Friends of the Library Speaker Series: Two Physician's Experiences featuring Dr. Jim Emmett

Two Physician's Experiences: Lessons learned participating in the care of Nunavut people over a decade.  

The Arctic - a time to wonder. Join us for stories and comments from the experiences of two physicians, seasoned yet still idealistic, who cared for the people of Nunavut over a decade of time. So buckle up and hang on tight as Dr. Jim Emmett shares unexpected and unique situations and solutions, lots of personal reflections, and just how much the Nunavut people have to teach us.  

Dr. Jim Emmett arrived in the Bow Valley in the early 1970s with his wife, Dr. Josephine Wilson, as a couple charged with the responsibility of developing the Stoney Health Centre in Morley. For five years the duo lived with the people of the Stoney First Nations Reserve, working with the community, government, and university to build up their health centre – resulting in partial successes and many lessons learned.  

They left the environment as better people and with their idealism still intact. While their main clinical life was as practitioners in Calgary, it was their experience during the years spent working on the Stoney Health Centre in Morley that ultimately led them to be temporary recurrent locums for Nunavut. 

Their experience in Nunavut covered about a decade, consisting of many visits both together and independently. They shared a deep compassion and respect for the Nunavut people, which only grew with their time there. While working in the North offered its fair share of adventure, the experience contributed greatly to their understanding of Indigenous culture, in turn teaching how to better treat patients on a human level.   

While Josie is no longer with us, Dr. Emmett looks forward to sharing not only his own experiences from their time in Nunavut, but hers as well, as a clear acknowledgement of her contribution. He lovingly refers to his late wife as the “super super star” while he is the “quiet determined doer in the background.” 

So join us at the Canmore Public Library on Thursday September 29th for a presentation that we hope will give you a better understanding of Nunavut as its land and Nunavut as its people, through stories of humor, puzzling issues, and a certain clear crisp reality. 

This program will take place in the Canmore Public Library Program Room from 7:00 – 8:00pm on Thursday September 29th.

Admission by donation.