SOBER, ALCOHOLIC DOC DEDICATED TO ADDICTS

When Dr. Ray Baker walked out of his Logan Lake clinic, leaving a waiting
room full of patients behind, he wasn't sure he would pick up a stethoscope
again.

"I just couldn't take any more . . . I felt like an imposter posing as a
doctor, medicating my emotions away with booze and drugs," recalls the
53-year-old physician, who 16 years later is an innovator in addiction
treatment.

"There were only two of us (doctors) so every second night I spent on call
dealing with any and every medical emergency. And that was on top of seeing
45 patients a day and making around 23 house calls a week, mostly in the
evening."

Baker snapped on that cold November morning in 1984 and just kept on
walking until he reached the house where he and his teacher wife, Agnes,
had made what appeared to be a happy home for themselves and their
children, Michael, then 3, and 18-month-old Sarah. Pressures on small-town
doctors are no different from Baker's day but he admits his troubles date
back to his teens.

"I started smoking at 14 and drinking at 15," he confesses.

He dropped out of school in his native Ontario and was arrested for drunk
driving. But his Jekyll and Hyde tendencies emerged when he heeded advice
and entered the honours physiology program at the University of Western
Ontario in London. During the day he hit the books but at night he was a
typical party animal, well, not quite.

"When everybody quit drinking and went home I went home and continued
drinking," he said. "I didn't spot the problem. . . there was probably one
lecture on addiction in those days and I think I missed it because I was at
the pub."

Nevertheless, the newly married Baker graduated in 1971 as an academic gold
medallist and in 1975, he was the class valedictorian.

Baker interned at St. Joseph's Hospital in London, where he anesthetized
himself from the horrors of the emergency room with booze. He escaped to
B.C. to take up the respected position of a rural MD or "minor deity" as he
now jokingly describes the posting.

Of course, it was no escape and matters worsened in December 1976 when his
parents were both hit with a serious stomach upset while touring Nepal. He
flew to Katmandu and nursed them in a primitively equipped hospital,
sleeping only when had drunk enough Scotch to pass out.

His father died of a ruptured gall bladder and the devastated son brought
his mom home where she died weeks later.

Depression set in and the nightmares began. He blamed himself for his
parents' premature demise, believing that had he been a better doctor they
would have lived.

The downward spiral continued until his 1984 walkout. Then Baker glimpsed
the light and spent two months in a rehabilitation clinic.

When he returned the self-mocking doc put vanity plates on his 1978 Lincoln
- -- DRYDOC. It broke the ice with most of the patients, who witnessed his
descent.

He stayed off booze but as his emotional pain began to surface he began
popping Demerol and a little (medicinal) cocaine. On Feb. 6, 1986, he
binged on coke and passed out . . . he did more than glimpse the light this
time.

Two years later, he opened a clinic in New Westminster where he put his
heart and soul into developing an effective model for addiction treatment.

That same year, a coroner's inquest highlighted addiction problems in the
medical profession. The result was the Addiction Medicine and
Intercollegial Responsibility program at the University of B.C. medical school.

In five years at the helm, Baker won two awards for teaching excellence but
more importantly he taught hundreds of medical students not only to treat
addiction in patients but also to heed warning signs in themselves and
their fellow practitioners.

Now he has his own company in HealthQuest, which is hired by employers and
unions to help workers deal with substance abuse and other debilitating
conditions such as stress, depression and chronic fatigue syndrome.

Baker overcame personal adversity to help others, a fact recognized in his
nomination two years ago for the inaugural Courage to Come Back Awards. The
Coast Foundation awards, which are supported by this newspaper, are under
way again.

If you know somebody like Baker, nomination forms are available at
Scotiabank branches and must be submitted by Feb. 19. For more information,
call toll-free 1-877-60COAST (1-877-602-6278) or visit the website hosted
by the Workers Compensation Board of B.C. at: http://www.worksafebc.com.