‘Outpouring of grief’
Memorial for FNQ obstetrician on special date
A MEMORIAL for a popular Far North doctor who died suddenly at the start of the year will be held after hundreds of former patients expressed an outpouring of grief.
Cairns Private Hospital obstetrician Dr Tom Wright, known to his patients as Dr Tom, died on February 28 at the age of 70.
Midwife Nindra SamraiBlair said the Dr Tom Wright Memorial High Tea would be held on May 21 between 11am to 2pm at the Pullman International Hotel.
“How it came about and why we wanted to do this was Dr Tom passed in February this year and there was such an outpouring of grief,” Ms Samrai-Blair said.
“It was just so sad and so sudden. I was actually doing the booking in. A lot of patients had to be moved into see other obstetricians.
“We’d spend about 20 minutes just hearing them cry and talk about how great Dr Tom was and how he delivered their first babies.
“It was really hard, they needed to vent and talk about how they missed him.”
Ms Samrai-Blair said it made her want to do something nice for the community.
“People were saying, ‘we wanted to go to the funeral’, but we didn’t know what to do,” she said.
After approaching Dr Wright’s family, Ms SamraiBlair said they were excited to put it on a special day.
“When we decided on a date, his beautiful wife said maybe we could do it on his birthday,” she said.
“Then we said let’s just make it a weekend because his birthday is the Monday.
“It’s super nice, the day before his birthday, there will be a lovely event where we will celebrate his life and people will be able to tell stories.”
Cairns Private Hospital helped make the event possible by funding it but what is truly special is the fundraiser will go to a cause Dr Wright cared a lot about.
“Dr Tom was really into the welfare of the babies but also welfare of mums and dads,” she said.
“It’s a huge transition to motherhood and fatherhood, this transition was really important to him.
“We’d like to donate some of the money to peri-natal mental health.”
Ms Samrai-Blair said they were looking at other charities.
Tickets for the event can be found at www.trybooking.com/CEAHR