History

MEDICAL PRACTICE HISTORY IN LACOMBE as remembered by Wilford C. Tetz:

 

In 1945, Dr. John McKibbin joined Dr. Henry (in an office located where the Provincial Building now stands on 50th Avenue).

 

Shortly, Dr. McKibbin relocated, opening a solo practice in the rooms above the (then) Royal Bank of Canada, (now CIBC), on 50th Ave. He hired Mrs. Etta Martin and Mrs. Hilda (Van der Veen) Van Stryland to work with him there.

 

Dr. Wilford Tetz joined Dr. McKibbin in practice in 1953, after having graduated from the College of Medical Evangelists (now Loma Linda University) in 1951. He completed his internship at the University of Alberta Hospital in Edmonton. He spent most of the next year at the Provincial Mental Hospital in Ponoka, as Junior Medical Officer, before joining Dr. McKibbin.

 

Dr. McKibbin then purchased the Flat Iron Building in Lacombe, and remodeled it like a ship; with waiting room at the “bow”, reception and consultation rooms “port” and “starboard”, business office and lab “amidships” and treatment rooms at the “stern”. The design proved to be snug, but adequate.

 

There were only two consultation rooms and two treatment rooms. Patients did not call ahead for appointments. They simply walked in when needing consultation or treatment, and were seen in turn. Both doctors shared the philosophy that people cannot schedule sickness.

 

In 1967 Dr. Albert Will moved to Lacombe to join Dr. McKibbin and Dr. Tetz. Within a short time, Dr. Will and Dr. Tetz purchased the Merchants’ Bank Building, which was architecturally contiguous with the Flat Iron Building.

 

Each physician took his own evening and weekend calls, including house calls. Emergency room visits were covered in turn by each doctor in town. From 1956 to 1973 Dr. Tetz also had a Wednesday afternoon practice in the town of Alix.

 

Dr. John McKibbin died in 1973. Dr. Albert Will moved back to the U.S. in 1986.

 

Over the next few years Dr. Tetz was joined by Dr. Leighton Nischuk, Dr. Barry Gaetes and finally by Dr. Suzanne Orr.

 

Many dedicated women worked in Dr. Tetz’ office as book keepers, nurses and lab technicians; including Mrs. Lillian Ganson, Mrs. Margaret Rose, Mrs. Ngaire Clouten, Mrs. Mabel Bye, and Mrs. Florence Guinet. A number of students spent their summers filing charts and helping with other office work.

 

Dr. Wilford Tetz retired from his 45 years of medical practice in 1998.

 

This document was written by Dr. Tetz in May, 2015.

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