Terrace Review — Wednesday, July 25, 1990 B13 Who is... Dr. Kwadwo Asante? a respected pioneer of paediatrics and a fisherman. by Betty Barton Dr. Kwadwo (pronounced ’Ko- jo’) Asante is Tertace’s first and only paediatrician and he will soon be leaving Terrace for Maple Ridge. Dr, Asante came to Terrace twenty years ago on a visiting and fishing holiday and for "adventure in the north". Prior to his visit, Dr. _ Asante hadn’t realized Terrace wasn’t in the north, Joyce Krause, now director of nursing at Mills Memorial Hospital, advised Dr. Asante of the urgent need for a paediatrician in this area. Joyce was then head nurse of paediatrics _at Mills. Dr. Asante liked the area, the freedom of the countryside and the fishing. He decided to stay - for two years. Then he was going to retum to his native Ghana, Africa. He spent part of his first summer in this area doing a locum for a doctor in Kitimat. When he came to Terrace, he set up office as a consulting paediatrician in the Trigo building on Park Avenue. He worked closely with. Drs. McGee and Nicholson. In 1984, he bought and did major renovations to’ the old Haugland home on Park Ave. where he still has his office today. Over the years, Dr. Asante has travelled to Kitimat and Hazelton to serve his patients there, in addi- tion to his Terrace and area patients. He used to visit Hazelton monthly. That schedule has been reduced to once every three months because Smithers now has a paediatrician. Dr. Asante still visits Kitimat sixteen hours per month. And from 1973 to 1988, he also commuted to Whitehorse, Yukon for one week every three months, until they finally got a-- paediatrician. Dr. Asante says one _ of the main reasons he decided to leave Terrace is that he’s tired of the travelling. In Maple Ridge, Dr. Asante will open a paediatric consultation practise. Thankfully, he says, there’s no travel involved and he'll be closer to his two daughters in Vancouver. | When he leaves Terrace at the end of August, he will be missed also as medical director of the Child Development’ Centre in Kitimat. He was majorly instru- mental in getting both ihe Terrace and Kitimat centres going. Dr. Asante feels that the Child Development Centres have made a difference to parental frustrations of children who have develop- mental and physical problems and need extra help. Dr. Asante com- mends the hospitals and the com- munities for being most suppor- tive, For many years, Dr. Asante has been a member of ihe Canadian Paediatric Society’s committee looking after Inuit and native health. He has seen great improve- ment in the health of these people in the north, He says social changes, which are most evident in children and their mothers, have improved the general condition. The hospitalization of native’ children has diminished. They used to come in with much more severe problems because of the time lag (due to transportation and commu- nication difficulties). For example, intected burns from potbelly stoves . were a relatively common occur- rence. Now, there is easier access io most of the villages, nursing stations are improved and tele- phone communication is available almost everywhere. Dr. Asante laughs. when he re- members TK’s radio “Message Time". The hospitals would leave messages for the parents of children hospitalized from the outlying areas. By the time the parents received the message to pick up their child, and made the necessary arrangements to get into Terrace or Kitimat, the child was frequently sick again. Often, the children were in hospital for more than three weeks. These days, Kitimat General Hospital has so few young patients that they've closed their paediatric ward. Dr. Asante has seen much’ _ improved services in the lab, x-ray - . and soon to exist, nuclear medicine departments in the north. Less and less children and other patients now have to go to Vancouver for treatment. Four weeks ago, Dr. Asante had the pleasure of meeting a patient of sixteen years ago. The girl, now nineteen, had dropped into Mills Memorial Hospital with her mother to visit Dr. Asante, while they were in Terrace for her cousin’s graduation.. He had treated her sixteen years ago for a cleft palate. Dr, Asante took the girl and her mother on a tour of the delivery room where she was bom, and-the nursery where she recovered from her operation. Dr. Asante says it's moments like that visit which made his position so rewarding. Dr. Asante has spent twenty of his twenty-one years as a paediatri- cian in Terrace, He did his B. Sc at UBC in Vancouver. He attended medical school in Glasgow, Scotl- and, interned at Vancouver General Hospital, did two years residency - there in paediatrics and did pathol- ogy and medicine at Shaughnessy Hospital in Vancouver. At Mont- real’s Children’s Hospital, he spe- clalized in newborns and teaching. He came back to UBC ‘to teach newborn paediatrics as a teaching fellow. Then on to Terrace. Dr. Asante will still consider Terrace his home, even after he’s © settled in Maple Ridge and "faced the realities of the city”. He has never lived half as long anywhere else as he did in Terrace. He says, "My kids call Terrace home, and have said, "Don’t sell our house, dad." For practical reasons, the house will be sold. Dr. Asante assures Terrace patients and parents that a paedia- trician position for Terrace is being advertised extensively and he is confident that it will be filled. In the meantime, he says he could do visiting consultation until someone is found. No more travelling, Dr. Asante?, Heritage Park has a brand new addition. When you think of new additions to the park, _ you think of something that is old, rustic, part of our heritage, but this time the addi tion is in human form. She is 10-year-old Hayley Gordon. Hayley took it upon herself to write to Mamie Ker- by asking if she could spend some time at the park on weekends. That is exactly what she is doing now. Her mother made her an old fashioned dress, she brings her cross stitching, and you’d swear when. coming into the Hotel that she was a “‘leftover’’ (in the best sense of the word) from days gone by. We take her on tours with us, she enjoys herself and we enjoy her. Hayley goes to Cassie Hall school and enters Grade 5 this fall. She is the oldest of four children in her family and she has lived here all her life. What used to be the Terrace Flying Club, dormant for quite a while, has been revived. The group has a new name and is now called the Northwest Fly- ing Association. They had their first meeting and barbecue on July 12 at Gary Reum’s place at the lake. Over 40 members and in- terested persons attended. _ Meetings are held every se- cond Thursday of the month. If you are interested in becom- ing a member, phone either Gary Reun or Dave Maroney in Terrace, or Sandy Brockel at 632-3493 in Kitimat for more information. Membership is open to anybody who is in some way connected with flying, including Terrace Search and. Rescue, the Provincial Emergency Program, the mechanics who work on planes, and of course, the pilots. This is not an Old Boys Club either: husbands bring their wives and wives bring their husbands, - young lady pilots bring their boyfriends and visa versa. If you like to fly check out the Northwest Flying Association. The address is Box 464, Ter- race, B.C., V8G 4BS5. . The Oldtimers Banquet will be on this coming Saturday: If you have not purchased your tickets yet, there is still time. Tickets are on sale at Rose’s Shop, Grace Fell Florist and Northern Health Care. The evening starts at 6 o’clock with a social hour and dinner is at 7. After that, who knows? I have enjoyed every one I’ve been to and I’m looking for- ward to Saturday. See you there! Do you realize that the Fall Fair is only weeks away? Are you getting ready for it? Are you entering something? This year’s Fair promises to be the best ever! Have you noticed all the renovations going on at the Inn of the West? Rose’s Shop is moving over there. Summer has finally hit us. Glorious sunshine. Enjoy it when you can. Visit the Farmers’ Market this Saturday. It is a good place to go. the old Kalum Lake Hotel, cross stitching. Hayley Is ten years old and a Grade five student at Cassie Hall School.