Changing the face of health care in Dunnville
Posted By CATHY PELLETIER , CHRONICLE STAFF WRITER
Posted 2 months ago
The idea first occurred to Dr. Ken Vickers in 1960.
On July 1, 1962, he and his comrades, Dr. David McInnis and Dr. Wilfred Mills, opened The Medical Centre on Lock Street West, forever changing the face of health care in Dunnville.
The other two doctors have since passed away, but have left an indelible mark on the medical community, Vickers told the Chronicle in a recent interview at his home.
After graduating from university in 1946, Vickers came to Dunnville in 1950.
"Things were very different in those days," he said. "They didn't have all the ultrasounds and technical equipment and blood tests they do now, so all of us were trained more as diagnosticians. In small towns, you can't get much relief or time off," he said, adding that patients would often come to his home office at all hours of the day and night, seeking medical attention.
"I'd been practicing for 10 years in town and there were about seven or nine of us at the time, and the three of us decided" to open the clinic, said Vickers. "David was working with his father, Dr. E. L. McInnis, on Lock Street," and the senior McInnis "came and stayed with us for three years."
By July of 1962, "we had the property bought and rezoned and the clinic built. It had five rooms, a dispensary, plus an office and waiting room. We all had our own receptionists."
Despite the fact that it "didn't have any x-ray equipment or anything; just rooms,"
Vickers felt "It was accepted very gratefully by the people of Dunnville. If you had an emergency, there was a room downstairs for heart attacks" and the like, "and we would put on plasters and casts in the fracture room."
Located at 420 Lock Street West, the facility "lasted 50 years or so as a Medical Centre," and now houses Dunnville Physiotherapy.
"The three of us felt originally that we had done the right thing for us and our patients and it changed the method of medical treatment."
Within three years of the clinic's opening, Dr. E. L. McInnis retired, said Vickers. "We thought we needed a surgeon and we were lucky enough to get Ken Mustard from Port Colborne," he added.
"The Centre was being built the year I was finishing my year in surgery," said Mustard, "and I was trying to decide where I would start my practice. An internist, Dr. Marsden, who
came to Dunnville on a regular basis from Hamilton General, knew I was just finishing my training. He said he knew of three doctors who were starting a clinic in Dunnville and Dr. McBernie would come from Port Colborne every Tuesday and for some emergencies. I spoke with Dr. Mills and the others and I was quite impressed with their dedication. What they really wanted to do was provide a good service for the people of Dunnville and being a group, they were able to cover each other. So I talked it over with my wife and moved here from Port Colborne in 1962."
The timing was perfect for Mustard, who stayed until Dr. Baker came and took his practice in 1996. "He was a military surgeon and I worked with him for five years," noted Mustard.
"When selecting the surgeon," Vickers said, "we knew he (Mustard) was finishing his residency at the Hamilton General Hospital, had worked in Sudbury for a few years, then did his post-graduate work in Buffalo, and he finished up here. Dr. Mustard could do obstetrics, orthopedics, and general surgery. We were proud of the new hospital. It revolutionized the way treatment was done in Dunnville. Once we got a surgeon in, we could do a lot more in Dunnville. The hospital was built in 1951 and they kept adding more and more. The hospital grew and grew till there were 84 beds. Horrendous car and motorcycle accidents were looked after. In the summertime, we doubled the town's population with the tourists and people did some awful things," he said, citing accidents involving farm machinery and boats as just some of the emergencies handled by staff.
"It was easier to practice when we had a surgeon in town and the hospital provided us with facilities, and the boards have always been great. We all took turns doing weekends, and it was very successful. The professional bonding was exceptional among the various doctors and nurses. There was no animosity. The bonding between the hospital and the medical staff was very good."
However, it required a great deal of discipline, he said. "Medicine in those days was a tough job. We really looked after people in town, and we took calls at the hospital."
Between treating patients at both the Medical Centre and the Hospital, they were still juggling house calls for years, as well as delivering babies at all hours of the day and night.
"You don't get too many spare moments," said Vickers, the father of five living children. "I miss the office and my patients, but you only have so much strength."
In the colourful mural completed by artist Anthony Farsey that originally hung in the Medical Centre and now hangs in the Haldimand War Memorial Hospital, Vickers is depicted in fine form, dressed in a golden suit he once wore with pride.
"When we all retired, (Dr.) Peter Dunlop and others came" to take their place, explained Vickers. "Wilf passed away. He was really the senior man of the three of us, and David died unexpectedly. I'm the only one of the three that's left."
"I was indeed fortunate when I came to Dunnville in July 1965 to begin my practice in family medicine," said Dunlop. "I had excellent family doctors in Dr. Dave McInnis, Ken Vickers, and Wilfred Mills, plus an excellent skillful surgeon, Ken Mustard. The reason I stayed in town was because of my partners, the hospital staff and the support of the patients in the community. I suspect this is why Drs. Graham Wood and Rehana Rouf came and stayed from 1981 to 2007. They were the last real partners of the Medical Centre before it closed."
Dunlop added, "The Centre was sold to the Haldimand War Memorial Hospital as a charitable gift in 2001."
Upon his retirement from active practice in 2003, the hospital and staff presented Dunlop with a painting of the Medical Centre that was completed by Carol Pew of Wainfleet.
