The son of a late respected physician who practised at Ross Memorial Hospital (RMH) stopped by the Lindsay hospital on Monday (December 8) to present the RMH Foundation with a cheque for $4,109, representing funds raised from a golf tournament held earlier this year in his father’s honour.
Friends and family of Dr. Azhar Syed, including his son Imran, gathered in RMH’s intensive care unit (ICU) to share memories of the man who spent decades at the hospital as an internal medicine specialist. Dr. Syed passed away from pneumonia in April 2020 at the age of 64.
“Dr. Syed was very supportive of our respiratory program, pulmonary function test clinic, and the critical care unit,” Tara Smith, a respiratory therapy charge technologist who worked with Dr. Syed, told kawarthaNOW.
“He was always willing to take time away from his office to help with our sickest ventilated patients,” Smith said.
“He was quite specific in getting his bronchoscope set up the way he liked it in the ICU and then. once we were all organized, we realized we didn’t leave him a path to get to the head of the bed. He always had a good laugh each time and then he manoeuvred himself in there somehow.”
“He was a kind and knowledgeable doctor that is missed in this community,” Smith added.
The RMH Foundation said in addition to meeting in the ICU, it was fitting his family and friends have honoured Dr. Syed with a memorial golf tournament, as golf was his great passion.
“The RMH Foundation is grateful to all who took part in the Dr. A. A. Syed Memorial Golf Tournament,” the hospital stated in a media release.
The $4,109 donation will support the growth of RMH’s critical care capacity, which is a priority focus of RMH Foundation’s “We Are The Ross” capital campaign.
“Just as Dr. Syed supported patients at the Ross, providing life-saving care day and night, his family and friends are supporting this important work with a gift that will help us to modernize our critical care facilities,” Smith said in the release.
“We’re delighted that Dr. Syed’s family continues to feel connected to the Ross and on behalf of our patients and families, our thanks to everyone who took part in this fundraising golf tournament.”
Dr. Syed practised in Lindsay and cared for patients in RMH’s ICU from 1988 until before he died in 2020.
Due to the pressures of the pandemic, it was impossible to gather his family, friends, and colleagues for a large memorial service when Dr. Syed passed away. Instead, his family chose to celebrate his life with a memorial golf tournament on September 14 at Oliver’s Nest Golf Club in Oakwood — his favourite course.
Dr. Syed was a founding member of the golf club, where he taught his children how to play golf.
“He used to take us to Oliver’s Nest all the time growing up and was a die-hard Tiger Woods fan,” his son Imran said. “He really emphasized the role of starting early in creating great golfers and had me swinging a club at four years old.”
