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Ontario, Canada – After nearly four decades of pouring his heart, soul and mind into pediatrics, Dr. Godfrey Bacheyie has decided it is the right time to retire.
Dr. Bacheyie, medical director of the NICU at Windsor Regional Hospital’s Met Campus, joked the premature babies he cared for decades ago are now having babies he is caring for today.
The 74-year-old spearheaded efforts to develop the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the former Salvation Army Grace Hospital site back in May 1982.
Born and raised in Ghana, Africa, Dr. Bacheyie emphasizes the importance of education.
“I came from a very rural poor village in the northwest corner of Ghana. My parents were not educated,” he recalls. “When I was a child, going to school was like going to Mars.”
But his father saw the value in education and sent a young Bacheyie to a boarding school located seven miles away.
“It was hard, but I persisted,” said Bacheyie who earned his way into secondary school, 270 miles away from family.
He became only one of three people in his area accepted into medical school and only one of 53 in the entire country.
Wanting to specialize in pediatrics, he first came to Canada in 1976 where he did his Paediatric Residency training at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children before moving to Windsor six years later.
Although he now calls Windsor home, he hasn’t forgotten his roots back home and is a staunch volunteer with the Rotary Club of Windsor.
Besides helping with current health care needs in his native country, he has become a passionate supporter in basic education where there is now an elementary school with 280 pupils.
“Education is the key, so I want to give them an opportunity,” he says. “What they do with it is up to them.”
As he transitions into retirement, he plans to continue his volunteer work with Rotary but admits he will miss his work.
“I will miss the mothers, families, and babies the most as well as the staff I have worked with,” pointing out many of the staff who started with him have long since retired.
“I want to thank them [mothers] for putting their trust in me,” he says. “Most of them, they don’t see me until the time of delivery, and all of a sudden, you see a strange person you have never met and your baby is critically ill.”
He compared it to a ‘childhood trust’ for a delivering mother.
“It is very rewarding and it kept me going.”
Windsor pediatrician Dr. Chukwuma Nwaesei referred to Dr. Bacheyie as having a “zealous for knowledge” and a doctor who has a passion for his work and “loved the wee-little-ones.”
Fellow colleague Dr. Mark Awuku called Bacheyie a great mentor.
“Godfrey exudes competence and happiness at all times. I have known him for 49 years and I have never seen him angry. Godfrey is always ready to listen and help,” said Dr. Awuku.
As for parting words for his colleagues, Dr. Bacheyie says, “Both physicians, nurses and everyone, be committed to what you are doing. It is hard but it is also enjoyable.”
Source : wrh.on.ca
