Gerry was born and grew up in Marystown, Newfoundland. After completing high school he trained as an X-Ray technologist and went to work in Botwood, NL, where he came under the influence of Dr. Hugh Twomey, a legendary general practitioner in NL at that time.
Dr. Twomey was a mentor to Gerry and encouraged him to pursue studies at Memorial University. Taking his advice Gerry enrolled in pre- med at Memorial and graduated in the second class at the new med school in 1974.
Gerry began his medical practice in Grand Bank, NL where he practiced family medicine for six years. He was a GP anesthetist during those years and had a broad exposure to general medicine being situated in an isolated post far from any specialist help. Nevertheless along with his three other colleagues in the area they were able to provide a high level of care to the local population.
Gerry then moved to Nova Scotia in 1981 and began Family Practice in Pictou, NS. He had a large practice with a wide variety of interests. In the early years obstetrics and pediatrics was a large part of his practice with some 1200 deliveries to his credit.
Over the years Gerry developed an increasing interest in end of life care and felt the need to learn more about this aspect of medicine. About 15 years ago he gave up the obstetrics part of his practice and began to focus more on Palliative Care. Fortunately in Pictou County there was an increasing interest in this service and Gerry was able to pursue his interest in the field by spending time at St. Christopher’s Hospice in London, England where he met Dame Cicely Saunders. He also spent time in hospices in England and Wales. He was also influenced and spent time learning from Dr. Larry Librach of Toronto.
After becoming Medical Director of Palliative Care for the Pictou County Health Authotity he initially did half and half Palliative Care and Family Medicine but soon found that Palliative Care was a special interest and also saw a great need to improve end of life care. Six years ago he became full time Medical Director and discontinued Family Medicine.
Ten years ago , under the direction of Gerry, an Integrated Palliative Care Team was formed in Pictou County following a federally funded project to develop a model for the delivery of Palliative Care in the home in a rural setting. The Team that was formed then has endured and grown into a very strong force in the Community.
The Palliative Care Program in Pictou County has been honored with a Best Practices citation from the Canadian Council on Hospital Accreditation and has been seen to be a model to implement throughout Nova Scotia.
Six years ago Gerry and his team saw the need to have a standalone Acute Palliative Care Unit in the Regional Hospital if they were to continue to evolve Palliative Care to the next level. Administrative and Community Support was sought and received to develop a unit at the Aberdeen Hospital where space was identified to be present. A fundraising effort was undertaken with Gerry as the leader and within a remarkable three months the million dollar campaign objective was surpassed. The unit was then designed and built and opened three years ago. The unit along with the integrate community Program is able to provide 24 hour seamless care to Pictou County and is greatly supported by the community.
It was because of these efforts that Gerry was recently honored by Cancer Care Nova Scotia when he was presented with its Innovation Excellence Award.
Gerry sees the need of a community based hospice to complete the program. Gerry lives in Pictou with his wife Vivian, an educator and active community volunteer. They have two grown children, Andrew, an aspiring Chef in Halifax and Susan, completing a Masters in Music at the University of Alberta in Edmonton.
Outside of medicine Gerry is an avid photographer and gardener, both of which provide the counterbalance to the end of life work that he does every day.