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Dr. Ciara Whelan

dr. ciara whelan

Role at the Centre

Home-care doctor

Year started at the Centre

2010

The year Ciara Whelan joined the Temmy Latner Centre was a year of great change for her. Becoming a mother will do that. But the work she’s being doing since finishing her Family Medicine residency at the University of Toronto has been a major factor in her new outlook too. “This last little while has been so different. It’s taught me humility. You see people in these tough situations, and they’re managing so well. Taking care of someone at home is difficult. These families are having to give up so much. Often they give up their jobs and become full-time caregivers. They learn how to give medicine. They take incredible care of their family members. You just feel awed most of the time.”

She loved her first experience of palliative medicine. Why? “I liked the intensity of it. That you’re taking care of people at a really important time in their lives,” she said. “I saw the difference right away, the contrast between seeing people in their homes and in the clinic. You realize how much you’re probably missing. You’re seeing such a narrow part of their life in clinic. They’ve often put on their best face. But when you see them at home you get a much richer picture. I love that about our job.

“Working at the Centre, you have a sense of partnership with the patient. We let them know that ultimately they’re in control. We’re on the same page, working towards the same goal.”

But with a young child at home she does her best to juggle work and family. “When you have kids you don’t want to have time away from them unless it’s something worthwhile.” A short conversation with Ciara is all it takes to persuade you she doesn’t begrudge a minute of her time at work.

 

 

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