Caring for people who are dying wasn’t simply a career for three Victoria physicians. For Gail Saiger, Manny Fritsch, and Tommy Connolly, it’s a lifelong dedicated practice.
The retired physicians returned to the Victoria Hospice Inpatient Unit this spring in new roles that speak to their commitment to compassionate end-of-life care and the people served by hospice.
Palliative care physician Manny Fritsch and respirologist Tommy Connolly recently joined the volunteer team on the unit and palliative care physician Gail Sager holds a new role as a unit clerk.
Previously the medical director of a long-term care facility and palliative care physician based in Ladysmith, Manny began his career delivering babies.
“When I interned in 1977, I delivered babies on the third floor of the Richmond Pavilion [the current site of the Victoria Hospice Inpatient Unit]. I enjoyed being at Hospice much more than at the big teaching hospital in Vancouver – this was a great place to learn. Hospice is the best part of the hospital,” he says.
“I have the same feelings about a patient having a good death as I do the delivery of a baby if everything goes well.”
After a nearly 40-year career in respirology, Tommy says his volunteer role at hospice is rewarding in more ways than one.
“At Hospice, the emphasis on empathy, care, and consideration for others – that’s all quite beneficial, and you can take that and use it in the rest of one’s life. Not just in looking after people who are dying but in your day-to-day activities with your family and friends,’ he says. “You can be, let’s say, a little bit nicer.”
Following 15 years on the Victoria Hospice medical team, Gail helped establish the new 12-bed acute palliative care unit at Royal Jubilee Hospital in 2020.
“It was exciting and so worthwhile, and we developed a great team on 8 South,” she says. “But I missed Victoria Hospice. I was thrilled that the Director of Clinical Services, Tracy Stone, was willing to hire me in this new role. I’m learning a lot and grateful for the opportunity to support the team in this way.”
And Victoria Hospice is grateful to these three dedicated practitioners. Welcome (back) to the team!