Dr. Robert Martel
Cape Breton University is proud to recognize Dr. Robert Martel for his impressive accomplishments in the field of medicine. Dr. Martel received his Bachelor of Science (Pharmacy) and Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Dalhousie University where he also obtained his medical degree in 1982.
For his entire career, Dr. Martel has been focused on rural health care access. Lack of access was an existing problem when he began in Arichat in 1983 where he operated a Pharmacy. Unfortunately, over fifty years, Dr. Martel has not seen improvements despite the predictability of the issues with healthcare access. For ten years he worked as a health consultant across Canada where he was primarily focused on examining why rural Canadians were disadvantaged compared to urban Canadians when accessing evidence-based health care.
Dr. Martel sat on the executive of the Society of Rural Physicians of Canada for many years where he was given a platform to advocate for rural health care. Over the last two decades he has published more than a dozen articles on the subject–focused on the disproportionate challenges faced by those who live in rural Canada, especially the elderly. He notes that what we are experiencing today with a shortage of health care workers was entirely predictable and known to health planners and politicians for decades. Dr. Marel has written many articles calling decision makers to account who either ignored rural Nova Scotians or made decisions that increased the disparity. This aspect of his life is extremely important to him.
As a physician, Dr. Martel practiced emergency medicine and served as the on-line medical control physician for paramedics. He has acted as an associate consultant for Deloitte Solutions and as the Medical Advisor for operational reviews for governments in Alberta, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador. He also served as the senior consultant for operations reviews in the areas of radiology, emergency medicine, education, standards of practice, physician compensation and private home care to name just a few. Dr. Martel is also proud that he was a part of bringing family medicine to the Island, replacing the solo practice that had been the norm at the time.
Dr. Martel says one of the most important things a physician can do is really listen to the patient and always be prepared to welcome new perspectives. He says his work as a consultant took him across the country, where he was often amazed at the common issues shared from coast to coast to coast. He also came to understand how important new perspectives were when addressing those same issues.
Dr. Martel says that his service in palliative care was his greatest privilege and allowed him to see a different aspect of the human experience. He feels that one can meet many heroes in palliative care, as you are seeing patients at their most vulnerable. He says it was humbling to see the fortitude with which patients would move through their journeys.
In his spare time, Dr. Martel likes to take to the open waters and has been sailing for 30 years. He and his wife Felicity have two daughters. When on land, he likes to beautify his surroundings and loves landscaping and gardening.
Cape Breton University is proud to present Dr. Martel with the Healthcare Award of Distinction and thank him sincerely for his advocacy in improving the health of his fellow citizens here at home and across the country.