Past Presidents' Breakfast - College of Family Physicians (Manitoba Chapter)

Each year in conjunction with their annual scientific assembly of the Manitoba Chapter of the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC) they have a Past Presidents' Breakfast giving an opportunity for the past presidents to share and reminisce past experiences.

How did this function start? If my recollections are correct, when I was the chapter president I had arranged for all the past presidents to sit at a long head table and then have them each relate their experiences and/or comments which I videotaped using beta tapes. From that experience the past presidents breakfast evolved. The host of these functions is the current president of MCFP This year 13 past president’s were in attendance at the breakfast as well as the National president of the College. Besides hosting the function the president also prepares the agenda.

I have been attending these functions quite regularly since I retired from practice some 15 years ago. For me at least, these events had become very boring. One would have expected that some of the older members would be anxious to relate their experiences - and that the younger ones would be anxious to listen to their advice on such topics as: why we have shortage of doctors, long waiting lists, health care funding deficits, and how we can sustain our publicly-funded health care system when the Manitoba government’s spending on health care has risen in the last decade from 35% of their whole budget to 43% ( Jim Carr editorial in the Winnipeg Free Press April 11,2011). Instead, the only topic discussed at the two last Past Presidents' Breakfasts was how to select the Family Physician of the year!

At this year's Past Presidents' Breakfast, I tried on several occasions to initiate a dialogue on the need for a paradigm shift in medical practice - citing examples like: Since atherosclerosis is believed to be a medical disease- more specifically an inflammation- why are we treating it surgically? I also stated that the cholesterol controversy is still in limbo and not resolved as the aetiology for heart attacks then may be its time to reevaluate the role of cholesterol lowering drugs. Indeed many gerontologists believe that since cholesterol is one of the body’s essential nutrients and has anti-oxidant properties that it may be unwise to take cholesterol lowering drugs. Indeed last year as well as this year I had volunteered to give a keynote presentation on the topic “Paradigm shift in Medical practice “ but it too fell on dead ears.