in advance (note: prices go way,
way up) Feria de Caballo – this horse fair in May is one of
Andalusia’s biggest festivals, an unforgettable experience
ﬁlled with music, dancing, food and spectacular horses.
> Festival de Flamenco February 24 – March 11 yearly,
possibly the best ﬂamenco festival in the world, offers dance
classes and shows from the world’s best. > Festival de
Otoño From mid-September to mid-October, it celebrates
the grape harvest (translation: lots of free sherry!)
DR. BIALI’S FAVOURITE HOTEL > Nuevo Hotel
Immaculate, inexpensive hotel in an old palace; walk to all
sights. nuevohotel.com NEARBY DAYTRIPS > Cadiz
The oldest town in Europe, right on the ocean and only
half an hour by bus. Check out the gorgeous seaside public
gardens; you can walk around the entire old town following
a spectacular seaside walkway. > Arcos de la Frontera
Stunning whitewashed hilltop town, the ﬁrst stop in the
famous Ruta de los Pueblos Blancos (“route of the white
villages”). Half an hour by bus from Jerez. > Sevilla Just
an hour away by bus or train, one of Spain’s most beautiful
cities and a must-see. MORE > For more information, go
to turismojerez.com or email [email protected].
14
JUST FOR CANADIAN DOCTORS April 2008
me about the history of the tapa.
“Our monarch, Felipe the second, invented tapas as something to eat before
lunch, always to be taken with a copa of sherry. We like to keep the prices low and
make them in small sizes so that people can try lots of different things.” In Jerez,
you could keep yourself stuffed all day and feel like you’ve barely spent a dime—
even at the famed Gallo Azul, their tapas average only 2 Euros (approximately 3
CAD).
Not everyone’s as generous and welcoming as Sanchez Rodriguez, though.
When dining in Spain, you need to specify clearly that you want a tapa, not a
full-size dish. I learned this the hard way, when I sat down at an outdoor table
and ordered a delightful-sounding stew of spinach and garbanzo beans. I was
served—and billed for—a massive plate with enough spinach to feed Popeye
for a year. The waiter shrugged and smiled innocently at my surprise. When I
happened to step inside the restaurant to ask for my bill, I saw the same dish
advertised as a cute little tapa—for 2 Euros rather than the 7 Euros I’d just been
charged.
Back in El Gallo Azul, I’m worried about my ability to get off my chair, much
less participate in an intense, two-hour ﬂamenco class. Sanchez Rodriguez wasn’t
concerned. “Take this instead and take a stroll around our beautiful city,” he urged
me, and put a map of Jerez’s “Sherry Wine and Brandy de Jerez Urban Route” into
my hand. Was he serious? I decided to drink a litre of water, go to my ﬂamenco
class, and to check the route out the following day.
Jerez, called Xerez by the Moors (the British “translated” the latter into the
word sherry), has been famous for its wines since the Phoenicians brought the
ﬁrst vines to the region in 1100 BCE. The sea breezes from the nearby Atlantic,
the sunny climate and the unique chalky white albariza soil combine to form the
area’s perfect grape-growing environment. Surprisingly, decidedly non-Spanish
names like Garvey (Irish), Domecq (French), and Sandeman (British) dominate the
great sherry houses of Jerez.
The next morning, armed with my map and a big bottle of water, I set out
along the “Urban Route.” I’ve travelled Europe all of my life, and I was surprised
to ﬁnd that this was one of the most delightful highlights I’ve experienced. I’d
heard about the dreaded “Gypsy neighbourhoods” of Jerez, packed with lightﬁngered pickpockets and even scarier sorts, so I’d avoided wandering around on
my own. The Sherry Route made me feel marvelously safe as I navigated the old
city’s labyrinthine high-walled streets. I walked up and down tiny curving lanes,
enjoying the beautiful palacios and geranium-ﬁlled balconies. Signs marked the
route along the way, making me feel like a little girl on a treasure hunt, looking
for the next clue. The signs also reassured me that I wasn’t lost and about to be
kidnapped by a band of gypsies, though I still managed to take a wrong turn now
and then. Small sunny orange-tree-ﬁlled squares appeared out of nowhere, like a
special treat, before the tiny winding streets swallowed me up again.
Jerez has a seemingly endless list of sherry bodegas, or wineries, to visit. I
signed up for the tour at Gonzalez Byass, makers of Tio Pepe, supposedly the most
famous sherry world-wide. My rather wobbly ﬂamenco class, the day before, had
actually been held in one of the bodega’s cavernous rooms. The tour was mildly
interesting, beginning with a ride through the beautiful gardens on a little trolley
packed with bussed-in British tourists. They showed us a movie about the history
of sherry and then toured us through cavernous warehouses piled with 300-yearold dusty, mouldy fermentation barrels. Of course, I was anxious for the highlight:
the sherry and tapas tasting at the end. El Gallo Azul it wasn’t, but it was fun to
try all the different sherries, combined with Tortilla Española (a classic egg and
potato dish), various cheeses, and small buns stuffed with serrano ham.
Writing this story makes me long to go back. By all means, if you go to Spain,
take time for the classics: Barcelona, Sevilla, and Granada. But if you can, make time
for a trip to Jerez. Catch a ﬂamenco show and stop in at El Gallo Azul. Sanchez
Rodriguez is probably still there—if you can’t pass yourself off as a travel writer,
tell him you know me and that I told you that you haven’t lived until you’ve tried
the Timbal.
travel the world
Biking the Confederation Trail through the village of Marie
The harbour of Victoria on the south shore of PEI
Covehead Lighthouse, one of PEI’s 50 or so lighthouses
Greenwich National Park, on PEI’s northeastern coast
16
JUST FOR CANADIAN DOCTORS April 2008
PEDAL
AWAY
PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND BY BIKE
TOURING ON TWO WHEELS MAY BE
THE MOST SATISFYING WAY TO EXPLORE
THE EAST COAST, AS ONE TORONTO
DOCTOR + CYCLIST REVEALS BY B. SLIGL
S
Cyclists pass a mural in Summerside in western PEI
THIS PAGE AND OPPOSITE: ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE CTC
Sand-dune beaches in Greenwich National Park
tart with a big breakfast. Hop on a bike and cruise through
gently sloping ﬁelds. Stop for a snapshot of wildﬂowers
on the side of the road. Pedal onwards. Break for a picnic
lunch atop a cliff overlooking the surf below. Bike into a pretty
village. Chat with beaming locals who cheer you on (everyone
loves a touring cyclist). Coast up the driveway of a historic
seaside inn. Smell the salty air, sit back on the porch and raise
weary legs (pleasurably fatigued, of course). Finish with dinner,
banter, twilight, stars.
And that’s just leg one.
This is bike touring, possibly the best way to explore any
given region that’s laced with country roads and dotted with
picturesque villages. It could be the Loire Valley in France, the
Rhine in Germany, or here: the idyllic isle of Prince Edward Island.
PEI is Canada’s smallest province; its population is just 138,000.
But that life in miniature is what gives this place the look and feel
of a diorama. The landscape is the archetypal background of
pastoral paintings and dreams. And dream vacations.
The pace is slow; the people are friendly; the atmosphere
is welcoming. And the bike is the perfect ﬁt for the Island’s
recreational lifestyle. PEI really is a dream for cyclists, where no
spot is further than 16 km from the sea and undulations of the
landscape evoke the moniker the “gentle isle” (PEI’s highest point
is only 400 feet above sea level).
Dr. Howard Ovens, Director of the Schwartz/Reisman
Emergency Centre at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, has
returned to the East Coast regularly since his ﬁrst bike trip. “It’s a
part of the country I didn’t know but fell in love with; the scenery,
the people and the climate are all great for cycling.”
And the best way to bike PEI may be “tip to tip,” from Tignish
on the west end of the province to Elmira on the east, along
the Confederation Trail (PEI’s portion of the TransCanada Trail)
as it follows an abandoned railway route that dips in and out
of farmland, forests and villages for 350 km. The heaviest trafﬁc
you’ll tackle on the trail may be some ruffed grouse crossing your
path.
Sweeping vistas of cultivated ﬁelds and brick-red soil unfold
(“the million-acre farm” is another of PEI’s nicknames) as you pedal
April 2008 JUST FOR CANADIAN DOCTORS
17
+
travel the world
through the green foliage of summer’s potato ﬁelds (PEI’s primary cash crop).
You’ll also ride past some beloved Canadiana: Anne of Green Gables ﬁctional
homestead (where it’s easy to imagine Marilla Cuthbert shelling peas on the
porch).
if you go
If you don’t want to miss anything, take a guided tour of the trail. A small
MORE INFO > For more information on Prince Edward Island:
sample of the six-day tip-to-tip itinerary from Freewheeling Adventures: bike
gov.pe.ca/visitorsguide; on Newfoundland: newfoundlandlabrador.
the scenic coastal road to Kildare Cape, where Jacques Cartier once said “the
com; on Nova Scotia: novascotia.com; on Québec: bonjourquebec.com;
fairest land ‘tis possible to see!”; have breakfast overlooking Cascumpeque Bay
on New Brunswick: tourismnewbrunswick.ca OFF THE BIKE
and Northport Harbour; take a side trip to MacAusland’s Woolen Mill (still in
> Sip your way through Nova Scotia wine country on a sommelier-led
operation); enjoy dinner in Bayside, on oyster-rich Malpeque Bay; ride past the
tour of the vineyards of the Annapolis Valley. Cheers! Valley Wine
Acadian village of Wellington on a ﬁery path bordered with yellow, purple and
Tours; valleywinetours.ca For a truly intimate vantage point of the East
orange wildﬂowers; shop and dine in Charlottetown; bike along Hillsbourough
Coast—Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, Quebec—
River, a Canadian Heritage River; cross three rivers on old railway trestles; and
explore the landscape on foot. Scott Walking Adventures; scottwalking.
take a stroll (or better yet, swim) at the seemingly endless sand-dune beach
com Take to the sea in a tall ship and discover the Maritime coastline from
near Greenwich in PEI National Park.
a different perspective. Canadian Sailing Expeditions; canadiansailing
Dr. Ovens has toured with Freewheeling Adventures nine times now. “My
expeditions.com OFF THE ROAD > Set up home base for your
ﬁrst trip was the Evangeline trail in Nova Scotia. I had never been cycling but a
East Coast explorations at this four-star retreat, lodge and resort in Nova
friend told us about his great cycling holiday and showed us his pictures and
Scotia (including log chalets or cottages) with spectacular views of Pictou
it sounded great. I also had never been to the East Coast. We (my late wife
County. Stonehame Lodge and Chalets; stonehamechalets.com Stay
and I) loved everything about it: the scenery, the friendly and courteous Nova
in a cottage or suite in a 19th-century house in St. Margaret’s Bay, a boating
Scotians, especially the drivers, the food, the guides.”
paradise on the South Shore Lighthouse Route in Nova Scotia. Anchorage
And since then he’s biked PEI, Nova Scotia’s South Shore and the Cabot Trail,
House & Cottages; anchoragehouse.com
the Viking Trail in Newfoundland, the Gaspé Peninsula and Eastern Townships in
Québec, and, most recently, Waterton Lakes to Kananaskis Country
and Banff in Alberta. “I can’t pick a favourite, I loved them all…”
He hasn’t repeated a route yet; each year Dr. Ovens picks a new
adventure (this year it’s BC’s Okanagan region).
Asked if he would ever do a self-guided tour on his own, Dr.
Ovens says “No, and NO. I’m spoiled; I work hard all year, I like to
work hard on my bike. I like having a van pull up with my bags and
some snacks. I’m willing to pay for the pampering.”
And a bonus: in PEI you get the pampering without doing
much physical grunt work—it’s simply not that hard to bike the
Island. Of course, the charming milieu does take your mind off
any labour in getting from point A to B. Every side view reveals
a fresh take on pastures, rivers and tucked-away cottages. And
every (little!) climb is rewarded with a fresh vantage point—a
valley unfolding around you, a distant village on the horizon and,
of course, a coast downhill.
Other pay-offs include great grub. Cycling all day means there’s
no guilt in refuelling with buckets of mussels, juicy lobster, fresh
scallops—all the famous Island fare. Dr. Ovens’ payoff: “A cold beer
after a hard ride is a joy indeed!” He adds, “Probably my favourite
part is the last hour of the ride: a sense of accomplishment, relief,
some fatigue, and that beer and shower beckoning to you.”
For Dr. Ovens it’s the East Coast vibe that’s kept him coming
back. “Just the people, the drivers are so courteous; it really makes
Toronto seem totally uncivilized. Cars stop to let you cross the
street between lights!!!!!” And the bike tour itself has become his ideal getaway. “I love
hiking too, but biking allows you to cover a lot more terrain, and it’s fun just to ride!” Even
better: “You eat without guilt and sleep like a baby, what could be better? I’ve also met
some wonderful people on cycle vacations.”
By riding with a group you get a chance to chat about the scenery, cuisine, locals—and
share all those pleasures. But nothing beats the wind on your skin as you breathe in sea
air and coast through emerald countryside. The contrast of red soil, blue sea and verdant
green doesn’t get tired. And seeing your panniers covered in the Island’s signature red
dust is like a rite of passage. On to leg two…
Basin Head, PEI, en route to Elmira at the east end of the Confederation Trail. BOTTOM
Dr. Howard Ovens (standing) celebrates reaching the top of the highest paved pass in the
Rockies (on a more recent bike tour in Alberta) with another cyclist and friend from Florida
(they met on a Cape Breton, NS, bike tour in 1996 and have done six more trips together
since). “Takes all morning to climb up it and then about two hours of straight descent down
into Kananaskis,” says Dr. Ovens of the pass. A challenge compared to the gentle isle…
TOP
18
JUST FOR CANADIAN DOCTORS April 2008
FROM TOP: COURTESY OF THE CTC; COURTESY OF DR. HOWARD OVENS
+
destination
+
pedal power
hotspots
TAKE A TOUR Explore the East Coast with the help of tour
operators; they do all the planning, lugging, and organizing, while
you simply follow the itinerary for a cycling vacation (yes, emphasis
on vacation). Leave yourself in the following capable hands…
Freewheeling Adventures { freewheeling.ca } Based in Hubbards, Nova
Scotia, Philip and Cathy Guest have run bike tours for over 20 years. Toronto physician
Dr. Howard Ovens has toured with them nine times now: “I really hit it off with the
Freewheeling folks; Philip and Cathy have become friends, they always run great, small
groups, hire great guides and ﬁnd great routes and inns to stay in.” Pedal and Sea
Adventures { pedalandseaadventures.com } Another Nova Scotia-based company
that’s been organizing bike tours in Atlantic Canada for almost a decade. Explore Nova
Scotia, Newfoundland, and Prince Edward Island, and a mix of landscape and seascape.
Outside Expeditions { getoutside.com } Mix it up; bike and kayak, and stay at
an inn and in a tent on the beach. This outﬁtter offers kayaking, cycling and multi-sport
tours throughout PEI, as well as local guides with in-depth knowledge of the Island’s natural
and cultural history. Great Explorations { great-explorations.com } Leads small
groups (12 – 16 travellers) on bike tours in North America and worldwide. Go small or big;
cycle days average 60 km a day, but hard-core riders can tack on longer distances.
SELF-GUIDED ADVENTURE If a self-guided trip is more
your style, tour operators also offer to take care of all the un-fun stuff
(arranging accommodations, luggage, detailed route and itinerary),
but let you do the fun part—the biking!—yourself or with your
own group. Just pick your pace and pedal. The Independent
Tourist { independenttourist.com } Take advantage of someone else’s extensive bike
touring knowledge so your getaway isn’t left to trial and error. These PEI self-guided cycling
tours are developed by the owners, who rode the routes and stayed at the recommended
inns and B&Bs themselves. MacQueen’s Island Tours { macqueens.com }
Design your own tour of PEI: go guided or independent, stay at value or four-star
accommodations; chow on burgers or braised pheasant (or if you’re a lobster lover, indulge
in a “down home” lobster boil). Randonnée Tours { randonneetours.com } A
specialist in self-guided active tours, whether cycling, hiking, walking, multi-sport, or
driving adventures. On the East Coast Randonnée offers self-guided tours in Nova Scotia and
the Eastern Townships of Québec.
big bike events
BIKING FOR BREAKFAST CHALLENGE Traverse PEI in one day, along
rural country roads, farmers’ ﬁelds and the province’s ﬁve-dozen sandy beaches. Do the full course, from “tip to tip,” join the Team Relay Challenge or do
your part on a 50-km stretch of the course. The goal is to increase awareness
of Island children who go without breakfast (in Canada, 31% of elementary and
62% of secondary students do not eat a daily breakfast). So on August 2, join
other cyclists and Islanders, and help the kids. bikingforbreakfast.com
TOUR DE PEI It’s the Tour de PEI’s second lap around the Island, showcasing
the province’s lush, rolling countryside as a top cycling destination for elite riders and tourists alike. About 100 world-class cyclists are expected to compete
in Tour 2008 (June 8 – 12), in anticipation of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games
in August. tourdepei.com
SEARS NATIONAL KIDS CANCER RIDE An epic event raising funds for
childhood cancer. Cyclists travel coast to coast (7,600 km from Vancouver to
Halifax), visiting pediatric oncology centres along the way. Seven-time Tour de
France champion and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong has praised the event’s
mission, as have physicians like Dr. Victor Blanchette, Head of Pediatric Oncology at the Hospital for Sick Children: “On behalf of all doctors and health care
professionals working in the ﬁeld of childhood cancer care in Canada, I give my
full support to this tremendous initiative…” Participants include young cancer
patients (some riding on tandem bikes) and health professionals. Daily rider
blogs will be available on the National Kids Cancer Ride website. If you have a
passion for the cause and cycling, bike alongside them in your region. Find out
more at nationalkidscancerride.com. And for more on the Coast to Coast
Against Cancer Foundation go to coasttocoastagainstcancer.org.
April 2008 JUST FOR CANADIAN DOCTORS
19
destination
hotspots
20
JUST FOR CANADIAN DOCTORS April 2008
stockholm / brighton / kyoto / ottawa / istanbul… | c a l e n d a r
CME
A N INTERN ATION A L GUIDE TO CO N T I N U I NG M ED I CA L EDUCAT I O N
spr ing 20 08 + beyond
stockholm
STOCKHOLM VISITORS BUREAU
the Scandinavian city of Stockholm is stocked with sites to see
(CME events in Stockholm are highlighted in blue)
Sweden’s capital sits on the sea, part of an archipelago
of 16 major islands that form the city (Stockholm translates as “Tree Trunk Island”). The water-bound city (top
right) celebrates the outdoors in spring and summer,
from kayaking amidst 30,000 isles to touring the Old
Town on bike. But Stockholm is also urban and hip—a
slick destination that’s retained its historical allure and
European ﬂavour. Contemporary art and design make it
a go-to spot for the latest looks, whether in glassware
(bottom centre) or clothing from in-demand designers
such as Acne Jeans and Cheap Monday. It’s also home
to the ubiquitous furniture and clothing empires of Ikea
and H&M). And while New York and London have their
SoHos, Stockholm has SoFo (south of Folkungagatan,
east of Götgatan on Södermalm—hence, SoFo), an area
full of trendy stores and cafés.
Stockholm is also the place to experience a bit of a
supremacy vibe—in terms of its royal and intellectual
gravitas as the home of a reigning royal family and the
Nobel Prize. Regal activities take place year-round, and
the hallowed City Hall Cellar (Stadshuskällaren) offers
a sampling of Nobel menus starting from 1901 (so you
can at least eat like a Nobel Prize winner). Or sample
broader Scandinavian culinary staples like ﬁsh, mushrooms, berries (arctic raspberries and cloudberries) and
elk. Take a ﬁka (coffee break) while sightseeing, stop for
the Dagens ratt (dish of the day) at a local eatery, or go
to a saluhall, an indoor food market, like Östermalms
Saluhall, which dates back to the late 19th century.
And there’s plenty more to see and do in Stockholm. MUSEUMS > Check out three of Stockholm’s
top attractions (all free): Stockholm City Museum (for
the city’s history), the Culturehouse (take in some art,
culture, design, and maybe buy a bit of it to take home),
and the Old Town (top centre). SIGHTSEE > Buy a
Stockholmcard (includes 75 attractions and transporta-
tion) and take a blue bus around town. Ride Bus 3 or
4 from Södermalm to the Radiohouse or Norrtull and
take in the whole city. Or ride the Nybrofärjan ferry to
Djurgården island. And make sure to take the subway,
also called the world’s longest art gallery; it’s 110 km
long and 90 of the 100 stations are decorated with art
(bottom left). TOUR > Walk through the Old Town. Or
tour the galleries at Hudiksvallsgatan and discover the
contemporary art for which Stockholm is known. If it’s
summer, join the Friskis & Svettis aerobics classes in
Rålambshov park (free again!). And explore the city by
bike; Stockholm City Bikes have bicycles all over the
city that you can rent. HERITAGE > Take in UNESCO
World Heritage Sites: The Woodland Cemetery and the
Drottningholm Palace (bottom right), home of the Royal
Family (if you have a Stockholmcard, entry is free).
— B.S.
For more on Stockholm, go to stockholmtown.com
April 2008 JUST FOR CANADIAN DOCTORS
21
C M E calendar
Clinical Pharmacology
Cardiology
Biochemistry
Alternative Medicine
cme when
22
where
topic
sponsor
contact
website
Jun
11-13
Stockholm
Sweden
44th Annual Meeting Of The Association Of The
European Self-medication Industry (AESGP)
AESGP
011-32-2-7355130
aesgp.be
Aug
07-09
Soldotna
Alaska
1st Annual Nursing Seminar & Fishing
Tournament
Central Peninsula
Hospital
907-714-4455
x621
cpgh.org
Sep
17-19
Brighton
England
Annual Meeting Of The Royal Society Of Tropical
Medicine And Hygiene
Hampton Medical
Conferences, Ltd.
44-0-20-89798300
rstmh.ukevents.
org
Oct
19-24
Kauai
Hawaii
Destination Health: Renewing Mind, Body And
Soul
Scripps Conference
Services & CME
858-587-4404
scripps.org
May
03-09
Toronto
Ontario
16th Scientiﬁc Meeting And Exhibition Of The
International Society For Magnetic Resonance In
Medicine (ISMRM)
ISMRM
510-841-1899
ismrm.org
May
28
San Francisco
California
Cytology Workshop
UCSF Ofﬁce of
Continuing Medical
Education
415-476-4251
ocme.ucsf.edu
Jun
01-06
Barga
Italy
Mammary Gland Biology Conference
Gordon Research
Conferences
401-783-4011
grc.org
Jun
12-14
Philadelphia
Pennsylvania
6th Annual Meeting Of The International Society
For Stem Cell Research (ISSCR)
ISSCR
847-509-1944
isscr.org
May
27-30
Jeju Island
Korea
The 2nd Asia-paciﬁc Congress Of Pediatric
Cardiology And Cardiac Surgery
Song Yi Kim
82-3452-7291
pccs2008.com
Apr 30May 03
Beirut
Lebanon
3rd Middle East Cardiopace
Middle East Cardiopace
Jun
07-11
Toronto
Ontario
19th Annual Scientiﬁc Sessions Of The American
Society Of Echocardiography (ASE)
ASE
919-861-5574
asecho.org
Jun
14-19
Berlin
Germany
18th Scientiﬁc Meeting European Society Of
Hypertension And The 22nd Scientiﬁc Meeting
International Society Of Hypertension
KIT GMBH, Association
& Conference
011-49-30246030
hypertension2008.com
Jul 28Aug 09
Norwegian
Fjords Cruise
Cardiology, Infectious Disease, Practice
Management
Sea Courses Cruises
888-647-7327
See Ad Page 29
seacourses.
com
May
09-10
San Francisco
California
HIV Pharmacology Workshop
University of California,
San Francisco
415-476-4251
cme.ucsf.
edu/cme
May
22-24
Richmond
British
Columbia
2008 Annual Pharmacy Conference Of The British
Columbia Pharmacy Association
British Columbia
Pharmacy Association
604-269-2861
bcpharmacy.ca
Jun
15-19
Sitges
Spain
9th Eilat Conference On New Antiepileptic Drugs
Target Conferences
011-972-3-5175150
eilat-aeds.com
Jul
20-23
Harrogate
England
2008 Summer Meeting Of The British Association
For Psychopharmacology (BAP)
BAP
011-44-122335-8395
bap.org.uk
Jul 27Aug 01
Quebec City
Quebec
IXth World Conference On Clinical Pharmacology
And Therapeutics (CPT) 2008
National Research
Council Canada
613-993-0414
cpt2008.org
JUST FOR CANADIAN DOCTORS
April 2008
me-cardiopace.
com
General & Family
Medicine
Emergency Medicine
Dermatology
cme when
calendar
CME
where
topic
sponsor
contact
website
May
14-17
Kyoto
Japan
International Investigative Dermatology (Joint
Meeting Of The ESDR, SID And JSID)
European Society
for Dermatological
Research
011-41-22-3214890
esdr.org
Jun
04-08
Toronto
Ontario
3rd Congress Of The World Union Of Wound
Healing Societies
University of Toronto
888-512-8173
wuwhs2008.ca
Jun
09-14
Las Vegas
Nevada
Skin Problems And Diseases CME Course
American Academy of
Family Physicians
800-274-2237
x6553
aafp.org
May
12-15
Victoria
British
Columbia
16th World Congress On Disaster And Emergency
Medicine
Cindy Lundy
250-658-6056
wcdem2009.org
May 29Jun 01
Nice
France
European Federation Of National Associations Of
Orthopaedics And Traumatology (EFORT)
EFORT
011-41-44-4484400
efort.org
May 30Jun 04
Toronto
Ontario
American Transplant Congress 2008
American Society of
Transplantation
856-439-9986
a-s-t.org
Jun
03-06
Brugge
Belgium
16th European Congress Of Physical And
Rehabilitation Medicine
Medicongress
011-329-3443959
ecprm2008.org
Jun
13-14
Saskatoon
Saskatchewan
Practical Radiology For Family & Emergency
Physicians
Saskatoon CPL
306-966-7795
usask.ca
May
Jun
Jul
Big White
British
Columbia
Ski-ME, Weekly CME Events
Whitefoot Clinic
250-765-0544
mybigwhite.
com/cme
May
10-11
Online
International Online Medical Conference (IOMC)
2008
ALA
0098-912-4265604
ala.ir/iomc2008
May
10-13
Stockholm
Sweden
ERA/EDTA XLV ERA-EDTA CONGRESS
ERA-EDTA
39-052-1989078
eraedta2008.
org
May
11-17
Nassau
Bahamas
NEI Conference Series
National Education
Institute
866-685-6860
See ad page 23
neiconferences.
com
May
28-30
Edmonton
Alberta
2008 Canadian RAI Conference: Making The
Quality Connection
Canadian Association
for Health Services and
Policy Research
613-235-7180
cahspr.ca
Jun
01-04
Halifax
Nova Scotia
CPHA 2008 Annual Conference: Public Health In
Canada: Reducing Health Inequalities Through
Evidence & Action
Canadian Public Health
Association
613-725-3769
cpha.ca
Jun
04-06
New Orleans
Louisiana
2nd Annual Meeting Of The Organization For The
Study Of Sex Differences
Viviana Simon
202-496-5002
ossdweb.org
Jun
11-13
Ostersund
Sweden
9th Nordic Public Health Conference
Swedish National
Institute of Public
Health (SNIPH)
011-46-8-56613515
fhi.se
Mar
02-16
2009
Australia/
New Zealand
Cruise
Women’s Health
Continuing Education
Inc. / University at Sea
800-422-0711
See Ad Page 39
continuingeducation.net
LEARN Virtually
ANYTIME - ANYWHERE
Access your CME worldwide
Travel & Learn Format
Connect with us 24/7.
Toll-Free:1-866-685-6860
www.neiconferences.com
7X2.5_canadian_family_physicians1 1
23
3/15/07 9:28:25 AM
April 2008 JUST FOR CANADIAN DOCTORS
C M E calendar
Legal
Ethics
Infectious Disease
Genetics
General & Family
Medicine
cme when
24
where
topic
sponsor
contact
website
Jun
21-22
Glendale
California
Two Days Back on Earth, a Course on
Environmental Endocrinology
T.S. Wiley Inc.
323-650-2838
thewileyprotocol.com
Jul
09-11
Galway
Ireland
2008 Annual Meeting Of The Society For
Academic Primary Care (SAPC)
SAPC
011-186-5331839
sapc.ac.uk
Aug
21-23
Charlottetown
Prince Edward
Island
43rd Conjoint Scientiﬁc Assembly - Maritime
Chapters, Continuing Medical Education For
Family Physicians
College of Family
Physicians of Canada
902-835-5735
See Ad Page 29
conjoint.ca
May
11-16
Barga
Italy
Chromatin Structure & Function Conference
Gordon Research
Conferences
401-783-4011
grc.org
May
18-24
Whistler
British
Columbia
Genetics And Genomics For The Non-Geneticist
National Education
Institute
866-685-6860
See Ad Page 23
neiconferences.
com
May 31Jun 02
Barcelona
Spain
European Human Genetics Conference 2008
Vienna Medical
Academy
011-43-1-40513-8320
eshg.org
Jun
24
Welwyn
Garden City
Hertfordshire
Gene Therapy - Systems And Applications
EuroSciCon
Jul
20-23
Nashville
Tennessee
The National Association Of Area Agencies
On Aging (N4A) 33rd Annual Conference And
Tradeshow
National Association of
Area Agencies on Aging
202-872-0888
n4a.org
May
01-04
San Diego
California
Critical Management Of High Risk Disease: Don`t
Kill Your Patient
CME for Clinicians
800-946-9165
dontkillyourpatient.com
May
14-16
Graz
Austria
26th Annual Meeting Of The European Society For
Paediatric Infectious Diseases (ESPID)
Kenes International
011-41-22-9080488
kenes.com
May
14-16
San Francisco
California
29th Annual Advances In Infectious Diseases:
New Directions For Primary Care
University of California,
San Francisco
415-476-4251
ucsf.edu
May
15
Toronto
Ontario
1st International Workshop On Clinical
Pharmacology Of Tuberculosis Drugs
Marjon van der Kaa
Jun
15-19
Denver
Colorado
35th Association For Professionals In Infection
Control And Epidemiology (APIC) Annual
Conference
APIC
202-789-1890
apic.org
Jun
26-29
Goteborg
Sweden
7th International Conference On The Pathogenesis
Of Mycobacterial Infections
Congrex Sweden
011-46-31-7086000
congrex.com
Aug
17-24
Alaskan
Cruise
Chronic Disease Management: Continuing
Education Vacations
University of Calgary
888-523-3732
See Ad Page 26
Cruise-Connections.com/CME
May
16-31
Ft Lauderdale
Florida
Seminar On Legal-Medical Issues Panama Canal
Cruise
International
Conferences
800-521-0076
intconf.com
May
22-23
London
England
Patient Safety Congress
ExCel London
44-0-207-5545800
patientsafetycongress.co.uk/
Jun
09-19
Monte Carlo
Monaco
Seminar On Legal-Medical Issues
Eileen Tener
813-333-6878
CruisersParadise.com
JUST FOR CANADIAN DOCTORS
April 2008
euroscicon.com
virology-education.com
Obstetrics
Gynecology
Nutrition
Neurology
Legal
Ethics
cme when
calendar
CME
where
topic
sponsor
contact
website
Jun
18-21
St. John`s
Newfoundland
19th Canadian Bioethics Society Annual
Conference
Lydia Riddell
403-208-8027
bioethics.ca
Jul
10-17
Dublin
Ireland
Celtic Paciﬁc Medical And Legal Conference
Continuing Professional
Development
61-07-32543331
conferences21.
com
Sep 27Oct 04
Great Barrier
Reef
Australia
10th Paciﬁc Rim Medical & Legal Conference
Continuing Professional
Development
61-732-543331
conferences21.
com
May 31Jun 06
New Orleans
Louisiana
46th Annual Meeting Of The American Society Of
Neuroradiology
American Society of
Neuroradiology
630-574-0220
asnr.org
Jun
01-04
Vancouver
British
Columbia
American Society Of Stereotactic & Functional
Neurosurgery (ASSFN)
Venue West Conference
Services
604-681-5226
venuewest.com
Jun
07-11
Nice
France
18th Meeting Of The European Neurological
Society (ENS)
ENS
Jun
15-19
Melbourne
Australia
14th Annual Meeting For The Organization For
Human Brain Mapping (OHBM)
The Meeting Planners
011-61-3-94170888
hbm2008.com
Jun
17-20
Victoria
British
Columbia
43rd Annual Scientiﬁc Meeting Of The Canadian
Neurological Sciences Federation (CNSF)
CNSF
403-229-9544
cnsfederation.
org
Jun
18-21
Washington
District of
Columbia
2008 UCP Annual Conference
United Cerebral Palsy
800-872-5827
ucp.org
Jul
02-05
Buenos Aries
Argentina
2008 Mid-Year Meeting Of The International
Neuropsychological Society
International
Neuropsychological
Society
614-263-4200
the-ins.org
May
21
Toronto
Ontario
Improving The Prevention Of Eating Related
Disorders
The Hospital for Sick
Children
416-813-7654
sickkids.ca
Jun
01-04
Copenhagen
Denmark
9th Nordic Nutrition Conference 2008
ICS-Online
45-3946-0500
ics-online.com
Jul
19-23
Atlanta
Georgia
2008 Annual Conference Of The Society For
Nutrition Education
Society for Nutrition
Education
317-328-4627
sne.org
Jul
27-31
Philadelphia
Pennsylvania
2008 Annual Meeting Of The Dietary Managers
Association
Dietary Managers
Association
800-323-1908
dmaonline.org
Jun
01-05
Glasgow
Scotland
28th Triennial Congress Of The International
Confederation Of Midwives
ICM
44-0-141-3310123
midwives2008.
org
Jun
25-29
Calgary
Alberta
64th Annual Clinical Meeting Of The Society Of
Obstetricians And Gynaecologists Of Canada
SOGC
800-561-2416
sogc.org
Sep
20
Toronto
Ontario
2008 Mount Sinai Hospital Ob Anesthesia
Conference
Mount Sinai Hospital
416-586-4800
x 2931
mtsinai.on.ca
ensinfo.com
April 2008 JUST FOR CANADIAN DOCTORS
25
C M E calendar
Radiology
Psychiatry
Pediatrics
Pain
Management
Ophthalmology
Oncology
cme when
where
topic
sponsor
contact
website
May
23-25
Vancouver
BC
Bold Steps: Creating Opportunities
BC Hospice Palliative
Care Association
604-945-3574
hospicebc.org
Jul
5-12
Mediterranean
Cruise
Cancer In Women
Continuing Education
Inc. / University at Sea
800-422-0711
See Ad Page 39
continuingeducation.net
Sep
12-16
Stockholm
Sweden
33rd Congress Of The European Society For
Medical Oncology (ESMO)
ESMO
011-41-91-9731900
esmo.org
May
28-31
Antwerp
Belgium
XIth International Orthoptic Congress
European Society of
Ophthalmology (SOE)
011-46-8-4596650
soevision.org
Jun
11-14
Whistler
British
Columbia
71st Annual Meeting & Exhibition Of The
Canadian Ophthalmological Society (COS)
Canadian
Ophthalmological
Society (COS)
kross@eyesite.
ca
eyesite.ca
Sep
11-13
Ottawa
Ontario
Sally Letson Symposia: University Of Ottawa Eye
Institute
University of Ottawa
Eye Institute
613-737-8575
eyeinstitute.net
May
27-30
Victoria
British
Columbia
28th Annual Conference Of The Canadian Pain
Society (CPS)
Canadian Pain Society
(CPS)
905-668-9545
canadianpainsociety.ca
Jul
13-20
Alaskan
Cruise
Pain Management: Continuing Education
Vacations
University of British
Columbia
888-523-3732
See Ad Page 26
Cruise-Connections.com/CM
Jun
21-24
Istanbul
Turkey
12th Congress Of The International Society For
Peritoneal Dialysis
Figur Congress
Organization Services
011-90-212258-6020
ispd2008.org
Jun
24-28
Victoria
British
Columbia
85th Annual Conference Of The Canadian
Pediatric Society
Canadian Pediatric
Society Education
Department
613-526-9397
ext. 248
cps.ca
May
07-09
Halifax
Nava Scotia
Taking Difference Into Account: Issues Of
Diversity In Psychosocial Oncology
Funnel Communications
416-968-0207
capo.ca
Jun
17-22
St. Thomas
Virgin Islands
2008 Annual Meeting Of The International
Behavioral Neuroscience Society
IBNS
830-796-9393
ibnshomepage.
org
Aug
17-24
Alaskan
Cruise
Psychiatry And Addiction Medicine
Sea Courses Cruises
888-647-7327
See Ad Page 29
seacourses.
com
Jun
22-27
Nice
France
Brain, Body, Bone: Imaging Fundamentals on the
French Riviera
UCSF Radiology
415-476-5731
See Ad Page 24
radiology.ucsf.
edu
Jun
27-29
Orlando
Florida
2008 Clinical Magnetic Resonance Society
Annual Meeting
Clinical Magnetic
Resonance Society
813-806-1080
cmrs.com
Jul 28Aug 01
Lake Tahoe
California
SNIS 5th Annual Meeting
American Society
of Interventional
& Therapeutic
Neuroradiology
703-691-2272
asitn.org
Oct
20-24
San Francisco
California
Self-Assessment Review for Practicing
Radiologists
UCSF Radiology
415-476-5731
radiology.ucsf.
edu
For feedback, requests or to have your course featured please email [email protected]
CONTINUING EDUCATION
VACATIONS
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ALASKA
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Excellent vacation and
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26
JUST FOR CANADIAN DOCTORS
April 2008
��
T E C H W O R K S C O R E Y VA N ’ T H A A F F
Fluff medicine
There’s a new force at work in the physician’s ofﬁce
S
hhhhhh. There’s something every
physician should know.
Lasers have come a long way,
baby.
And lasers, the new safer, more versatile
lasers, offer physicians in Canada an
opportunity to mix some degree of medical
treatment with some degree of cosmetic
treatment and that’s a happier type of
medicine, says Dr. Darin Peterson, president
and owner of Nexgen Lasers.
“Fluff medicine is fun medicine,” says
Peterson. “It’s important physicians have
this technology as clients will ﬁnd someone
to provide the service, regardless. They’d
rather be treated by a physician than an
esthetician.”
And since Canadian physicians, says
Peterson, are somewhat underpaid, laser
cosmetic procedures offer physicians a new
revenue stream.
These lasers are a far cry from the light
sabers brandished by Darth Vader and used
as combat weapons by the Jedi and Sith.
Yet they are just as powerful in obliterating
the enemy if your foe is rosacea, wrinkles,
cellulite or unwanted hair growth.
It used to be that CO2 resurfacing was
all you could do if you wanted to banish
wrinkles and furrows. Then, by the late ’90s,
the ruby pulse laser was being used, mostly
by plastic surgeons and dermatologists.
“The safety proﬁle of lasers wasn’t all
that great,” says Peterson. “There was a risk
of burning and bruising. As the technology
advanced, the safety proﬁle of lasers
advanced with it.”
The safety proﬁle has improved so
much, he says, that family doctors, dentists,
chiropractors, and pretty much everyone is
using a laser.
In fact, Peterson, who was working
in family medicine, urgent care and
emergency medicine, was married to
a doctor who had started doing some
cosmetic work. He watched as she did
cosmetic procedures one evening a week,
then one week a month, and then daily,
ultimately owning two full-blown medical
spas.
“She owned 14 different pieces of
equipment,” he says, “and was mostly
unsatisﬁed with them. We were hunting
for a multiplatform and found it through
Harmony. It’s one system that replaces
14 different products for us. That’s pretty
amazing, eh? Our overhead went from $1.2
million in capital equipment to $110,000.
That’s how it began.”
Peterson, who said he started as an
unbiased buyer and is now a biased owner,
bought the company in 2004. Sales that
ﬁrst year were half a million dollars. By 2006,
sales hit $9 million and last year, just under
$11 million. That buys a lot of laser power.
“It’s been nice, steady growth all the
way through,” he says. “Fifty per cent of our
clients own more than one device. They like
it and trust it enough to buy a second—and
that’s the key for this industry.”
He said the Harmony model is the most
extendable multiplatform machine on the
market. No other laser has the expandable
functionality it does. With 18 different
applications available, the machine can
be used for hair removal, photofacials and
acne, body contouring and even leg vein
removal.
“Traditionally, you can strip the veins or
go inside the vein and use a laser or foam,”
he says. “With this, you can do it from the
skin, superﬁcially, and get rid of the vein. It
clots it right down. There’s no anesthesia,
no cutting. It’s non-invasive and takes just a
couple of treatments.
For acne, the Harmony or Accent are
used (the Soprano, “the workhorse,” is made
solely for hair removal).
“Typically you treat acne with a topical
application or oral medication. This heats
up the skin to take away acne. It’s not a
cure but it’s a treatment. It uses natural light
and radiofrequencies to treat acne with no
long-term complications from it.”
The Accent, he said, is the newest realm
of device. It uses non-invasive, non-ablative
RF2 technology for cellulite reduction,
combining two types of radio frequencies
for controlled heating to two distinct
depths of tissue.
“It’s only the tip of the iceberg,” says
Peterson.
While the ability to use the power of
lasers to defend all that is good and right
might only reside in the imaginations of
children and dreamers, the proven power of
lasers, it turns out, might just be a doctor’s
best friend. May the force be with you.
For more information on Nexgen Lasers, go to
nexgenlasers.com or call 1-888-527-3711.
Corey Van’t Haaff is a Vancouver-based writer
and the owner of Cohiba Communications. She
is the Just for Canadian Doctors technology
columnist. She can be reached at medicalnews
@cohibacommunications.com..
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April 2008 JUST FOR CANADIAN DOCTORS
27
T H E W E A LT H Y DOCTOR MANFRED PUR TZKI, C.A.
Trim your tax bill
Choose from a smorgasbord of great tax-planning opportunities
A
s a self-employed physician,
preparing your income tax return
seems pretty straightforward.
All you need is a list of available tax
deductions, right? Well, it’s not quite that
simple unfortunately. Many physicians
are now incorporated and the corporate
structure offers many new opportunities to
drastically reduce income taxes, making tax
planning more complex.
Here are some ideas on how to cut
taxes using your corporate structure.
Utilize the family’s lower tax bracket
1 Set up a corporate proﬁt-sharing plan for
you and your family members. This easy-toset-up plan allows you to pay a large salary
to family members who are employees of
the practice without worrying about the
reasonableness restrictions imposed by
CRA. If a reasonable salary to your spouse
is $20,000 annually, the plan gives you the
ﬂexibility to pay $100,000 instead.
2 Implement a ﬂexible dividend strategy.
Have your family members own separate
classes of shares in the corporation, or
set up a family trust, which allows you to
“sprinkle” dividends to them to minimize
the overall tax. Ultimate income splitting
is achieved when you and all the family
members are in the same tax bracket.
3 Split unincorporated income with the
spouse. You can achieve an easy tax refund
by allocating a reasonable salary to your
spouse. A salary of $30,000 to your spouse
who has no other income will likely save
you $8,000.
Corporate planning
1 Be a pauper personally. With corporate
tax rates dropping to 15 or 16% in 2008
for most provinces, there has never been
a greater incentive to retain as much of
the practice cash ﬂow as possible in the
corporation. $100 retained in the company
means you have now $85 left to invest. To
take advantage of this splendid savings
vehicle; live like a “pauper” by taking out
28
funds for personal and living expenses only,
and keep the surplus in the corporation.
2
Convert practice income into capital
gains. If you need to draw large amounts
from the corporation, consider converting
dividends into capital gains. On a $200,000
draw, for instance, you save about $15,000
of personal taxes.
3 Deduct your home mortgage interest.
There are a number of strategies that use
the corporation to make your mortgage
tax-deductible. For example, your
corporation borrows funds to purchase
your personal investments—stocks, real
estate, RRSP, or RESP. You use the proceeds
to pay off your home mortgage. You
have now converted the non-deductible
personal mortgage into a tax-deductible
corporate loan.
Utilize fringe beneﬁts
1 Combine business with vacation travel.
If you go on a business trip, such as a
CME course or conference, you can add
some vacation time and still make it taxdeductible. In order to deduct the total
travel cost, the main purpose of the trip
must be for the practice and not personal.
How much vacation time can you add
to the trip? Travel days count as business
days, as do weekends and holidays, if they
fall between the business days. If you can
prove to CRA that staying a few extra days
reduced the airfare costs, for instance,
then your accommodation and meals cost
would be tax deductible up to the amount
of the airfare saved. Remember, meals and
beverages are subject to the 50% limitation.
2 Have the Corporation pay for medical
expenses. By setting up a private health
plan you can make your medical/dental
expenses a deductible practice expense.
3 Maximize practice expenses with a
personal component. With respect to
automobile expenses, as a self-employed
physician you can deduct your vehicle’s
operating expenses, including gas and
insurance, as well as depreciation or
JUST FOR CANADIAN DOCTORS April 2008
lease expense subject to a dollar limit.
If your corporation does not own a car,
then you can receive a tax-free mileage
reimbursement in the amount of $0.52/
km for the ﬁrst 5,000 km and $0.46/km
thereafter. If you are a locum providing
services to different practices, or you don’t
have an ofﬁce to go to because you work
in a hospital, then your travel from home to
the practice location is tax-deductible. You
can also deduct home ofﬁce expenses. You
do not have to see patients in your home,
as long as the space is used for patient
phone calls and consultations.
4
Consider a pension plan if you are age
50 older. Have your corporation set up an
Individual Pension Plan (IPP), which allows
tax-deductible corporate contributions
to fund a pension plan for yourself and
your spouse, retroactive to the date of
incorporation, from 1991 on. While the
maximum RRSP contribution for 2007 was
$19,000, a 50-year-old physician can make a
maximum annual contribution of $25,034.
If he or she also purchases the past service
contributions back to 1991 to a maximum
of $112,135, then the total contribution is
$137,169. The total contribution for a 60year-old is $222,005.
This is just a selection from the smorgasbord of many great tax-planning
opportunities. With the help of a good
tax advisor, and making time to plan your
income taxes and ﬁnances, you too can
drastically reduce your income tax bill.
Manfred Purtzki is the principal of Purtzki &
Associates Chartered Accountants. You can
reach him at [email protected].
positions / vacation properties / practices / locums | classified
vacation properties
positions available
positions available
CORFU, GREECE - Two vacation houses with shared pool in a
quiet inland village on the island of Corfu. Available to let April
– October. Contact [email protected].
SILVA BAY, GABRIOLA ISLAND, BC – Weekly Rental. Waterfront
4 bedrooms home on 1 wooded acre, 2 baths, stone ﬁreplace,
fully equipped kitchen, 1500 sq. ft deck, 70 ft. private wharf.
Reduced rates May, June & September. Tel: 604-764-2033 or
[email protected]. www.villagenet.ca/silvabayhouse
TOFINO VACATION RENTALS, INC.
Tofino’s Premier Vacation Properties Since 1998!
From luxurious beachfront homes & cabins on world-renowned
Chesterman Beach to cozy oceanfront condos on Tofino’s
scenic harbourfront.
Toll Free 1.877.799.2779
www.tofinovr.com
positions available
CALGARY, AB – Family physician associate required to replace
outgoing (male) physician in a modern, progressive medical
centre in an upscale lake community in south Calgary. A prime
opportunity! Email [email protected].
CALGARY, AB - A bright and well managed busy family practice
and walk-in clinic in NE Calgary looking for additional doctors, full
or part-time. Generous split and no management burdens. Please
phone 403-266-8050 or email [email protected] for details.
LETHBRIDGE, AB - Campbell Clinic is seeking a family physician
for each of their three locations: Lethbridge–south, Lethbridge–
west, and Coaldale (a rural community 15 kilometres east of
Lethbridge). Pharmacy, laboratory, and x-ray on-site in the two
Lethbridge locations. Excellent start-up conditions. Contact: Dr.
Vincent Luykenaar, Executive Director vluykenaar@campbellclinic.
ca or Chris Harty, Manager [email protected]
MISSION, BC - Off treadmill, enjoying medicine. Time for family,
CME, holidays and forgotten interests? Opportunity in Mission,
BC. Share a full service practice including hospital & community
facilities. Options include palliative care, ER shifts and scrubs.
Fulltime available. Low overhead. Share call with 6 colleagues.
Partially computerized. EMR coming. Outdoor activities in all
seasons. E-mail Drs C. Finch and P. Patel at [email protected].
MISSISSAUGA, ON – Associate needed for a busy family practice 10
minutes from CVH. Great location in a medical building with PT,
lab, x-ray, and pharmacy. 75:25 split. Email [email protected]
for detailed information or telephone Patricia at 416-569-9733.
REGINA, SK - Family Physician required to join the busy, well
established Quance East Medical Clinic, located in the newly
constructed ofﬁce in a shopping mall. Full-time, part-time or
locum basis. Regular and walk-in patients accepted. Well equipped
ofﬁce with lab on-site, individual ofﬁces with internet access,
and pleasant & efﬁcient staff. Contact: Dr. Lana Cheshenchuk at
[email protected] or call 306.545.5868.
ads
middle class area with tremendous population growth. Congenial
Male/Female Doctors looking for another FT or PT Family Doctor
to start summer/fall 2008. 70% Split. Monday-Friday 9am5pm. Shared Saturday single coverage of 10am - 4pm. Email to
[email protected]
SURREY, BC - Family physician looking for associate. Well
established busy family practice clinic in great location (45 minutes
from downtown Vancouver). Close to all amenities. No obstetrics/
hospital. Flexible hours. Punjabi speaking an asset. Telephone 604
585-9696, fax 604 585-9688, or e-mail [email protected].
VANCOUVER, BC - Busy walk-in clinic shifts available in Yaletown
and the heart of Kitsilano at Khatsahlano Medical Clinic. “Best
Independent Medical Clinic in Vancouver” - Georgia Straight
Reader’s Poll. Contact: Dr. Chris Watt at [email protected].
VICTORIA, BC - Walk-in clinic shifts available in the heart of lovely
Cook St. Village in Victoria. Steps from the ocean, Beacon Hill Park,
and Starbucks. For more information contact Dr. Chris Watt at
[email protected].
For April 2008practices
issue of Just
For Canadian
for sale
EDMONTON, AB - Well established lucrative practice for sale in
East Edmonton. Doctor planning to retire. Unbelievably
Fax: 604 - 681North
- 8149
low overheads. Best offer accepted. Phone 780-454-3454.
WEST TORONTO, ON - Afﬂuent Kingsway established solo pracAttn: Ruth Findlay
tice. Terms negotiable. Available by October 2008 in a self owned
RICHMOND, BC - Efﬁcient & well managed busy, modern Group
Family Practice/Walk-In with EMR in busy shopping Plaza within a
medical building with specialists and auxiliary services. Fiscal
Classiﬁeds: fax 604-681-8149 • tel 604-681-1811 • email classiﬁ[email protected]
doctors’
marketplace
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January 18 - February 2/09
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April 2008 JUST FOR CANADIAN DOCTORS
29
ads
classified
continued
practices for sale
advantages of an eleven Family Health Practice call group. Info at 416-233-1338.
practice opportunity
WHITE ROCK, BC – Well-established medical
ophthalmology practice available. Recently
upgraded with new equipment. This low overhead ofﬁce would be suitable for a medical
ophthamologist or as a satellite ofﬁce if your
main ofﬁce is located in the Lower Mainland.
This is a turnkey opportunity. I am not looking
to sell the practice. I am looking for someone
to take over the care of my patients. Please
email [email protected].
locums wanted
KOOTENAYS, BC - Locum M.D. required summer
months at the Beaver Valley Clinic in beautiful
South Western Kootenays, BC. Busy, pleasant,
ﬂexible working conditions with 8 hour
VERNON, BC - How about the sunny Okanagan Spring, Summer, or Fall? Locum work available
- Work and Play! Time to enjoy abundant
recreational activities amongst lakes and wine
country. Family Medicine +/- ER. Tailor your
work type to suit you. Busy ofﬁce practice,
walk-in clinics and ER available, OB possible.
Dates are ﬂexible. Call Chris at 250-549-6799
or email [email protected].
WEST-END VANCOUVER, BC – GP needed for
par-time work in medical clinic. Friendly,
interesting family practice. Walk-in clinic in
West-end of Vancouver. Flexible arrangement.
Work a few hours 2-3 times a week or just one
shift a week. Usual split is 65% (negotiable).
778-991-0808 or email [email protected].
1 inch - $85 | 2 inch - $110 | 3 inch - $135 (15% discount for practising physicians)
NOW RECRUITING
FOR
new ads to be placed
Australia & NZ
HealthStaff Recruitment has excellent openings for Doctors,
Specialists, Registrars, Junior Doctors, RMO’s and GP’s.
We offer the most comprehensive service in the industry and guide and
assist you through the whole process of Registration, Visa application
and in most cities you will have a dedicated Relocation Coordinator.
Please contact Alex Bodor for a confidential discussion about your
requirements and openings available. Toll Free from Canada
1866 286 7349 and from USA 1866 317 4232
Alternatively, email your CV/Resume to [email protected]
and Alex will contact you within 24 hours.
www.healthstaffrecruitment.com.au
26297
opportunities
JUST FOR C A N A D I A N
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plus tax
604-681-1811 • [email protected]
Complimentary classified ads to practising physicians in these
categories: positions available, locums wanted, practice/
equipment for sale/rent and office space. All other classifieds:
doctors
and don’t miss a single issue!
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email classiﬁ[email protected]
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locums wanted
emergency shifts at the Kootenay Boundary
Regional Hospital available if desired. Please
contact Dr. R. Behrens at 250-367-9211 or
[email protected].
Choisissez le Nouveau-Brunswick!
Ayez du succès dans votre profession
et un équilibre dans votre vie
www.gnb.ca Mot-clé : médecins
opportunities
Be Successful in Your Profession
Achieve balance in Your Life
www.gnb.ca Keyword: physicians
employment
Choose New Brunswick!
opportunities
employment
Great
Opportunities
There are
waiting just down the
road from the beach.
INTERNAL
MEDICINE
PEDIATRICS
FAMILY
PHYSICIANS
Our recruitment specialist would
be pleased to provide further
information on any of our
physician opportunities as well
as incentive packages available.
Maureen Webster
Coordinator, Physician Recruitment
Pictou County Health Authority
835 East River Road
New Glasgow, NS B2H 3S6
Phone: 902 752 7600 x3490
Mobile: 902 921 0657
Fax: 902 752 6231 Email:
[email protected]
The Pictou County Health Authority offers a wide range of
specialist and family practice opportunities. Located in
northeastern Nova Scotia, Pictou County offers excellent
professional opportunities in small town and rural settings.The
Pictou County Health Authority is responsible for delivering health
care services to the 48,000 residents as well as regional programs
to the greater population of northeastern Nova Scotia.
The Aberdeen Hospital in New Glasgow and Sutherland Harris
Memorial Hospital in Pictou are just 90 minutes from Halifax and
the Robert Stanfield International Airport. Moncton and
Charlottetown are not much further and we’re minutes away
from the warmest waters north of the Carolinas and some of the
most beautiful beaches in Nova Scotia.
The Aberdeen Hospital is a 112-bed regional facility providing a
broad range of primary and secondary services through
inpatient, outpatient and community-based services. Services
provided include: anesthesia, cardiology, diagnostic imaging,
emergency, general surgery, internal medicine, obstetrics and
gynecology, ophthalmology, orthopedics, pathology, pediatrics,
psychiatry and urology.
Sutherland Harris Memorial Hospital plays an important role in
the lives and communities it serves. It has a 12-bed restorative
care unit, a 20-bed veterans unit and various outpatient and
community programs and services.
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T H E T R AV E L L I N G D O C T O R D R . M E L B O R I N S
Unleash your artist
Take time off to get creative
P
hysicians are very creative people.
Amongst us are talented musicians,
singers, artists, writers and photographers. But it is not easy to be creative in the
midst of a busy schedule of seeing patients
or after coming home exhausted from
working long hours.
Time management is challenging
and balancing work demands and family
commitments takes planning and skill.
Having uninterrupted time in order to let
your creative juices ﬂow is so important.
Being creative takes time.
I am most creative on vacation; my
creative spirit becomes invigorated. Getting
off the treadmill of my day-to-day routine
somehow stimulates my ﬁve senses and
gets me to see things in a new way. The
colours, sounds, smells, and tastes of faraway places serve as a catalyst to trigger
my creativity. Being with different people
from different cultures, learning about
unique ways of seeing the world and being
exposed to new environments is inspiring.
healing through art
ISTOCK
Lauren Harris, one of Canada’s Group of
Seven artists wrote:
“Art is a realm of life between our mundane
world and the world of spirit. Art is one
of the ways in which man endeavours
to ﬁnd himself in the universe—to place
himself in harmony with the Laws and
motivating spirit of the life that functions
through these Laws. Of all manifestations
of man, art seems to exhibit the inner
unity of man, his identity, the articulation
and relationship and harmonious interplay
and accommodation of all the parts in a
functioning unity. Art at its highest is not
only a creative adventure into a realm
beyond that of our everyday concerns…
but is a power at work in mankind, a
power making for a greater understanding
of universal values, of the hidden meaning
of life. The environment evokes in us the
need to discover living values that increase
the depth of our awareness. Art leads us
both to ﬁnd ourselves in our environment
and to give that environment new and farreaching meaning.”
Creative work stems from an expression
of inner being. Painting, sculpture, writing,
music and dance are the highest form of
human expression. Art can express your
emotions, symbolize your dreams and
give form to your internal energy. When
you create a work of art,
you leave behind
something
that did not
exist before.
If you draw
a painting
or write a story, you have
created something
from the depths
of yourself.
On
numerous
occasions
I have used
time away to be creative. I
have fond memories of taking
my brushes, paints and easel
to a beautiful setting and attempting to
capture it on canvas.
Photography is another medium that
reﬂects my soul. Looking at an old photo
is never as profound as being in the scene
but it is surprising how
just looking at it can
re-ignite the amazing
feelings that were part
of the old experience.
I usually travel with
my guitar. It’s a bit of
a hassle getting it on
board the airplane but
when I’m on vacation I
usually have more time
to play. Some of my
best song writing has
been done away from
home.
Some people take art classes away from
home. Others go on a writing retreat or take
a writing course in some far-off secluded
place.
Next time you go away on vacation
choose the medium you feel most
comfortable with. Write a poem, story or
song. Buy the book Drawing on the Right
Side of your Brain and then, with paper and
paint, pencil or crayons, force yourself to
draw. Take an instruction manual along and
use the vacation to teach yourself to
play the
harmonica,
guitar or ﬂute.
Some of you may even
think you have no creative ability. Often it is
because your expectations are too high. No
matter what you do,
you feel it is not good
enough. You would
rather do nothing
than do something
poorly. Lower your
expectations and
start somewhere. Let
yourself go. Imagine
that you are ﬁve years
old, and you are just
starting to create for
the ﬁrst time. Let that
child in you have some
fun. I recommend taking The Artist’s Way by
Julia Cameron on your next vacation. Make
creativity part of your next trip away from
home.
Art can express
your emotions,
symbolize your
dreams and
give form to your
internal energy
Dr. Mel Borins is a family physician and freelance
writer. He is author of the books Go Away Just
for the Health of It and Photos and Songs of a
Pronoic Physician. Visit melborins.com.
April 2008 JUST FOR CANADIAN DOCTORS
33
M O A’ S C O R N E R
don’t invest in
risky investments…say bank stocks…then
one day you may be able to retire. But there
are so many exceptions; other forces are at
play…fate, luck, or as Seneca the Roman
philosopher said, “Chance makes a plaything
of a man’s life.”
The biggest lottery is being born. Four
million sperm chasing a single ova. Each one
as unique as a snowﬂake. Each one would
have produced someone else, but not you.
Of course there are the tens of billions of
sperm and hundreds of ovum who never
even had the chance. The odds of you are
comfortably into the trillions. That does
not even include all the twists and turns of
evolution and human existence that could
have led to intelligent jellyﬁsh inhabiting the
earth, or Neanderthals vanquishing Homo
Sapiens instead of vice versa.
But being born isn’t enough. We need to
choose a safe place to pop out of the womb.
For example, a suburb of Ottawa rather than
a suburb of Mogadishu. Then take your time
and pick your parents carefully. You want
robust genes and the need to nurture. Then
make sure you pick a career that doesn’t
expose you to too many carcinogens, a life
partner who isn’t too sociopathic, and a
city that doesn’t sit on too many fault lines
(ooops!). Take a holiday on beaches that
don’t attract tsunami waves, invest with
advisors who have your best interest at
heart, ﬁnd a family doctor who has the time
to examine you properly and…well….you
get the point.
So if you’re driving your BMW to your
nice house, where you’ll sip a glass of ﬁne
Chardonnay, sup on some nice organic
cuisine before enjoying, with your stable
supportive partner, the pleasures of your
healthy and beautiful bodies, it would be
well to remind yourself that you are in this
position from a series of fortunate events, as
much as due to your own good judgment.
It means that the hand of fate has been
benign, you have been blessed with good
fortune, the wheel of chance has turned to
your number, lady luck smiles on you—for
now, that is. Enjoy, and remember not to take
too much credit for it.
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9
Dr. Dara Behroozi is Just For Canadian
Doctors’ humour columnist. He practises
medicine, plays soccer and enjoys single-malt.
34
M
by
LIN BEARDSLEY
A dying breed?
Hold on tight to the MOA you’ve got
OAs are a dying breed. Recently
there were three family physician
ofﬁces in the three-story multi-use
ofﬁce building I work in that were looking
for an “entry-level” medical ofﬁce assistant
to start within the next few months. One
of those ofﬁces interviewed a new graduate from a local college and offered her the
position, which she accepted, but the day
she was to start she telephoned to say she
didn’t want the job. She gave no reason and
the MOA taking the call was so surprised she
didn’t ask why the change of heart. Did she
get nervous or another offer?
Besides the three ofﬁces in my building, there are, currently, at least two others
in the city advertising in the local paper for
a medical ofﬁce assistant. The replies from
MOAs are slim. Where are they? The MOA
programs at the colleges are always full
and are known to have wait-lists. The next
graduating class is the end of April.
I telephoned a friend who is the department head at one of the local colleges and
asked if she could let the new graduates
know of the three opportunities that were
not currently advertising. What she told me
made me feel sad for my profession.
Most of the graduates had found jobs,
and most of those in a hospital setting. This
is a change from only a few years ago when
nurses wanted to leave the hospital and
work in a medical ofﬁce—less stressful and
regular hours, albeit a lower wage in many
cases. The MOAs now prefer to go where
there are beneﬁts, higher wages, a pension
plan, and a union. The hospitals pay a higher
wage than a single-practice physician will
pay for an inexperienced MOA. Although
there are ofﬁces offering extended health
and dental insurance beneﬁts, there are
still many who, for one reason or another,
choose not to offer these beneﬁts—or do
not meet the requirements of the insurance
company.
I remember when I ﬁrst started as a
MOA. I was excited to be working in a ﬁeld
where I felt that what I did was meaningful
and mattered. My job description changed
and expanded with time and I had to learn
new skills—there was no computer to
JUST FOR CANADIAN DOCTORS April 2008
do billings and patient scheduling—that
I regarded as an exciting and necessary
challenge. I was proud of the career I had
chosen. It was much more than just a “job.” I
was proud to say I was a medical ofﬁce assistant. I enjoyed the respect that was offered
by the public. Other women of my age have
similar memories and they, too, regard their
employment as a profession, not a job.
I chuckled when I heard others say
they’d “like to do this kind of job because it
looks so easy.” After all, we just sit behind a
desk and answer the phone and make appointments—how hard can that be?
The professors teaching the MOA
courses have found that some of those students, when they enter the classroom, have
that same unrealistic image of what it takes
to be a MOA. Those who are looking for an
easy job, drop out. Some of those who stay
will graduate and choose to further their
education by training to be nurses and, in
some cases, doctors. But, those who choose
to use the education they have just gained
are the ones that we need to encourage to
work in the doctors’ ofﬁces—family practice
or specialty.
Even with the trend towards multi-practice ofﬁces, there will always be a need for
medical ofﬁce assistants. Therefore, until we
can encourage more women and men to
enter this ﬁeld of work, doctors, hold onto
the MOA you’ve got and make her or him
want to stay.
Visit the Ontario Medical Secretaries Association at
omsa-hca.org and Medical Ofﬁce Assistants’ of BC at
medicalofﬁceassistantsofbc.com.
Lin Beardsley (below right), a MOA since
1969, has been working the last 17 years with
Dr. Michael Mawdsley (below left), a Family
Physician in Victoria, BC.
TA L E S F R O M T H E T R E N C H E S D R . M A R L E N E H U N T E R
Spring and love is in the air
Catching the love bug in faraway places leads to romantic times
T
solution from
February/March contest
here’s nothing like being young,
feisty, raunchy and living in a strange
country to start romantic tingles up
and down some young, feisty, raunchy
arms—and other areas of the body too.
People have often asked me, “Why do
these volunteers (or Peace Corps or other
similar organizations) get themselves so
entangled in relationships that almost
always fall apart when they get home?”
My answer to that, after living in a
far distant country for several years and
watching such relationships evolve, is, “Well,
of course they fall in love—at least for a
while. They are in that country because they
have similar needs and hopes—to make a
difference, to offer expertise, to want to do
something that they can be proud of. And,
of course, to have a great and exciting time
while doing so. Great and exciting times,
when you are in your 20s, usually involves
romance.”
I watched several liaisons that had no
hope of going anywhere, because at least
sudoku 2 harder solution
4 9 6 8 7 3 1 5 2
2 7 1 6 9 5 4 8 3
5 3 8 4 2 1 9 6 7
3 8 7 2 6 4 5 9 1
9 2 4 1 5 8 7 3 6
1 6 5 9 3 7 8 2 4
6 5 9 7 4 2 3 1 8
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7 1 3 5 8 6 2 4 9
solution from page 37
Puzzle by websudoku.com
sudoku 1 easier solution
2 8 1 3 5 7 4 9 6
3 4 9 6 2 8 5 1 7
6 5 7 1 9 4 8 2 3
4 7 6 5 1 9 2 3 8
1 2 5 4 8 3 6 7 9
8 9 3 2 7 6 1 5 4
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one half of the liaison would be going
home. That didn’t seem to dampen the
enthusiasm—on the contrary. There were
tearful goodbyes and soulful looks, and
promises to write. However, the one who
was leaving was usually the most tearful
and soulful, and the one who was staying
obviously girded up his or her loins and got
on with life—and another romance.
There was a particularly attractive young
man who lived near the village where I
worked in Kenya, who sent feminine hearts
all aﬂutter within minutes. Had I not been 10
years older, my heart probably would have
been all aﬂutter, too—that, and having my
two sons with me. Alas—I had to settle for
the position of surrogate mother. I even had
one young woman, pouring her soul out to
me, say “Oh, Marlene—Mother Marlene…”
She was all of eight years younger than I,
and I admit that I am still a little irked by
that!
But that is very small minded of me, and
I repent. In fact, she ended up marrying him,
although she was from a different country,
with an ocean in between, and they had to
choose who would move where. And they
were married in Kenya, and pretended that
they were not so that various parents would
not be upset. I can tell you, said parents—
who were looking forward to arranging a
lovely wedding—were indeed upset when
truth came to light. In fact, I don’t think that
bride’s mother ever forgave that young
man!
Then there was the couple that kept
breaking up and re-uniting and breaking up
and—well, you get the idea. It went on for
years! And she even followed him around
after they returned to their own country.
All of us who knew them shook our heads.
They have now been married for about 30
years and I suppose we have to admit that
our instincts (“He should tell her straight out
that it isn’t going to work!”) were slightly
off-balance.
And then, of course, we had our local
Romeo, who sent little tingles into the
hearts of many a young woman just by
being so—well—sexy. He positively exuded
it. I even had to give myself a strict heartto-heart talk to avoid joining the masses.
Instead, I found myself, again, being
surrogate mother to all those mournful
hearts, who absolutely knew that he was the
love of their life and that they would never
ﬁnd another.
Many years later, after my sons and I had
returned to Canada, this Romeo did marry a
woman from North America. She moved to
Kenya to be with him. The marriage lasted
about 10 years and then dissolved. It was an
amicable separation—if that isn’t too kitschy
a phrase—but it took its toll, too, because
neither has re-married after the divorce.
Ah, yes. Love conquers all—or mostly.
But isn’t it fun? And if you were young and
feisty, etcetera, etcetera, and in a faraway
country for a couple of years or so, wouldn’t
you be tempted, too? And wouldn’t you
have a great time? Yes, probably you would,
because you also would be in that faraway
place for the same basic reasons. It’s a good
basis for romance.
On a slightly different note, but not too
far apart, I’ll offer a little personal anecdote
(please take note, Dr. Chris Pengilly).
My husband and I were in Wales. It was
only a few years after our marriage (we had
both been widowed when we were still
quite young) and we were enjoying the
pleasure-trip part of an overseas conference.
We were staying in a B&B, on the top ﬂoor. It
was morning, quite early, and we were both
all warm and cozy. (Okay, we were having
sex.) Suddenly there was a knock on the
door and a woman’s voice said, “I say! Are
you alright?”
Well, the sex sort of collapsed, as it were,
and I got the giggles. We spluttered out,
“Yes, we’re ﬁne, thanks” (or words to that
effect).
“Well,” she spluttered in return, “you
were making a noise!”
And after that, we had to go down to
the dining room for breakfast.
Dr. Marlene Hunter is a well-travelled
physician who is now director of Labyrinth
Victoria Centre for Dissociation.
Puzzle by websudoku.com
April 2008 JUST FOR CANADIAN DOCTORS
35
MOTORING
D R . K E L LY S I L V E R T H O R N
Goldilocks & the 3 Jaguars
W
hat is the moral of the Goldilocks
fairytale? For me, it’s about
honouring preference. How each
of us prefers our porridge. Or, that your
favourite mattress differs from Papa Bear’s.
Goldilocks’ middling selections bore me, but
the world is a better place when her choices
are preserved.
I’ve kept Goldilocks in mind as I
contemplate Jaguar’s uncertain future.
The brand’s motto is “Grace. Space. Pace.”
based Jaguars won Le Mans ﬁve times in
the Fabulous Fifties. That win total bettered
the combined results of racing rivals Ferrari,
Mercedes, Aston Martin, Porsche, and
Maserati.
In the 1960s, Jaguar production cars
sent enthusiasts agog. The audacious XK
(E-Type) sports car came ﬁrst, and then the
rakish XJ sedan. However, the late Sixties
also revealed the fault lines within British
industry. Farcical labour strife and inept
Jaguar’s new mid-size XF sedan model. If Goldilocks were a venture capitalist, she might be attracted
to Jaguar. Not too small, like the “bespoke” or boutique brands, and not too big, like the mainstream
luxury brands…But does this make Jaguar “just right” sized for future prosperity?
Despite investing billions since acquiring Jag
in 1988, Ford saw sales fall from grace. The
pace of losses mounted.
Ford sought new ownership: ﬁrst
discreetly, then openly, later desperately.
Fewer suitors emerged than the Maple
Leafs’ Stanley Cup prospects. Early this year,
India’s Tata Motors ﬁnally stepped into the
breach with a lifeline for Jaguar. The vulture
capitalists have been driven back—for now.
Jaguar’s current dire straights are in
stark contrast to its illustrious post-WW II
decades. The 1950s saw England as the
world’s leading exporter of cars. Production-
36
state interventions ruled. Meanwhile, English
engineering lost pace to the Germans and
Japanese.
Still, into the 1970s with V-12 power and
the seductive XJ Coupe, Jaguar offered
vivacious luxury compared to the staid
Germans. Yet, the 1970s and 80s would
erase independent English makes. While
the rigours of the fuel crisis, smog rules, and
safety regs galvanized premium German
brands (Mercedes, BMW, Porsche, Audi)—
British brands faltered, then fell.
Ford Motor Company overpaid for
Jaguar in 1988. Shortly thereafter, Toyota’s
JUST FOR CANADIAN DOCTORS April 2008
Lexus, Nissan’s Inﬁnity, and Honda’s Acura
brought scrutiny of reliability, customer
service, value and resale values to the
luxury-car marketplace. In response, the
luxury-vehicle market in Canada grew
from about 3% of total market share in
1990 to about 9% today.
Throughout this same period, Jaguar
has been playing catch up—on design,
reliability, customer satisfaction, and
residual values. Ironically, Jaguar’s current
product offering is as competitive as at any
time since 1965. It’s just challenging to get
this competitiveness noticed today, after
decades of less impressive showings.
Tata gets the keys to Jaguar factories
with three models in production. The
existing XK grand-touring and XJ premiumsedan models boast all-aluminum
architecture. However, sales have been
disappointing. Perhaps each is too closely
styled to their 1960s namesakes. The totally
new mid-size XF sedan model is executed
in conventional steel, featuring thoroughly
modern design.
Initially, it would be judged a success if
Tata could simply maintain Jaguar’s annual
global sales at 54,000 units. The next few
years, and thus the market’s reaction to
the new XF, will be critical. The timing of
the world’s current economic turmoil is
inopportune.
By acquiring Jaguar, the automotive
world has taken great interest in Tata.
However, their purchase is a double-edged
sword. Succeed and bask in the plaudits.
Fail and a famous brand dies on their
watch—martyr-like.
For 60 years Jaguar has been a ﬁxture
amongst premium brands. Despite
intense competition, a niche for worthy
British interpretations of affordable luxury
must exist. Jaguars may be too sassy for
Goldilocks’ middling tastes, but the world is
a better place if her choices are preserved.
Join me in wishing Jaguar’s new South
Asian owners every success.
Dr. Kelly Silverthorn is a radiologist and Just
For Canadian Doctors’ automotive writer.
COURTESY JAGUAR
The Jaguar brand’s fortunes hang in the balance
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April 2008 JUST FOR CANADIAN DOCTORS
37
S M A L L TA L K
doctors share their picks, pans, pleasures and fears
This physician has swung across a gorge in Zambia, white-water rafted the Zambezi River amidst
crocodiles, survived crossing the street in New Delhi…and when the adrenaline isn’t rushing she loves
strolling and lounging on the grass with her family, listening to Beethoven (or Nine Inch Nails!) and indulging
in Junior Mints while watching Han Solo and the crew.
My name: Chloe Joynt
stroller or throwing a baseball
around
I live and practise in:
Edmonton, Alberta
I’d want this item with me if
stranded on a desert island:
Helicopter, ﬁlled with fuel
My training: MD, MSc, FRCPC
(Peds & CIP), Neonatology
My secret to relaxing and relieving tension: Still looking…but
I love laughing over dinners with
family and friends
Why I was drawn to
medicine: Neonatal Intensive
Care is a subspecialty that
lets me use all aspects of
my personality on a daily
basis—the adrenaline junkie
goes to work when necessary,
the nerd gets to problem
solve medically and address
unanswered questions
through research in the lab,
and the doctor part lets me
look after babies and their
families, providing care or
A talent I wish I had: Playing the
guitar
My scariest moment: Gorge
swinging off a cliff with Dennis in
Zambia or trying to cross the road
in downtown New Delhi.
My fondest memory: Sitting on
the grass in Boston Common Park
eating pizza with Dennis and Elle.
A big challenge I’ve faced: Being
a good mom
One thing I’d change about
myself: I wish I could be still and
enjoy the moment a bit more
often.
My biggest ego boost: When
Elle crawls in my direction; when
a patient’s family remembers me,
says hi and tells me how things
are going
My biggest ego blow: When Elle
crawls by me to get to the soother
behind me; when my best efforts
to communicate with families and
colleagues are ineffective
Dr. Chloe Joynt at
the Taj Mahal in
India; with daughter
Elle and husband
Dennis; and swinging
off of a cliff in Zambia
My last trip: Boston and
Stanford…hauling my husband,
Dennis and daughter Elle with me
so I could do a little extra training.
The most exotic place I’ve
travelled: White-water rafting
down the Zambezi River, followed
by ﬂoating violently down the
Zambezi, hanging onto a capsized
raft and hoping all the crocodiles
were already well fed and content.
The best souvenir I’ve brought
back from a trip: A lot of great
memories shared with friends and
family that make me laugh until
my sides hurt.
My dream vacation: I’d love to
travel to all of the continents.
38
My favourite
book: The Lives
of a Cell by Lewis
Thomas
My favourite movie: The Princess
Bride or Legally Blonde—depending on how the day is going.
My favourite TV show: Lost
My favourite CD: Seems to
change a lot but I do turn up
Closer by NIN and Moonlight
Sonata by Beethoven.
The gadget or gear I could
not do without: I’m really not
a gadget person…everyone
laughs at me as I still carry around
a black book and pen for notes,
appointments, etc.
My first job: The drive-through
cashier at Wendy’s
My car: Lexus Rx…but I still pine
JUST FOR CANADIAN DOCTORS April 2008
for my little Acura Integra “go
kart” that “had to go” as it was car
seat incompatible.
My last purchase: Purse
My closet has too many: Purses
My guilty pleasure is: Eating
Junior Mints and watching Star
Wars (the old ones)
My fridge is always stocked
with: Red peppers, feta, and
Minigo
My medicine cabinet is always
stocked with: Not sure…I think
there are some ﬁve-year-old
Nemo band-aids in there
My favourite exercise/activity: Cruising with family with the
My greatest fear is: That I
will become too busy to pick
up stones at the beach with my
husband, teach my kid to throw a
fastball, or laugh with friends
My motto is: Do not go where
the path may lead; go instead
where there is no path and leave
a trail
A cause that’s close to my
heart: Youth Emergency Shelter
Something I haven’t done yet
that’s on my must-do list: Visit
the Great Wall of China and the
Great Pyramid of Giza
If I wasn’t a doctor I’d be:
An astrophysicist—the whole
cosmos, black holes, expanding
universe stuff is fascinating…but I
was never very good at physics
COURTESY DR. CHLOE JOYNT
lending a shoulder to lean on
through what can be a difﬁcult
time.
I’m happiest when: I get group
hugs from my family or laughing
with friends
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