Employees at the Grey Bruce Health Services in Owen Sound are shocked to hear of the tragic death of one of their psychiatrists in Somalia.
Doctor Abdi (Abdishakur) Jowhar was killed Sunday in a car accident while travelling between his hometown of Borama and the village of Dilla.
His wife, Nimo Mohamed Mohamud, was also injured in the accident and continues to recover.
Doctor Jowhar was born in Somalia where he completed high school and university before going to medical college in Egypt.
He then immigrated to Canada to open his first clinic specializing in psychiatry.
Doctor Jowhar had been working at the Owen Sound hospital for the past two and a half years.
Hospital President and CEO Maureen Solecki says he had been in Somalia the past two months at his practice there, and they were expecting him to return in early June.
Solecki says the devastating news of his death came as a shock because he was a very kind and gentle man who got along with patients, colleagues and the mental health team.
She says he encouraged staff to join him during his lunch and learn sessions called “Brain Food” in which he talked about mental health and the psychiatry field.
Doctor Jowhar was also a well-known and respected political activist and advocate in Somalia.
Solecki says they are keeping his family in their thoughts and prayers.
She says it will take some time to recover from the shock, and then in the coming weeks the hospital will have to look at filling that gap in delivering psychiatric services.
