Dr. Richard Heinzl, MSF-Canada
Cambodia Calling: A Memoir from the Frontlines of Humanitarian Aid
Dr. Richard Heinzl, founder of Médécins sans Frontièrs (MSF) Canada, talks about his first year in Cambodia, his new book, travel, and the future of health care.
Founder of the Canadian chapter of Médécins sans Frontièrs (MSF) or Doctors Without Borders, Dr. Richard Heinzl’s first book, "Cambodia Calling: A Memoir from the Frontlines of Humanitarian Aid" chronicles the journey that led to his first assignment with MSF in Sisophon, Cambodia, 1991. Wanderlust at heart with a dedication and curiosity to continually find ways to help, Henizl’s story is compelling both within his book and in person.
Dr. Richard Heinzl: On Travel and Medicine
During an interview in the lounge of the Hotel Vancouver Fairmont, Henzl chatted freely about his book and his general philosophy on travel. “Travel gives you skills and focuses your eyes on faraway worlds with a deeper perspective. Travel’s a gift,” he states adamantly. As a living testament, when he was 17, Henzl spontaneously decided to hitchhike from his family home in Hamilton, Ontario to his aunt and uncle’s home in New Brunswick in eastern Canada.
By the time Henzl started medical school at McMaster Universisty, he was a firm believer in two things: the power of travel and the power to help. Influenced greatly by his parents, who were both psychologists, Heinzl always knew he’d enter the medical field. “My parents gave me a sense of humanity… it’s important to make a contribution.” His grandfather, an emigrate from Austria was a doctor during WWII, and introduced a first-hand account of helping those in war-ravaged regions, a concept that greatly affected Heinzl.
International Health Outside the Classroom
At McMaster, during his first course in International Health, Heinzl approached his professor about taking his education into the field to study international health in an international, real-world context. His professor had connections with a medical facility in Nairobi, Kenya and Heinzl was able to go and work in a medical facility there for several months. Halfway through his tern, however, he was again feeling restless. “The facility there was very westernised and I was doing western-style surgeries… It wasn’t what I was expecting.” So, in search of those who lived in the poorest conditions, he walked across the border one day into Uganda, a decision that changed his life.
Uganda was a different world: a country torn apart from a civil war between the government forces of then-President Milton Obote, and the National Resistance Army led by current president, Yoweri Museveni. Here, he found the desolation and desperation he knew existed but had never experienced, and immediately wanted to help. There was starvation, there were bomb-craters, but there was also camaraderie and hope. While in Uganada, Heinzl met a group of young Belgian doctors, working on behalf of MSF and he was struck by their exuberence and sense of adventure and, moreover, their dedication and ability to make a difference.
When he returned to Canada in 1988, he immediately began to campaign to establish the Canadian chapter of this organization and, in 1991 he succeeded. As one of its first volunteers, he took a one-year assignment in Cambodia, an adventure chronicled in his new book.
E-health and a Borderless, Digital World
Now back in Toronto and no longer with MSF Canada, Heinzl’s turned his focus to his next challenge: making all borders obsolete through the advancement of e-health. “This really started in Cambodia,” Heinzl passionately recounts, tapping on his book for emphasis. “In Sisophon, we had two medical texts. If we’d had the Internet, we could have had access to all sorts of information and experts and second opinions.”
Making medical care accessible and efficient, at a low cost is how he envisions the next wave of health pioneers. Heinzl is the former CEO of CardioView Inc., an information technology company specializing in cardiology. Currently, is he is the Vice President of Vivid Health Solutions, which is involved in medical imaging. Through this technology, offices have the potential to be paperless, and patients’ records may be sent digitally from doctor to doctor, country to country – truly borderless.
