Airdrie family doctor Neil White has hung up his white coat for the last time.
The physician is retiring after a 35-year career in the medical field - 29 years of which he spent in Airdrie. White cared for his last patients on July 21.
“When I started, the population [of Airdrie] was 12,000 roughly [and] now it’s way more than that,” White said of the city's humble beginnings, adding there were only seven doctors at the time he started in the industry.
Airdrie is now home to over 70 physicians, according to White.
Becoming a doctor was never a goal for White, who grew up in a family of physicians. He said his father, a rural Albertan family doctor, was always working when he was growing up and this discouraged him to join the profession.
After graduating from the University of Alberta with a science degree, he headed overseas for a five-month-long European trip.
“When I came back, my mother had actually fallen ill,” White said. “I ended up staying home, sort of being a caregiver for her.”
The few months he spent caring for his mother ignited a spark within White to similarly care for others, and he decided thereafter to pursue medical school.
He then completed two additional years of medical-related university courses before being accepted to the Calgary Medical School.
“It worked out for me, to get in on a relatively new school,” he stated, adding the program offered more mature students a pathway into medicine.
White started practicing medicine in Airdrie after his classmate opened a medical office and invited the graduate to join his staff.
“The people you work with makes all the difference,” White said. “They convinced me to come out and actually…my classmate is still practicing here.”
According to White, a typical day at the office features the doctor attending to the health concerns of Airdrie residents for six hours a day, with paperwork taking up the remainder of the day.
“It’s basically just seeing patients from checking their annual physicals to ‘Gee, I fell and scraped my knee’,” the doctor added.
White said though he has dealt with his fair share of scrapes and bruises, he has noticed a decrease in the number of patients seeking emergent care in recent years, due to the opening of the Airdrie Urgent Care Centre.
“A lot of trauma and things came through the door at that time [when I first started],” he explained. “Urgent care [opening] was a big plus in terms of being able to…deal with a lot more urgent things that required services that [we] couldn’t properly do out of a family doctor’s office.”
Airdrie’s 24-hour urgent care centre opened in 2017 but has faced space and staffing issues ever since. Most recently, the centre will be closed on weekend nights for the remainder of the summer.
Joining his wife in retirement, White said he is really looking forward to slowing down and enjoying time with his family.
“I used to do a little bit of woodworking so I [hope to] get back into doing something like that,” the doctor added.
White and his wife are also considering filling their newfound free time with some travelling.
According to White, the highlight of his career was the people he worked alongside, and the patients he saw over the years.
“It’s just seeing the patients and trying to inject a little humour into the day because no one likes to have to come to the doctor,” he said. “I think really the people that you’re working with and…the patient's personalities [were the highlight].”
