1993 Alumnus of the Year
Alumnus of the Year
Dr. David Jewer, B.Sc(Hons)'75, B.Med.Sci'79,
MD'81
When Adam Case was born January 25, 1990, he was missing both his
upper and lower eyelids and his nose did not have a bridge. It was
under these circumstances when the child was two weeks old that his
parents, Michele and Gordon Case of Mount Pearl, met plastic
surgeon Dr. David Jewer. Adam’s condition was unique in the
world, so without the benefit of a textbook, Dr. Jewer set out to
determine what could be done for the boy.
Since his birth, Adam has become an all-too-frequent visitor to operating rooms in St. John’s and Halifax. In two rounds of surgery, Dr. Jewer reconstructed the child’s eyelids only after Adam had undergone corneal transplantation by another surgeon.
“There’s an honesty about the man that lets him tell you things you may not want to hear,” said Michele Case. “He’s very aware of his surgical abilities and limitations, and he openly admits to them both.”
As parents, the Cases have had to place a lot of faith in the medical team caring for their son – an act they said was made easier because of who led that team. “Dr. Jewer’s being in charge has helped us to get through a very difficult time,” said Mrs. Case.
Adam’s mother recalled one evening of concern in particular, after her son had skin grafted from behind his ears to make the upper eyelids, “I could see underneath the post-op dressing that the graft was loosened, and I told him when he was on rounds that I just didn’t feel right about what I had seen.”
When the Cases arrived home at 10 p.m. from the hospital, their phone was ringing. “Dr. Jewer was calling to reassure us the graft had taken, and that Adam would be fine. He gave us his home number and meant it when he said to call if we had other concerns.
With Adam’s eyes on the way to healing, it was time to attend to his nasal bridge. “Dr. Jewer’s honesty came to light again, “ said Mrs. Case, “when he admitted he could probably do it, but that he preferred to have Adam see another surgeon in Halifax, one who had more background in that area.” He remains actively involved, however, with Adam’s treatment. “He’s been doing CT scans and putting in tissue expanders between Adam’s visits to the Halifax surgeon,” said Mrs. Case. “Not to mention that he continues to answer our countless questions.”
Dr. Jewer said that many people ask him if there is enough business here in Newfoundland for his specialty. “I constantly have to point out that plastic surgery is not that same as cosmetic surgery,” he said.
Plastic surgery deals with form and function – “It’s no good to cut out a cancerous tumor, for example, if you leave the patient a disfigured shell,” explained Dr. Jewer. With the demand for his skills so high in this province, he finds that cosmetic surgery takes a low priority, although he gets plenty of requests.
If the field of plastic surgery is different form what most people expect, then Dr. Jewer is a little different from what most would expect in a plastic surgeon.
When greeting visitors at his front door, a common salutation of his may be, “I hope you didn’t trip on your way in.” He is referring to the obstacle course that guests must negotiate as a result of utility trailers lining the driveway to his suburban home. At any given moment, what he would most like to do is use them to haul equipment in the woods for the entire family, consisting of his wife Margaret, B.Sc.’77, their three children: Leah, 9; Douglas, 7, and Elyse, 5, along with their grandparents and any uncles, aunts or cousins who may like to go along. He was born in Botwood, NL. “I loved doing what everyone there does. I spent my time hunting, fishing, going off on trips in the woods and building log cabins.”
If there were such a things as an Alumnus “Family” of the Year, the Jewers of Botwood would likely sit high atop the nomination list.
“Our parents always placed a high value on education – it didn’t matter what I or my two sisters did in life, as long as we were educated doing it,” said Dr. Jewer. After attending Memorial University College in 1940-41, his mother, Audrey (Gale), took up her first teaching assignment in a log-cabin school house in Roger’s Cove on Fogo Island. In 1945, she married Douglas Jewer, recently discharged form the Newfoundland Regiment. After the war, Douglas Jewer worked as an assistant manager of a wholesale firm in Botwood and took other jobs including bookkeeping for the local Canadian Legion and special-ordering tailor-made clothes. “He did a great job supporting his family and helping put three children though university,” said Dr. Jewer.
Gail Jewer-Hancock, the surgeon’s older sister, received a degree in arts and education from Memorial in 1971. She is the principal of an elementary school in Botwood and is also serving her second term as mayor of Northern Arm, a community not far from Botwood. His younger sister, Heather Jewer-Mills, is a legal aid lawyer in Grand Falls. She has a B.Sc.(Hons.)’79 from Memorial and an LLB’83 from Dalhousie University.
David Jewer graduated from high school in 1970, He said it probably surprises him more than anyone else that he ended up in a medical career. “I was never sure I’d last through one degree,” he said. “When I first started university, I thought it was wishful thinking to say I’d make it through three months since I was never known for my interest in academics.”
Once settled in Coughlan College residence, however, David Jewer found it was possible to combine his high school loves – sports and the outdoors – with what would be required for success in academe. With every intention of becoming a wildlife biologist, he earned a B.Sc.(Hons.) in 1975 and pursued graduate studies in biology form 1975-77, thanks to a fellowship from the National Research Council.
The reluctant academic lasted considerably longer that the three months he had anticipated. In fact, he would go on for a total of 17 years. Turning from biology to medicine, he earned a B.Med.Sci. in 1979 and a MD in 1981. He enrolled in general surgery for his residency at Memorial in 1982-84. He then transferred to the plastic surgery program at Dalhousie University in 1984, completing this specialty training in 1986. His competencies in the field were further developed by additional fellowships in plastic surgery at Dalhousie in 1986 and in microvascular surgery at the University of Toronto in 1987.
Dr. Jewer finds his days are filled differently than if wildlife biology had been his final career choice. At 8 in the morning following his interview with Luminus, he will make eyelids in the OR for a gentleman who lost his own because of cancer. His second case will be the removal of a cancerous tumor form a patient’s cheek and subsequent reconstruction. He will then operate on a man who has a problem with a nerve in his hand, then on another with a crushed injury to his hand. His next patient will have facial fractures in need of repair.
Elizabeth Reynolds, past-president of the Alumni Association, the body which bestows the Alumnus/a of the Year Award, and chair of its selection committee, explained the award is presented annually to former Memorial students in recognition of an outstanding contribution they have made to the association, the university, a particular field of endeavor, or to the community at large.
“The contributions Dr. Jewer has made to his profession and to the delivery of health care in our province are exceptional, “said Ms. Reynolds. “In addition to the long hours he spends in the operating rooms of the Health Sciences Centre and the Janeway, he currently sits on eight hospital advisory committees. For the Janeway Hospital, his sits on the medical advisory and the medical records and audit committees and is a member of its Craniofacial and Cleft Palate Team. The Newfoundland Medical Association receives the benefit of his know-how through his association with the allocations committee and through his chairing of its computer committee. Only six years in the field, Dr. Jewer has recently been elected to the Educational Foundation of the Canadian Society of Plastic Surgeons.
As a clinical assistant professor of surgery with Memorial’s medical school, he gives a number of annual Continuing Medical Education lectures around the province and he has been a guest presenter at national and international scientific meetings.
“A very important consideration for our committee, “said Ms. Reynolds, “is the fact that he chose to bring his much-needed skills back to his home province.
Dr. William Threlfall, a 28-year veteran of Memorial’s biology department and a former professor of Dr. Jewer, says his ex-student is a good example of what our medical school wanted to accomplish. (Part of the faculty’s mandate, when it was established 25 years ago, was to provide Newfoundlanders with a medical training in the hope they would stay here to practice.)
John Baker, now a lawyer in a St. John’s firm, grew up with David Jewer in Botwood. He has seen the coals of more that one barbecue cool while waiting for his school chum to show. Mr. Baker has an idea of what it can do to the social life of someone who is only one of two plastics surgeons in the province. “When we’ve tried to get together, Dave has usually been called back to emergency because of a lawn mower or automobile accident.”
That type of demand, however, can lead to plenty of frustrations. “With these difficulty economic times, we’re unable to hire a third or fourth surgeon, so I have a waiting list of about 400 patients, “ said Dr. Jewer. “Telling someone who is looking for an elective procedure that I’m able to do it, but not for another three or four years is on of the more unpleasant things I have to do.”
The demands for his professional time can also take too much away from family life. “It’s a real drawback to this career that I’ve gone stretches of up to 16 days without having an evening meal with my kids. They’re also in sports, and I’d like to see them play more and bring them camping more often,” he said.
However, in the system of checks and balances when one has to decide whether the hours spent and the fatigue felt are worth it, he always remembers one good thing in particular about doing anything in Newfoundland. “It’s the people,” he said. “They’re so appreciative of all your efforts.”
Mrs. Case counts herself among the appreciative. When Adam begins school next year, it will not be without his parents offering a certain amount of quiet thanks to someone who will have made a great deal of difference in the life of their son.