LGH doctor challenges what it means to be disabled

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Dr. Vanessa Knight’s accomplishments are impressive: emergency room physician, climber, and former competitive skier. What makes his accomplishments all the more remarkable is that Knight has accomplished them single-handedly. Literally.

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Knight was born without a left hand, but from her new job as an ER doctor at Lakeshore General Hospital in Pointe-Claire, to skiing on the Canadian Paralympic team and being an ambassador for War Amps, Knight has never shied away from reaching for the bronze ring. . .

“I’m definitely someone a bit stubborn. I wanted to do things on my own and at first I wouldn’t take help, but then I realized that everyone needs a little help along the way, ”Knight said.

Born in Baie-D’Urfé, Knight has been working at LGH for less than a year. The McGill University-trained physician uses a prosthetic arm to perform some medical interventions, such as intubating patients, and prefers to use only his right hand for others, such as casting. The prosthetic arm fits on your forearm like a silicone sleeve. It covers a housing on your arm that is provided with electrodes on two sides that respond to the movements of your muscles.

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“I can move the end of my stump up or down and that will cause flexion or extension in the muscles above my arm where the electrodes are placed. If I bend down, it will close my prosthesis and if I extend upward, it will open it, ”Knight explained.

Whether it’s rock climbing, which Knight took after taking a course at CEGEP, or something more serious like working in the ER, Knight said she has had to learn to do things differently: “I’m so stubborn that I find one way … At first, you may have had a little problem with intubation, which involves putting a tube into someone’s larynx to help them breathe, that’s one of the two-handed procedures, … but I had people behind me every step of the way and they helped me touch up little things and use special devices to help me get there. “

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Lakeshore ER deputy chief medical officer Dr. Robin Nathanson said people are baffled by Knight’s ability to complete the procedures: central placement lines. These are all complex procedures that require a certain degree of dexterity and it is absolutely amazing that Dr. Knight can perform them without any problems without assistance. “

Not everyone has been so excited about the idea of ​​Knight becoming a doctor. “There were some teachers who might not like the idea of ​​having someone with a disability in the program and they spoke a little more about it,” Knight said, adding that their classmates and most of the teachers They supported them, as did their colleagues at the hospital.

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Knight credits her family and friends for allowing her to discover for herself the things she couldn’t do. Knight contemplated becoming a surgeon at some point. “That would have been too much for me,” he said.

Having Knight in the ER is “a reminder that we are all too human and I think everyone, no matter who, experienced a challenge,” Nathanson said.

A War Amps volunteer since her teens, Knight gives presentations and mentors other amputees considering a future in healthcare. “I think I have quite unique experiences and have overcome obstacles … so I definitely have something to share with them,” Knight said.

Knight said society has a lot of work to do to embrace disabled people and that it will continue to do its part: “I want to be there for other people who may not have had the support that I had.”