From The Tiny Hospital Up On the Hill: Dr. Wallace Bryson’s Remarkable Impact
Dr. Wallace Bryson at his home in Silver Tip.
Dr. Wallace (Wally) Bryson was one of a few key pioneers in surgery and medicine in Canmore, Alberta. He is known for his passion and commitment to his craft, his unwavering advocacy for the health of his patients, and for his instrumental role in developing both the laparoscopic and endoscopic surgery programs in the Bow Valley.
Hailing from Scotland, we caught up with Dr. Bryson to learn about what brought him all the way to this little mountain town and his remarkable medical career once he arrived. The future surgeon qualified in Glasgow where he also got his medical degree and his fellowship. He found himself excited by the possibility across the pond in Canada and put an ad in the Canadian Medical Journal. Soon, he was offered 49 jobs from one side of the country to the other. He spent time in various parts of Canada including way up north in Yellowknife before returning home to finish his training in surgery before landing back in Banff in 1973.
After one trip back to Scotland, he found himself permanently in Canmore. He took over for Doctor Miltens who had just retired, running the clinic on his own for about 18 months before he was joined by Dr. Peter Barling in ’77, Dr. Rick Balharry in ’79, and Dr. Mike Quinlan in ’81. Names any longtime Canmore local would surely recognize.
In 2000, Dr. Wally had the opportunity to take over Dan Bester’s practice. He happily rose to the occasion and remained there until 2013 when his career unexpectedly came to an end.
Dr. Bryson was always known as someone who went above and beyond for his patients, a true champion for his community, someone who would personally call and follow up on how someone was doing, and just an absolute staple of the healthcare community in Canmore and beyond. In 2013, he was forced to stop practicing when he abruptly got a spinal infection that nearly killed him.
“I was diagnosed as a complete quadriplegic,” he told us. “Though I could move my big toe and I knew the longest nerve in the body went down to the big toe. I thought, if I can move that, I think the other nerves might recover.” He spent time unable to move and after a ton of physiotherapy and unwavering support from his wife and loved ones, he says he’s “improved enormously.” Now, seven years later, he’s regained mobility. But, “after practicing in Canmore for 38 years, that was the end to my career,” he said.
When asked what the experience was like switching roles from doctor to patient, he said his background allowed him to maintain optimism throughout the otherwise terrifying and unexpected ordeal. “Optimistically, I could understand where I was, where I was going, and how I was benefiting from working hard to recover with physiotherapy. I could see ahead of me, and I never got discouraged. A lot of people might have.”
Though, while his decades on the other side of the experience could prepare him for the medical side of things, it was the abrupt separation from his patients that he found the most difficult.
“it was sudden that I could no longer work, and that was kind of traumatic. Lots of my patients I had known for decades. You get to know them very well, not just the medical side, but the families and the personalities and it was lovely. That was the saddest part, not seeing them, at least not in the same way. That was the hard part,” Dr. Wally reflected.
“I’ve adjusted to not doing medicine, but the hardest part was adjusting to not seeing people that I really loved for a long time.”
He spoke of some of his patients that he had the pleasure of watching grow up. “I’d deliver the babies, see them growing up, and even see them having their own kids.” He told us that he loved nothing more than the “continuity.” Not only to treat someone but to check in, follow up and see how they’re really doing.
A remarkable man and doctor, Dr. Wally made history in Canmore by bringing the laparoscopic program to the Canmore General Hospital in 1994 along with an operating room supervisor, Susan Love, who he calls instrumental in the entire process. To understand the significance of bringing a laparoscopic program to Canmore, it’s important to understand what exactly that is.
Dr. Bryson explained that laparoscopy is the process of putting probes into the abdomen and looking on a screen rather than cutting open someone’s stomach. With just little tiny holes rather than significant incisions, surgeons can remove gallbladders and appendix, among countless other procedures.
“You could take someone’s gallbladder out in the morning and they could go home in the evening. Before, when you made a tummy incision, they might be there for two or three days while the wound was healing. The recovery was way faster,” he said.
The surgeon saw that this is the way surgery was heading. “I saw the need for it, myself and Susan Love.” They met with the companies who manufactured the equipment to get quotes, and then Dr. Bryson went to both Calgary and England at Foothills Hospital, Rockyview Hospital, and the College of Surgeons in London to gain further training in laparoscopy to gain the knowledge, skill, and confidence to bring the cutting-edge program to this small town.
“To do surgery, you need to want to learn and keep learning forever,” he said.
To get wind of a revolutionary new surgical practice, advocate for bringing it to a rural Albertan town, and actually make it happen is the perfect example of the impact Dr. Wally Bryson has had on Canmore. Even more, he did it again in 1998 with the Canmore Hospital’s endoscopic program.
Dr. Wally loved his work more than most could imagine, and he was damn good at it. Though, we’d be remiss not to mention his other true love: golf. “I’ve been a golfer all my life. One of the biggest loves of my life is golf,” said Wally.
In fact, The Dr. T. Wallace Bryson Trophy is awarded and presented at the annual Canmore Hospital Foundation’s Golf Tournament Fund-raiser. Winning team members take home their individual awards personally presented by Wally himself. The Dr. T. Wallace Bryson Trophy began in 2015 in honour of his devoted commitment to healthcare in the Bow Valley since 1975, and a tip of the hat to his love for the game of golf.
“A great friend of mine, Don Pestell, a tremendous Foundation benefactor, decided to make this lovely trophy in my name. He had it made and we played for it at the tournament for the Foundation every year. He’s a great friend that I’ve had for decades.” At the time the trophy came about, Dr. Wally was no longer able to play golf, but his love for the sport and the spirit has never faded and he was delighted and honoured by the tribute.
It’s impossible to sum up the career and the impact of this man in so many words. A father, a husband, a friend, and a respected doctor and surgeon for over 38 years. “For me, it was always about people,” said Wally. From his days at the tiny little hospital up on the hill in 1975 all the way until 2013, so much of this valley’s heath was in his hands and he relished that responsibility every single day.
Dr. Wallace Bryson says he owes so much of his recovery and the lovely life he leads today to his loving wife, Mary, and this special town they have the pleasure of living in.
The Dr. T. Wallace Bryson Trophy.