It's because along with his wife, Nicolette, and their nine-year-old daughter, Mara, he runs Morris Farm in the Alberni Valley.
Truth be told, his wife and daughter run the organic farm, and he is the help.
Fortunately for Port Alberni residents, his real job is as a general internal medicine specialist at the West Coast General Hospital. He is also a senior associate at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and spent 10 years working in Africa.
Morris has great respect for continuing education and enhanced training.
As a member of Community and Rural Internal Medicine, which represents some 200 internists working across B.C., he learned about a special, hand-held, bedside echocardiogram course that he felt offered cutting-edge technology.
Echocardiograms provide an ultrasound image of the structure and function of the heart and usually patients in Port Alberni have to travel to larger centres like Nanaimo or Victoria to get one.
The course, however, was teaching internists how to use the new hand-held technology at the bedside. It is being funded by the Specialist Services Committee, a joint committee of the B.C. government and the B.C. Medical Association that supports the improvements of the specialist care system for patients in B.C. The course on the new technology took place over four, two-day weekends earlier this year.
Morris and seven other physicians were trained on how to properly use hand-held ultrasound devices to obtain an accurate picture of a patient's heart. "These hand-held ultrasound devices may eventually replace the stethoscope," said Dr. Jean-Paul Lim, a general internist who works in Terrace and Vancouver, who developed the course and is giving the training.
On call at the hospital after the first weekend's learning session, Morris immediately used the technology to diagnose pericardial effusion - fluid around the heart - in an elderly man with cancer, which led to more rapid and effective treatment.
"I am now using it almost every day. It is so practical and effective. I think it is the future of medicine, " Morris said.
The course also subsidized part of the purchase of the $8,000 device as Morris's personal piece of equipment to have with him whenever needed at West Coast General Hospital.
Being able to quickly diagnose a heart problem at the bedside in a small hospital cannot only be lifesaving advantage for the patient, but it can reduce hospitalizations and save money for the health care system, too.
By funding innovative training programs like this, the SSC is supporting specialists in B.C. to increase their skills, deliver costeffective care, and most importantly, provide timely effective treatment to patients.
