Ste. Rose physician Dr. David O’Hagan was honoured with an appreciation dinner as he celebrates 40 years as a doctor at Ste. Rose Hospital.

Originally from South Africa, Dr. O’Hagan graduated from the Cape Town University School of Medicine in 1977. He then spent another six years in further training in surgery, obstetrics, internal medicine and pediatrics, which included two years of compulsory military service as a lieutenant in the medical corps.

Unhappy with the apartheid regime in South Africa at the time, Dr. O’Hagan made the decision to come to Canada, where he did several short locums in southern Saskatchewan.

“I just fell in love with Canada. I felt it was the right place and the right time for me,” he said.

Since Saskatchewan did not fully accept his medical credentials for full licensing and Manitoba did, Dr. O’Hagan visited four communities which were recruiting at that time, with Ste. Rose being one of them, having lost both of its physicians.

As a result, Dr. O’Hagan began his tenure at the Ste. Rose Hospital in 1985, where he has served that community, as well as three First Nation communities - Ebb and Flow, Crane River and Skownan and several Métis communities.

Moving from South Africa to Canada was a big change. Arriving in Saskatchewan in February, Dr. O’Hagan wore a light jacket, which he quickly learned was not the proper attire for a Canadian winter.

Dr. O’Hagan also learned that although the language was the same, a lot of words were different.

“Things like diapers and nappies, soothers and strollers. All were quite different,” he said.

Family medicine at that time was not as disciplined in South Africa as it is now, Dr. O’Hagan noted. But he did a lot of general training to get the whole scope, so he could be tuned in to that type of practice.

Dr. O’Hagan noted family medicine was in its infancy when he started and he became involved in the Rural Family Medicine residency program in Dauphin, which was one of the first rural programs in Canada. He served as program director for 15 years.

Dr. O’Hagan has seen a lot of changes when it comes to family medicine over the years.

“We’ve seen lots of changes. There’s a few medicines that are still around since I started with a lot of new ones. A lot of new inventions. CT scanners were not around, so we didn’t know very much about what was happening to people when they were alive,” he said.

“Many autopsies were done just because people died and we didn’t know why. Now it’s very rare for it to be done, because we generally know what people are dying from.”

Dr. O’Hagan met his wife in Ste. Rose and together they have three children and two new grandchildren.

While he has no regrets about his decision to come to Canada, Dr. O’Hagan admits there are a few regrets when it comes to certain medical decisions.

“Almost no regrets, just that I’m maybe too busy to spend time with my patients than I would like to,” he said.

Dr. O’Hagan was reluctant to be honoured with such an evening, but broke down and agreed to it.

“It’s good for the community. It is good for me. It’s good for our hospital and the staff. I think it’s a recognition of what everyone does,” he said.

Dr. O’Hagan plans to slow down a little bit over the next few years, but has no plans to retire.