Island’s top doc
Dr. Charles Duffy gets nod as Prince Edward Island’s Family Physician of the Year
Call him Doctor Diverse.
Dr. Charles Duffy puts his medical knowledge to work in varied – and effective - fashion.
His primary role is working fulltime as an emergency physician at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Charlottetown. He also darts off to Nunavut twice a year, putting in a couple of weeks each trip to offer family practice and emergency locum work.
He even sneaks in time to perform medical aesthetics at his wife’s medical spa.
Add to all that regular work a host of roles that include serving as medical director for Island EMS and medical adviser for the Secondary Stroke Prevention Clinic in Summerside, and Duffy is a doctor on the move.
He puts in, on average, a six-day week.
Is he restless?
“My wife thinks I have ADD,’’ he says with a laugh.
“I think I like the variety, to be honest. I’ve always enjoyed it.’’
Unlike some who may be described as a jack of all trades but master of none, Duffy is lauded not only for how much he does in the medical field, but how well he does it.
“He has always had a hand in a lot of different things… because he is good at it,’’ says QEH medical director Dr. Ron Whalen.
“He finds it interesting, and it keeps him active.’’
The College of Family Physicians of Canada chose Duffy as the 2018 Family Physician of the Year for P.E.I. Each year 10 recipients – one for each province – are nominated by their peers, colleagues and the college’s chapters for their leadership, contributions to patient care, and commitment to family medicine teaching and research.
Duffy calls the recognition “quite an honour’’ but is quick to add that there are a lot of “really good’ family doctors on P.E.I.
Whalen is far more effusive in sizing up Duffy’s suitability for selection as the Island’s Top Doc this year.
“Charles has probably earned it a few times over,’’ he says.
“Charles is definitely deserving.’’
Whalen describes Duffy as a very solid emergency physician, the type of doctor people would want to see tend to their loved one.
“He’s smart, willing to put in the work…he’s the ideal ‘emerge’ doc,’’ he says.
“When things go bad, he can handle it.’’
Duffy says the decision to pursue a career in medicine was a gradual process but one he is certain was influenced by the competent and caring role of his own family physician.
Growing up the third youngest of 10 children on a family beef farm in Fort Augustus, Duffy notes he has always been fiercely independent, earning his first pay cheque picking strawberries at age six.
He did farm chores and liked to be around animals but did not take long to rule out farming as a potential livelihood.
“I kind of thought farmers work way too hard and don’t make any money,’’ he says.
Performing well academically was not a challenge, but he still worked hard to excel.
He graduated from Memorial University of Newfoundland with his bachelor of medical science and then his medicine degree.
He went on to feed his thirst for new experiences and different cultures through a career that has seen him tackle numerous roles in several different places.
He did a three-month elective in pediatrics in Kenya during medical school, an experience that left a lasting change in his perception of medicine and social injustices.
His 26-year career (and counting) began in Charlottetown in 1992, then short stints in British Columbia and New Brunswick, which were followed by a family practice in Montague from 1995 to 2003. He was also house doctor at the Dr. John Gillis Memorial Lodge in Belfast, P.E.I.. from 1995 to 2005 and worked in the Prince County Hospital emergency room in Summerside from 2003 to 2015.
Today, Duffy puts in about 14 shifts a month in the QEH emergency department assessing patients and doing initial stabilization and treatment of health
emergencies like heart attack, stroke and trauma.
He likes the fact he is doing more intensive work – he is often treating people who are acutely ill – than a family physician working out of an office.
“One of the nice parts is you can see your results right away,’’ he notes.
“I found it’s a little more interesting. It’s certainly challenging because you have to think on the spot.’’
He went to Nunavut on what was supposed to be a one-time adventure providing medical care to the Inuit people. He found so much enjoyment working with the people and delighted in experiencing their culture that he has kept returning each of the last seven or eight years.
He will do occasional house calls but works mostly out of a hospital in Iqaluit and in clinics in a number of villages.
“They really are appreciative of what we do,’’ he says.
Duffy also spends time working at his wife Linda’s medical spa. He was reluctant to do so at first but is pleased his wife gave him the nudge.
His view of esthetics has changed as he smooths wrinkles, fills back volume in faces and treats sagginess.
He has had patients come to him in tears saying how much better they feel after Duffy improved their appearance and, in the process, boosted their selfconfidence.
“People do feel better about themselves,’’ he says.
Duffy’s main efforts, though, have always been to help improve peoples’ health, not how they look.
He views the family physician as the corner stone of the health care system.
“I am passionate about improving our health care system to make it more accessible, efficient and responsive to our patients’ needs,’’ he says.
“I am also passionate about the critical role family medicine plays in this.’’
Duffy is currently pursuing his Masters certificate in physician leadership to further the influence he can have in making the system better. He applauds Health P.E.I. for recognizing physician leadership as being “part of the solution’’ with 24 other Island doctors doing the course.
Duffy has a special interest in acute stroke care and has developed an acute stroke protocol for the province to allow P.E.I. stroke patients to receive optimal timely stroke care.
Whalen credits Duffy with being the driving force behind bringing stroke care in P.E.I. “above the national standard.’’
Duffy, who is 53, sees eventually reducing his heavy workload gradually rather than bringing his career in medicine to an abrupt halt.
He has plenty of motivation to continue doing a good deal of diverse work.
“I think the patients are the drive,’’ he says.
“I think it’s just seeing that what you’re doing is making a difference.’’