Most of the responses I get are “healer”, “health care provider”, “someone who helps patients” etc.  Was your response similar?

If you look up the word doctor in Webster’s dictionary it has an interesting definition.  The word doctor comes from the Latin doceo or doctum which means to teach!  The definition continues as “a teacher, an instructor, a person who has received the degree of this name from a university, being thus a doctor of divinity, laws, medicine, etc., and supposed capable of teaching the particular subject”.

That’s different than most people think isn’t it?  In downtown Vancouver I regard my job as one in which I help you understand your condition, and help you to find ways to get over the immediate problem as well as trying to avoid future problems.  I believe that healing comes from within and that if you have knowledge about how to help your body heal, and you apply the knowledge, you can have a remarkably healthy body.

When you are a patient of mine, you had better be prepared to learn about your body.  I’m going to fulfill my role and be a doctor!