Henderson named one of seven physicians of the year in Ontario
Posted By Mark Hoult
Posted 8 months ago
Trent Hills – The Ontario College of Family Physicians has named Campbellford's Dr. Bob Henderson one of the province's seven family physicians of the year for his dedication to his patients, profession and community.
Last week college CEO Jan Kasperski was at Campbellford Memorial Hospital to present Henderson with the regional Family Physician Award for the Central East and North Simcoe Muskoka Local Health Integration Networks.
During his work in Campbellford over the past 32 years Henderson has shown the kind of "incredible leadership that really brings people together and makes a community really hum," Kasperski said during the presentation in the hospital board room.
He is also widely recognized for his work in Campbellford and his role in transforming the local primary health care system, Kasperski said.
"He has really made this community one of the most thriving health care communities in the province," she said, adding that "Dr. Bob" has earned special regard at the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons for fostering the family medicine program at the University of Toronto.
"And he has been well recognized for really supporting and encouraging inter-professional teamwork within the community. We were so pleased when his peers nominated him for Family Physician of the Year."
Henderson called the award "a huge honour," while at the same time stressing he is only one of many family physicians, both locally and across the province, "who have been dedicated to family medicine and who have spent their time and energies bringing family medicine forward in the province."
He also stressed that Campbellford has been both "a marvellous home" for himself and his family and a place where he has been able to practise family medicine as part of a dedicated team, which now includes the hospital, the Trent Hills Family Health Team and "the community at large."
And all have been part of the process of improving local health care.
"One isn't able to achieve anything if you don't have a team of people. It's been wonderful to have the kind of support I've encountered, and the friendships and the relationships have made it a very worthwhile thing, and I want to thank everybody."
In an interview with The Community Press, Henderson said one of the greatest satisfactions of his career in Campbellford has been the relationships he has developed with his patients over the years.
"I now care for children of people I delivered. I think that those kinds of deep family relationships are very rewarding, and I'm privileged to be part of that."
Henderson said he is also proud of how Campellford and surrounding area has been developed into a teaching centre for new physicians.
"We put many, many learners, at various levels, through the community," he said, noting that both the hospital and family health team "have been very supportive" of the program.
Throughout his years in the community, Campbellford Memorial Hospital "has been a very great part of my career," Henderson said, praising the quality of both medical and administrative staff, including the hospital's most recent president and CEO, Kelly Isfan. "Certainly our relationship with Kelly has been fantastic, and I think she and her team have really solidified this hospital."
Henderson said one the accomplishments he is most proud of is his role in developing the Trent Hills Family Health Team.
"It's been a huge benefit to the community, and I'm proud to have been a part of that process," he said, noting that the development of the family health team concept across the province has played an important part in the recent increase in the number of medical students choosing family medicine.
