Joyful care

Well-known Winnipeg doctor delivered kindness to many

By: Chris Rutkowski

It was a scene right out of a classic TV sitcom: A sedan speeds by a police car and the officer takes off in hot pursuit.

The cop catches up with the speedster and pulls him over. The driver of the vehicle explains that he’s a doctor rushing to the hospital to deliver a baby.

The officer looks down at the driver and shouts in amazement, “Hey! You’re Dr. Barnes! You delivered my three kids!” Needless to say, the speeding ticket wasn’t issued.

Without much embellishment, according to his daughter Enid Barnes, this scene was said to have occurred in Winnipeg several decades ago while obstetrician and gynecologist Dr. Philip Barnes was caring for patients in the city.

Barnes died in April 2023, days away from his 94th birthday. His death was mourned by his family but also many of his former patients and children he brought into the world.

On an online tribute page, Daryle Friesen noted: “Dr. Barnes was there for the delivery of all of my three children. In July of 1981, when I went into labour with my third child, he came immediately after attending a Blue Bomber game. I was concerned that he wasn’t there while I was in labour and worriedly asked the nurses, ‘Where is Dr. Barnes?’ No sooner had I asked that when I heard his voice saying, ‘Here I am!’”

Philip Barnes grew up in Point Douglas and the North End, and was proud of his roots. His father sorted boxes in a wholesale store and his mother was a cashier at a department store. From a young age he was no stranger to hard work, having had jobs as early as age 10 at places such as Cold Storage and CN. Enid notes: “He lied about his age to do so.”

She says, “My dad said that as far back as he could ever remember — probably at age eight or nine — he knew that he wanted to help people, and that he wanted to be a doctor. Caring for others was at our father’s core, whether it was professionally or personally.”

Philip Barnes was admitted to the University of Manitoba Faculty of Medicine at age 17, at a time when there was a quota on the acceptance of Jewish students.

Graduating high in his class, he spent four years in general practice in Bienfait, Sask., where he was the town doctor — and mayor.

“While working in Bienfait, he was concerned that he was seeing far too many children who were getting sick because they were drinking unpasteurized milk,” recalls Dr. Richard Boroditsky, a later colleague of Barnes. “He was unable to convince people to stop selling unpasteurized milk, so he ran for mayor and won.

“He made sure all the milk was pasteurized after that.”

In the 1960s, Barnes began his medical practice at the Mall Medical Clinic and soon was one of the top obstetrician/gynecologists in the province. Later, he became chief of staff at the Misericordia Hospital and delivered babies at the Health Sciences Centre and St. Boniface General Hospital.

Enid recalls, “Our dad was passionate and devoted to his profession. We recall many a dark Winnipeg freezing winter night, at 2, 3, or 4 a.m., when he would be called to deliver a baby. He would often have to shovel out the back lane after a fresh snowfall in order to get his car out.

“And if he saw someone whose car was stuck in the snow, he’d push them out, without a thought.”

Barnes’ altruistic nature shone through in many other ways. At a Jets game, he saved the life of a fan who was choking and had turned blue, as the crowd looked on and cheered his medical prowess. His care for the broader community was evident by his frequent flights to Cross Lake to provide gynecological and obstetric treatment for patients there.

Throughout his career, Barnes showed tremendous physical stamina and kept very active. He curled with the Mall Medical League at the Granite, ran Manitoba Marathons, and played a solid game of tennis. He would go for a run from his condo on Wellington Crescent to Glendale in Headingly, then play several rounds of tennis there.

His stamina likely had something to do with his love for food. Enid explains: “No one could out-eat him or eat faster than him. (He often won) food-eating contests. He loved Chinese food as much as a stack of baby-back barbecue ribs.”

Barnes’ favourite Chinese restaurant was the Shanghai, where he got to know a waiter by the name of Arthur Hoe. Hoe’s daughter, Aliana Au, says Barnes played a significant role in her father’s life.

“My dad had a sudden serious health emergency and, in a panic, phoned Dr. Barnes for help,” she says. “Dr. Barnes was quick to treat and care for him until he had his health back.”

Barnes continued to care for Hoe’s family, including Au, when she became pregnant and was given the best obstetric care in the city. Barnes later acquired several of Au’s pieces — she is a visual artist — and invited an art dealer to consider her work.

“I was very touched by his good intentions and loving concern for me and my work,” she notes.

Belva London was one of Barnes’ patients. She says, “Phil Barnes was a thoughtful and caring person. At every visit he always took the time to ask how my family was doing. He was on the spot when I needed emergency care, more than once, and was there day and night for me.

“I once asked him how he could possibly get enough rest when people needed him in the middle of the night, and he replied, ‘I sleep fast.’”

Boroditsky says that Barnes displayed impressive empathy for his patients, treating them practically like family. His communication skills were outstanding, and he used his abilities to teach budding medical students at U of M.

Furthermore, Boroditsky says Barnes had a reputation as an innovator and someone who went “against the flow” when he was determined his action was needed.

He explains: “Phil worked during a time when gestational diabetes was not completely understood, and doctors never checked blood sugars in pregnancy. He was the first in Manitoba to treat a pregnant patient with insulin.”

He adds, “Phil was my mentor, and I owe much so him.”

Enid Barnes says, “As children growing up, we always had a sense that our dad did something important. Everywhere we went with him, he seemed to know someone. Whether it was at a restaurant, a drugstore (he knew all the pharmacists), a family outing somewhere — there would be someone who was a patient, the spouse of a patient, or a colleague.”

Despite his hectic schedule, Barnes made time for his family. Enid says that he always seemed to have time to take his kids to their various activities, stay to watch, and to take them on family vacations and road trips.

One particular image of her father stands out. “He loved driving home in the early morning calm when the sun was just rising, after delivering a baby. He would say that a miracle had occurred, and that he was able to witness the joy of this gift with the parents.

“He never tired of it.”

Towards the end of his life, Philip Barnes lived in Simkin Centre, where many of his former colleagues and patients visited and spent time with him.

During the decades when he was caring for patients in Winnipeg, Barnes delivered or assisted in the delivery of hundreds if not thousands of babies, many of whom might be reading this today.

His legacy lives on.