Dr. Embert Van Tilburg, MD
Patrick Jamieson, Victoria, BC
Volume 37 Issue 10, 11 & 12 | Posted: January 4, 2023
Dr. Embert van Tilburg held the position of Medical Director of St Joseph’s Hospital in Victoria, BC in the early 1970s. By the time he served on the Catholic Hospital Association of Canada Board, he held a position at St. Paul’s Hospital, Vancouver, BC. He was a specialist in palliative care, and at one time worked in the Palliative Care Service of the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal. He retired in Victoria and remained active in the community by serving as board chair of L’Arche.
Henry Bizien’s reflection on his friend Father John Horgan of Vancouver coincides with the passing of Embert Van Tilburg, who lived to be 100 years old. Both men were working at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver in the 1980s when the AIDS epidemic was at its peak. As Henry’s tribute states, Father John as a pastoral care agent, Dr. Embert was administrator of the hospital, both responding to the health crisis that defined those times.
I knew Embert in Victoria later as a lay leader of uncommon grace and respect in the community. In his retirement career he was active with Christian meditation circles, and kept up on developments within the global church, and the health care field. In this vein we met regularly to discuss the issues and activities of the day at a coffee shop near his place in Oak Bay at Windsor Park.
Something we shared as well was service with the Catholic Health Association of Canada, the successor to the Catholic Hospital Association of Canada, in the 1970s. As indicated he served a term as President in the mid ‘70s while I was employed a few year after that in communications. Certainly in my experience, Embert manifested holistic health care in his entire demeanour surviving to such a ripe age, fully conscious of spirit, mind and body.
Patrick Jamieson, Victoria, BC