News

Heritage Doors...Something to Think About

Author:    Dr. Barry Nathanson, President, General Medical Staff
               Southlake Regional Health Centre

Newmarket, Ontario February 14, 2006 - I wonder how many hospital and medical staff members are familiar with Southlake’s tagline "Tradition is cherished; change is welcomed". And I wonder how many of us have taken the time to consider what this pithy little phrase really means, to us as an organization and to each of us as individuals. Personally, I've liked that little statement since I first heard it several years ago. It dovetails so gracefully with the well known quotation ascribed to Jonas Salk about the importance of parents giving their children "roots and wings", a piece of sage guidance that has governed my own fatherhood through easy and difficult times.

The old west wing entranceway, now erected in the new lobby, has brought this whole issue to the fore. The lion's share of my attention over these past three and a half years of my presidency has been focused on the future by the challenges of redevelopment, and on the present by the moment to moment struggles of such things as the Norwalk era, the SARS fiasco and the myriad other issues and challenges that fall under the purview of the Medical Staff President. As a consequence and by human nature itself, I have taken only very little time to focus on our past, our roots, where we as an organization come from. And I suspect that I've probably taken more time than most.

I would encourage all of you to at least once peruse the history page on our hospital website. You'll read about our hospital's origins in the 1920's as the private medical practice of Dr. Lowell W. Dales, and it's evolution to a public hospital driven by the eventual recognition of the need for more advanced care closer to home. Sound familiar? The rest of the synopsis makes for a lovely, quaint read. A few moments of easy reading have given great depth to my appreciation of what is otherwise merely an appealing architectural element, a simple door.

I will confess to having been peeking through the tarp regularly while the installation of the doorway was underway. However, I did so only in the wee hours of the mornings when I was on call; for some reason I didn't wish to appear too interested. And since the doorway has been revealed I have continued to steal only furtive glances, still trying to appear nonchalant. But it has certainly had my attention as personal memories have flooded back, resurrected by the sight, the sound and the touch of the door and its accouterments.

Many of you will recall what it was like to enter the hospital via the old west wing entrance not at all long ago. Back then the door made a very distinctive sound as it was opened; towards the end it took on the sound of a door that had been opened far too often. And then there was the even more characteristic sighing sound it made as it closed clumsily behind; it always sounded so relieved when it closed. Just as memorable was the sharp scent that lay beyond the entrance, the lingering odor, I thought, of stale time.