Medical association president gives care to homeless

Randy Duncan pulls up his sleeve and asks the doctor if the dark, reddish purple mark above his wrist is a liver spot.

“We're going to a place that we don't want to be,” Dr. Jeff Turnbull tells Duncan quietly. “Do you think you could slow down a little bit?”

“You mean the drinking?” asks Duncan, 57, as Turnbull nods. “It's not that bad. Is it that bad?

“It's just that I haven't gone without a drink in almost 40 years, so the thought of it is shocking to me, you know?”

“I understand,” Turnbull says, his hand squeezing the man's shoulder. “You're still a good person and we'll still look after you.”

Turnbull, with a red stethoscope dangling from his neck, says goodbye to the rest of the gang in the special care unit at the Salvation Army homeless shelter on George St. in Ottawa.

Turnbull, 60, is greeted like a rock star when he walks through the doors of homeless shelters in Ottawa, but that's not where most Canadians would expect to find him.

As president of the Canadian Medical Association, the national body representing physicians, Turnbull is often in the spotlight advocating for his colleagues and for better investment in health care.

Publication Date: 
2010
Location: 
Ottawa, ON, Canada