Beyond the Exam Room

Beyond the Exam Room

How God expanded my understanding of compassionate patient care.

For twenty-two years, I had the privilege of serving as a family physician. It was a career I loved, but one I never expected to pursue.

Growing up, I thought I would follow in my family’s footsteps and enter the business world. I studied business at university, enjoyed accounting, and assumed that would be my future. Yet as graduation approached, I realized something was missing. While I appreciated the work, I wasn’t passionate about it.

That uncertainty led me to Haiti, where I spent eight weeks volunteering with a medical team. I visited hospitals, orphanages, a home for boys, and Mother Teresa’s Home for the Dying. At the time I wasn’t a Christian, and I knew very little about the faith that motivated so many of the people serving there. But I was deeply moved by what I witnessed.

When I returned home, I felt compelled to study medicine.

Looking back now, I can see God’s hand gently directing my steps long before I recognized His presence in my life.

Medicine Was Never Just About Medicine

Years later, after becoming a Christian, I began to see my work as a physician through different eyes.

Like every medical student, I had studied embryology. I understood that every human being develops from a unique genetic blueprint beginning at conception. Yet somehow, my understanding of abortion remained disconnected from what I knew scientifically. It was simply part of medical practice.

That disconnect didn’t disappear overnight. Instead, God began changing my heart through people.

A Young Woman Who Changed My Perspective

One of those people was a young woman in our community who had Down syndrome.

I watched the love her parents poured into her life. I saw the joy she brought to those around her. Her curiosity, her warmth, and the relationships she shared caused me to ask questions I had never seriously considered before.

I found myself wondering: What gives us the right to decide that one life has more value than another? That question stayed with me.

Around the same time, a close friend who had been adopted at birth reconnected with her birth mother. As she learned more of her mother’s story, she also discovered how little practical support had been available during her unexpected pregnancy.

It became increasingly clear to both of us that many women weren’t looking for someone to make a decision for them. They were looking for someone who would walk beside them.

Beyond the Exam Room

As a family physician, I could explain a diagnosis, discuss options, and answer medical questions. What I couldn’t always provide was the practical support many women desperately needed.

I remember sitting across from a young woman whose greatest need wasn’t another medical explanation. She already knew her options. What she didn’t know was whether anyone would stand with her if she chose to continue her pregnancy.

An unexpected pregnancy is rarely just about the pregnancy. It may involve financial insecurity, unstable relationships, housing concerns, fear of disappointing family members, or uncertainty about the future. The pregnancy often becomes the visible part of a much larger story.

I realized that medicine alone wasn’t enough. People needed time. They needed someone to listen without rushing. They needed practical help. They needed hope.

What they often needed most wasn’t another opinion—it was someone willing to walk with them as they sorted through fear, uncertainty, and the decisions ahead.

Together with several friends, and with the encouragement and support of Pregnancy Care Canada, we established a local pregnancy care centre in our community. Our hope was simple: to create a place where women and men could receive medically accurate information, practical support, and compassionate care without feeling pressured or judged.

For many, it became the first place where they felt truly heard.

A New Calling

A few years later, Pregnancy Care Canada invited me to serve on its Board of Directors.

I gladly accepted, because I knew how vital the support and training they offered was to local pregnancy care centres and communities.

Then something happened that I never anticipated. When the Executive Director announced her retirement, someone around the board table looked at me and said,

“Laura, why don’t you become the Executive Director?” My immediate response was simple. “No, I don’t want to.”

But over the weeks that followed, I found myself waking during the night with ideas about the future of Pregnancy Care Canada. I began thinking about pregnancy care centres across the country, about the opportunities ahead, and about the thousands of women and families who might never receive support if these centres didn’t exist.

Gradually, I realized God was inviting me into a new season. Eventually, I said yes.

A Broader Understanding of Care

People sometimes ask why I left medicine. The truth is, I don’t believe I ever really did.

The setting changed. The calling remained the same.

Whether caring for patients in a medical office, equipping pregnancy care centres across Canada, or writing and speaking today, my desire has always been the same: to help people experience compassion, dignity, and hope.

Over the years, I’ve become convinced that if we truly believe every person has inherent value, our response must extend beyond words.

Compassion isn’t simply agreeing that every life matters. Compassion asks what we can do to relieve the burdens people are carrying.

Looking Back

When I began medical school, I thought becoming a physician would define my life’s work. Instead, medicine became one chapter in a much larger story.

God used medicine to teach me how to care for people, and He used people to reshape my understanding of compassion. He used faith to reshape my understanding of compassion. And He used unexpected invitations to lead me into places I never imagined.

Looking back, I’m grateful that God rarely reveals the whole journey at once. He simply asks us to take the next faithful step.

Related Reflections