Although Dr. Norm Bottum has retired from family practice as of Sept. 30, Haliburton County residents will continue to see his familiar face for some time to come.
Bottum is transitioning to part-time work, doing sports medicine and being involved with the Metabolic Syndrome Program at the Haliburton Highlands Family Health Team. It helps patients with Metabolic Syndrome and Type 2 diabetes. In addition, Bottum will continue to put in shifts as a coroner. You’ll see him at community events too, such as last week’s advance care planning information day at the Haliburton Legion.
“My plan is to work two weeks on, and two weeks off, and see where I can fit in. I’m not planning to pick anything up, and hopefully will be slowing down,” he said in an Oct. 6 interview with The Highlander.
Dr. Mario Lupu is taking on Bottum’s patients. “He’s been working out beautifully so far,” the retiring GP said.
Bottum has been trying to scale back for years. At the age of 55, he gave up doing emergency medicine. At 60, he was looking to cut back further but didn’t get a chance due to other doctors retiring.
He noted physician recruitment is difficult, but lauded the County’s involvement along with former physician recruiter Cheryl Kennedy and today’s Wendy Welch for bringing doctors onboard.
Bottum shares the story of how he and his wife did a road trip in winter to some County cottage hotspots, but there was something about Haliburton that caught their attention.
“Haliburton was a little bit smaller than what I was interested in, to be honest,” he recalled. He noted there was no operating room, and he enjoyed assisting in the ER. There was no recreation centre. But there were positives, such as working closely with a smaller group of colleagues.
“We said ‘let’s give it a whirl and see how it works out’.”
There were some tough times, such as being on-call one in four nights, and having to staff the emergency room overnight and still show up for regular patients the next morning – with little to no additional pay. In larger centres, there would have been more staff to share the work.
When he started, mind you, there were six family doctors in Haliburton and six in Minden. Now, there are nine. That excludes strictly emergency department doctors.
“We did both for 25 years. We looked after the show. If there was an issue at the hospital and staffing, we figured out a way to cover it, no Health Force Ontario doctors or supports.”
Bottum reminisced on the many changes, from the time of being part of St. Joseph’s Hospital in Peterborough to the formation of the Haliburton Highlands Health Services, for which he led medical staff through the transition. He became the first chief of staff of the new entity. It was a busy time with fundraising and construction and a new
board of directors. “A lot of energy and passion.”
He notes the medical advances as well, such as cardiac care that allows people to return to work a week after a heart attack, and being able to reverse Type 2 diabetes. When he started, it was all about clinical skills, with limited diagnostic equipment, tests and drugs.
“I wish I knew then what I know now. If I had some of those tools, information, tests, and drugs how much better I would have been able to care for my patients. It would have been amazing.”
Asked for highs, lows or surreal, Bottum said SARS and then COVID were game changers. “Just the length of time it went on for. It was exhausting, and the surge afterwards when people became more comfortable coming back into the office.”
He thanks his wife, Janet, and family for putting up with everything that comes with family and emergency medicine; missed hockey games, speeches and other activities. He thanked the hundreds of “incredible” staff he has worked with over the years.
“So many wonderful, smart, dedicated people. It’s all part of the culture of Haliburton County. Maybe that’s why we
stuck it out.
“It’s been a fun ride.”
