The Eighth Annual Salute to Service Awards Dinner was a significantly gala event last Friday at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess Hotel.

It was highlighted by the presentation of the distinctive BHF Crystal Obelisk to Dr. George Bertram (Bert) McPhee for his sterling service extending more than a half a century to the Bermudian community as a physician. And also by the awarding of $48,000 in scholarships to aid four students in pursuit of careers in the medical field.

It was eight years ago when the three brothers, Dr. Ewart F. Brown (who of course is now Bermuda's Premier and Minister of Tourism), Philip Butterfield and Vincent Hollinsid, along with the late Murray Brown set up the BHF with the dual purpose of honouring Bermudians making extraordinary contributions serving the community at large, and to aid students pursuing medical careers. Since then, more than $300,000 in scholarships have been donated.

Mr. Butterfield, who is BHF chairman and head of the HSBC Bank in Bermuda, said a record number of over 40 students applied for this year's awards He was the first of several personalities at the gala lauding Dr. McPhee for having cared for thousands of patients in Bermuda since he opened his practice in 1955.

"While many of his contemporaries have chosen to retire, he continues to care for those many Bermudians who have put their trust in him," noted Mr. Butterfield.

Similar sentiments about the Bahamian-born physician were voiced by Dr. Brown, who said "Bert McPhee is not only my uncle, but my mentor, a great inspiration and confidante." His late wife, the Hon. Gloria Darrell McPhee was the Premier's aunt. They met while students at Howard University in Washington, D.C., in the late 1940s, and married in D.C. on May 20, 1948. She passed away on February 18, 2007.

Leader of the Opposition United Bermuda Party Kim Swan noted how he and his colleagues in the UBP were speaking about Bert McPhee the other day, and concluded "he is a very cool guy", after listing his accomplishments in family health care and geriatrics, and "his charismatic qualities, charming, laid back, friendly manner and as a sharp dresser".

Continuing, Mr. Swan stated, "I cannot let pass the opportunity to mention how Dr. McPhee so ably supported his wife in her political career, culminating in her appointment as Bermuda's first female Cabinet minister. She was a great lady."

Other facets of the Dr. McPhee persona were given in lighthearted speeches by Dr. Delmont Simmons, as a colleague; Mrs. Shirley Pearman, as a patient, and former Commanding Officer of the Bermuda Regiment, Lt. Col. Michael Darling.

In addition to his private medical practice, Dr. McPhee served as Medical Officer for the Bermuda Regiment from1968 to 1983. Col. Darling took the liberty to comment jokingly on some of Dr. McPhee's exploits on training exercises in Jamaica, and as Parade Commander of the Regiment on various occasions. Seriously, he lauded him for having offered CPR training to the Regiment's medical orderlies.

And while it was deplorable that his friend was forced to retire from positions he held at the King Edward VII Hospital, solely because he had reached the age of seventy, the Colonel said he accepted the situation with his characteristic wit by declaring "I'll never make the mistake of being seventy again".

Dr. McPhee graduated form McGill University in 1953 with Doctor of Medicine and Master of Surgery degrees. It was noted that long before healthcare for seniors became a priority in Bermuda, or elsewhere for that matter, Dr. McPhee saw caring for an ageing poluplation as a priority. He took time out for specialist training sponsored by the Geriatric Education Department of the University of Miami Medical School in 1983. Additionally he trained at the University of California in Los Angeles and the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at the San Diego School of Medicine.

Returning to Bermuda in 1986, he was appointed to the position s of Physician-in-Charge of the Extended Care Unit at KEMH, Physician to Lefroy House and Consultant Geriatrician to the Ministry of Health & Social Services, positions he held for ten years before being forced to retire from the Hospital in 1996.