Dr. Harold Robinson is a hallowed name in the halls of Fairvern Nursing Home.

Until ill health forced his retirement this past May, ‘Robbie’ as he likes everyone to call him, had, as medical advisor for the past 20 years, advised, nurtured and mentored Fairvern’s staff and board of directors.

In June, Fairvern gave a little something back to the good doctor. The board announced  that the name of the annual excellence award, presented to a staff member for going above and beyond the expectations of their job, was to be changed from the Board Award of Excellence to the Dr. Harold Robinson Award of Excellence.

“That was a surprise and a touching tribute. It’s a real honour to be remembered that way,” said Robinson, from his home in Windermere.

Robinson began his long and distinguished medical career after World War II. He was a pilot, went overseas and was on his way to Japan to fly from aircraft carriers when the war with Japan was over, he said.

“On my return I went to medical school (University of Western Ontario) and rejoined the air force in the medical branch in 1949. I’ve spent most of my life in the military.”

During that time, Robinson, an ear, nose and throat specialist (otolaryngologist) had two tours of duty in Germany and spent the remainder of his career in Canada, mainly Ottawa.

“I also took a masters program in health administration as a grey-haired student in the mid-1970s, which gave me a ticket to work as a civilian in public health,” he said.

Robinson retired from military service as a brigadier in 1980 and moved north to Huntsville.

“I came up here because I knew  a job was becoming available,” he said.

That job was as the medical officer of health for the Muskoka-Parry Sound Health Unit, which Robinson acquired in 1980. Not long afterwards,  he became involved with Fairvern.

“I was very interested in long-term care and organizational  health care and I helped set up Fairvern,” he said. “I also had an interest in infection  control and worked on management things and infection control procedures.”

During his tenure as medical officer of health, Robinson was   chair of the Society of Medical Officers of Health in Toronto. “Our pet interest was infection control and we got together and wrote a procedural manual,” said Robinson.

From those meetings a textbook was created for Fairvern, although several nursing homes adopted it, Robinson added.

At the Fairvern board’s annual general meeting in June,  board  chair Sue Dixon commented on the home’s infection control program.

“Infection is one of the biggest risks our residents face and the exemplary infection control practices developed by Dr. Robinson have directly impacted our residents’ ability to enjoy good health,” she said.

In 1988, Fairvern was looking for a replacement medical advisor. “I knew Dr. Geoffrey Ascah was retiring from practice and being that a medical advisor in a nursing home was a part-time job, I took over,” he said.

Robinson retired from the Muskoka Parry Sound Health Unit in 1990 at the age of 67.

As Fairvern’s medical advisor Robinson was soon sitting on numerous com-mittees. “Not being in private practice allowed me the time for committees,” he said, by way of explanation.

One of the major issues Fairvern faced was governance. “A few years ago the Ministry of Health commissioned a study on hospitals and long- term care institutions and the responsibilities of their boards. It was a good report and under the leadership of Sue (Dixon), the Fairvern governance sub-committee undertook a review that looked at how Fairvern related to that report. It took a year and a half, but afterwards we had a (paper) that was very useful and the recommendations from it were put into effect,” Robinson said.

The comparison of an institution vis-a-vis the government report was known as a gap analysis.

“When we were forming  (the sub-committee) Robbie told me he thought a ‘gap analysis’ was something that sounded interesting to him. Boy, were we ever lucky to have come up with a term he thought intriguing, because his experience and contributions with the group truly contributed to its success,” Dixon said.

When Fairvern Nursing Home changed from being a part of the hospital system to an independent facility with its own board of trustees, Robinson found himself as an ex-officio board member.

In the ensuing years, Robinson would be instrumental in the formation of an ethics committee and was actively involved when the home reviewed its vision, value and strategic direction. He was also instrumental in creating a medical model for Fairvern.

“One problem in running a nursing home is that every resident has to have a physician responsible for them. It’s their right for them to have their own family doctor,” Robinson explained, adding that by law a physician always has to be on call.

Working with that number of doctors also created problems with standardizing care in the nursing home. “It created a lot of wasted time and inefficiencies,” Robinson said.

“We had 14 or 15 physicians who saw their patients when they could, so we met with them and asked if fewer could do more. We were very fortunate and got four and everything worked well. We saved countless hours, and  it developed more interest in geriatrics in our community.”

One of the many benefits this model offers is a medication review, said Dixon. “It allows Fairvern to better serve its residents and the (health) ministry. The value of this model to residents cannot be overstated.”  

 In the 1970s, Robinson  also found time to be an accreditation surveyor for the Canadian Council of Health Services and travelled across Canada surveying various health-care facilities.

“That really helped us when we went through our accreditation process,” said Fairvern director of resident care Brenda Greer, noting, “Dr. Robinson sat in on my interview in 1995 when I was hired for the director of resident care position.”

Robinson’s retirement has elicited many accolades from the people he worked with in the past 20 years.

“Dr. Robinson’s warm, personable and gentle nature and his ability to be the voice of reason are only a couple of the many qualities that he  brought to the Fairvern board’s table,” said Dixon.

“He has been a huge supporter of Fairvern Nursing Home and never hesitated to make himself available, with the exception of his curling and golf days. Dr. Robinson has left a legacy and his many contributions are attributable to the home’s stellar reputation.”

Concluded Greer: “He is an amazing person and was tremendously supportive of Fairvern over the years. Naming (the board’s) excellence award after his life and his contribution to healthcare and to Fairvern is a wonderful tribute to him.”