“How are they going to top that one?” was the question on the mind of everyone who had the pleasure of hearing local retired doctor Eric Paetkau deliver the Clifford Smith memorial lecture for ElderU on Sept. 27.
Paetkau is the author of The Doc’s Side, a memoir of his career on the Coast that began in 1959 with a partnership with the resident senior doctor, Al Swan. That wonderful friendship lasted until Swan’s death in 2011.
Paetkau is a gifted storyteller. He can have a crowd go from tears of laughter to tears of sorrow in nothing flat. And his talk on Saturday was no exception.
From stories about the early days, including a one-of-a-kind baby delivery in Roberts Creek, to his final days as a regularly practising surgeon at St. Mary’s Hospital, Paetkau had the audience mesmerized.
His lack of ego endeared him to everyone in the audience. Not many people would admit their careers came to an end because they could no longer hear their own farts, or someone commented that their best-before date might have been reached.
Paetkau is brutally honest. He doesn’t suffer fools gladly, and he didn’t hesitate to tell the audience that he thought his time spent in Somalia on a relief mission was a waste of time.
Paetkau was incensed that only the men of that poor African country were considered worthy of medical care. The women and children were left to “Allah’s will” for healing. Many of the ills Paetkau saw in Somalia he could have healed had he been allowed.
He told a funny story about another relief hitch, this time to one of the countries that made up the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republic. While there he was taken boar hunting, and when none of the wild pigs showed up, the guide offered Paetkau and his colleague an opportunity to target shoot. They did, and none of the bullets worked.
“And you were worried about us for so many years,” the guide laughed, referencing the Cold War.
The afternoon began with a luncheon at Buc-caneers Restaurant in Sechelt with the ElderU board members and Shelley McDade, chair of the Capilano University board. The lecture, named for the late Clifford Smith, an educator for many years with School District No. 46 and a former chair of the ElderU board, is a start to the fall series of ElderU offerings. See capilanou.ca/sunshine
