Dr. Garnet Harvey Kearney, (1884–1971) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

medical doctor A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

, and pioneer. He practiced medicine in the North Peace region from 1935 until the early 1960s. Born in Renfrew, Ontario, he received his Ph.D. in medicine from

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Kearney served as a ship's medical doctor for various freighters and troop convoys. Later in the war, he became a front-line first-aid medic until the end of the war. He married Marjorie Van Volkingburgh in 1944, and she died in 1954. Kearney arrived in

Fort St. John, British Columbia Fort St. John is a city located in northeastern British Columbia, Canada. The most populous municipality in the Peace River Regional District, the city encompasses a total area of about with 20,155 residents recorded in the 2016 Census. Located ...

in 1935, replacing a Dr. Brown, the first medical doctor in Fort St. John. He served as the town's only medical doctor for some time. He was an early advocate of government funded medical care, and he did not charge for his services if the patient could not afford them. In 1939, Kearney operated on a man via

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

. Twenty-one-year-old Gordon Stock, in Watson Lake, was suffering from delirium and urgently need

brain surgery Neurosurgery or neurological surgery, known in common parlance as brain surgery, is the medical specialty concerned with the surgical treatment of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system including the brain, spinal cord and peri ...

. Jack Baker, the man's employer, radioed Kearney asking for instructions. Kearney correctly diagnosed Stock as having a cyst on his brain, and informed Baker that surgery to relieve pressure was necessary immediately, as the man would die without it. The remote surgery was a success, and Stock made a full recovery. He died on 20 October 1971, in British Columbia, Canada, at the age of 87, and was buried in Fort Saint John, Peace River, British Columbia, Canada. A school in Fort St. John, Dr. Kearney Middle School (formerly Junior Secondary School), is named in his honour.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kearney, Garnet 1884 births 1971 deaths Physicians from British Columbia McGill University Faculty of Medicine alumni People from Renfrew County