To begin a campaign of paying tribute to the people who have helped make Flin Flon what it is today, The Reminder is honouring Dr. Mervyn Shnider, who served the community for parts of four decades as a jack-of-all-trades physician.
Dr. Shnider grew up in Yorkton, Sask., studying engineering at the Univ. of Saskatchewan. His family moved to Winnipeg later on, inspiring him to pursue a new path at the Univ. of Manitoba - medicine.
Shnider came up to Flin Flon to work during his initial school years, working during the summer months in the Flin Flon smelter. He would continue doing that on-and-off until he received his medical degree.
“He started out as a student coming up to work in the smelter in the ‘40s, first when he was an engineering student in Saskatchewan and then when he decided to go to medical school in Winnipeg,” said his son Harry.
“I know that he did spend some time as a summer student, working to make some money in the smelter. That's really how he got introduced to the community.”
After graduating from medical school, Shnider moved to Flin Flon full-time and started his career as a physician. In some manner or another, Shnider would continue to do that job for almost 35 years.
“The idea of coming up here - just because he knew the community and the fact that it wasn't in Winnipeg, I think really resonated with him. Once he settled here, he was here - he really didn't think about moving anywhere else to practice,” said Harry.
A general practitioner by trade and duty, Shnider was particularly suited for anaesthesia and for pediatric medicine. Geriatric care and cardiology were also calling cards.
Shnider also was frequently called to the Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting compound to treat workers who had been injured or who had fallen ill on the job, splitting time between Flin Flon General Hospital and the company’s own medical facility. At a time when working conditions were much more dangerous than today, that could at times mean treating employes with mangled limbs or grisly injuries.
“One thing that he had - and this is really the mark of a good doctor - is that he had the ability to just see things that were not great and he could compartmentalize them. He could apply his much more scientific mind and he could solve the issue without being overcome,” said Harry.
“He always had empathy for his patients and he did his best to help them, but he was able to see his way clear through a lot of gruesome, really nasty things.”
Shnider would also often take blood for testing and lead level checks for smelter employees.
“Dad would get up very early and go in and set up shop - and these guys, how they coped with getting through their day was basically swearing like sailors and talking all sorts of nonsense,” Harry recalled.
“As soon as dad showed up, it was like the bell had rung and church was in. They just straightened right up and they afforded him the complete amount of respect that they thought he deserved. That's something that didn't go unnoticed by me.”
Outside of work, Shnider was often involved with the Flin Flon Kin Club and was active in Flin Flon’s small-but-thriving Jewish community.
Shnider retired from full-time practice in 1990 and moved away from the community, settling with his wife into semi-retirement in Victoria. He didn’t hang up his coat altogether though, working fill-in shifts at a local walk-in clinic well into old age.
Shnider died in hospice care on Christmas Eve 2017, aged 91, after a battle with Alzheimer’s disease.
