DR. MICHAEL ELKIN

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DR. MICHAEL ELKIN May 21, 1936 - November 11, 2009 Dr. Michael ( Mike ) Elkin passed away on Remembrance Day in the Health Sciences Centre after a long and brave struggle with cancer. He was a consummate physician who gave his family medicine patients old-fashioned, kindly, personalised care. He qualified as a physician at the University of Cape Town and after some years in family medicine practice in Cape Town, he and his family immigrated to Manitoba in 1987. Mike had been recruited as a fly-in doctor by the Northern Medical Unit of the University of Manitoba Medical School. For 13 years he served the remote communities of Berens River and Poplar River, leaving his young family behind in Winnipeg and accessing these isolated communities in small aeroplanes in all weather conditions. He would spend the weekdays in these northern communities and fly home at weekends to be with his wife and three growing sons. In 2000 he was stricken for the first time with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and reluctantly had to quit his career as a flying doctor. When he achieved his first remission in 2001-2002 he joined the Charleswood Medical Clinic as a family physician until May 2009 when the lymphoma recurred. Dr. Elkin was a voracious reader of scientific material, well beyond the medical sciences. But his interests went far beyond that. He had an insatiable curiosity for scientific knowledge and a photographic memory for detail that was unique. He loved to share his encyclopaedic knowledge with anyone who was interested and he would wax passionate about the topic he was explaining; it was impossible not to be infected with his enthusiasm. He was a born teacher. In his work in the northern communities he had many opportunities to do so and he loved to teach nurses and other students about excellent clinical care. His concern for his patients was very real and they responded to his kindness, humanity and comprehensive clinical care. He will be sadly missed by his wife, Zelda, three sons, Mark, Jonathan and David, daughter-in-law, Gavriela and grandson, Samuel and all the members of his family, friends, patients and colleagues. Our sincerest thanks to Dr. Ian Maxwell and staff, Victoria, Oncology, Dr. James Johnston and staff, Cancer Care H.S.C. and medical wards, Health Sciences Centre and Dr. Karen Braun and Palliative Care. Funeral services will be held at the Shaarey Zedek Synagogue Chapel at 10.30 a.m. Sunday, November 15, 2009, followed by a graveside service at the Shaarey Zedek Cemetery.

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Nov 14, 2009