Dr. Mary Beth Bourne
Health
January 29, 2008 04:08 PM
beingwell magazine Winter 2008
By: Leslie Plant
Two things you might not know about Dr. Mary Beth Bourne: she grew up “literally, in the bush” in a small Northern Ontario mining town and her favourite TV show is CSI.
Yet these two seemingly unrelated facts have converged to help shape Dr. Bourne’s career and, by extension, impacted the lives of not only the patients she has cared for in her 30-plus year career as a family/emergency physician but the many others she has helped through numerous volunteer activities.
Dr. Bourne, who has been honoured as one of this year’s recipients of the Dr. David Hill Memorial Award in recognition of her commitment to help others, chose to take over the Newmarket practice of Dr. Neville Robinson in 1975, shortly after she completed her internship at North York
General, because the small-town atmosphere reminded her of home.
“I really wanted to get out of the city,” she says. “At that point, Newmarket was quite rural. I’m from a small community, Elliot Lake, and we shared the same values.”
That kinship with the setting and people of Newmarket has been sustained since and Dr. Bourne subsequently raised her three children in the Newmarket area, built a family practice
and has volunteered her time and skills to innumerable initiatives within the Southlake community.
As a physician early in her career, she “did it all”, including obstetrics and working in the emergency room — often with Dr. Hill. She has since acted as physician leader of the
emergency department and served on the medical staff executive.
Dr. Bourne, along with a colleague, has also been involved in the eating disorders program, since its inception.
“It’s a really good program and it involves a multi-disciplinary team approach, with
psychiatrists, psychologists, dietitians, social workers, child youth workers, all having a
different role.”
Dr. Bourne also cites the opportunity to work on a diverse team as the appeal behind her
volunteering as a coroner, which she’s done for the past five years, and her recent expanded role as an inquest coroner as of January 2007.
That and the fact she loves CSI and finds the work fascinating.
“I’ve always had an interest in this area and when my children left home, I saw a way to find the time to fit it into my practice. You work with police, you work with the Crown and you work with various lawyers… the motto of the coroner is ‘to learn from the dead to protect the living’ and I like that.”
As a coroner, Dr. Bourne has had to apply some of the tough lessons she learned as an emergency room physician, where she witnessed tragedies occurring at every age, to help families through often very traumatic circumstances.
As an inquest coroner, she has been able to contribute to developing recommendations as a result of those tragedies.
This background also provided a rare glimpse into a tragedy few could fathom. Dr. Bourne spent time at Ground Zero four months after the 9/11 attack, counselling recovery workers and visiting the medical examiner’s makeshift site.
As a volunteer on York Region’s critical incident stress management team, Dr. Bourne was one of about 15 clinicians and police officers who offered on-site debriefs for local police officers involved in 9/11.
While witnessing first-hand the magnitude of the damage, Dr. Bourne was chiefly struck by the brotherhood, generosity and commitment of the people working there.
“There were people from all over the country working at great peril to themselves. They were so appreciative of our support. They were amazing.”
Over and above all this, Dr. Bourne also served as a member of the Seneca College board of governors for three years and one year as chairperson.
“It was a great opportunity for me to work with such dedicated and learned people,” she says.
Dr. Bourne, who professes a love of learning, believes life experiences such as these have taught her the importance of maintaining a balance in life, which she achieves by pursuing her love of outdoor activities such as cross-country skiing and hiking.
“You’re always humbled by your patients and it has been my privilege to have been involved in the lives of so many different people who have impacted me tremendously — I remember them all well,” she says.
“Dr. Hill is one colleague definitely remembered and respected. I also have had the privilege to work with such good colleagues — in medicine, nursing, pharmacy, rehab, dietetics — through the years, and the support and collegiality I have received is tremendous.”
Dr. Steve Stokl, who nominated Dr. Bourne for the Dr. Hill award, says it best when describing her contribution to the community: “She is simply just one of those physicians who the community served by Southlake Regional Health Centre is blessed to have in their midst. I know that I am just giving you a tip of the iceberg about this terrific person who delivers a passionate energy with practised wisdom to so many areas of life that she touches.”
Dr. Bourne adds a final thought: “Southlake has grown from York County, but the respect and teamwork continues to mature and go forward. I hope we always remember our motto: Tradition is cherished. Change is welcomed.”