Dr. Pravinsagar Mehta, Medical Director at Actionmarguerite, has been walking alongside long term care staff, residents and families for nearly 50 years. He almost didn’t get hired in 1976, though. “There was a problem; they told me I wasn’t French speaking so they couldn’t give me the job,” remembers Dr. Mehta with a chuckle. “I told them to keep my number, just in case. And they called me the next week because they couldn’t find anyone. The rest is history.”
His measured, calm approach to care has been appreciated by thousands of families over the decades, and he continues to find meaning and purpose in new medical advances and working with his co-Directors. “ Evolving in this field is a privilege, and I don’t take it for granted,” Dr. Mehta continues. “We want to do things better in long term care, and we’ve been able to be pioneers here in Manitoba in the last 50 years. I always respected my elders and my parents, and it’s been an honour to take care of the elderly as a career.”
One of the many changes Dr. Mehta has seen in his time is the expectation of care. “We’re taking on more acutely ill patients these days,” he explains. “Patients now very rarely get transferred to hospitals unless it’s for diagnostics. Working in long term care also means providing sub-acute care, palliative care, medical care; we cover it all. The physicians here also do a lot of continuing education to ensure we’re keeping up with best practices.”
In fact, he believes that the strength of the staff teams at Actionmarguerite is at the core of its compassionate care. “I have really admired the management and boards who have overseen Actionmarguerite through the decades,” Dr. Mehta reflects. “We have lost five physicians over 50 years, two of them to retirement and one who got ill. Such low turnover really says something. You try to take care of yourself and your care providers so that they can best care for residents. That’s very real here, where interdisciplinary teams are so vital. We are all working to support the whole person.”
In the last several years, Dr. Mehta has seen the concept of caring for the caregiver take on a new form. “Since Micheline [St-Hilaire] has taken on the leadership role here, we’re focusing more on how we staff take care of ourselves so that we can show up the way we want to with residents,” he shares. “What we do for residents comes from the top, and the way that we are treated as staff will be reflected in the way we treat those under our care. When we feel respected and are welcomed to the units with the same enthusiasm as everyone else, we feel appreciated. That makes for a good place to work.”
When Dr. Mehta and his family set down roots in the mid-1970s in Winnipeg after emigrating from England, Actionmarguerite became a home for him. As he approached half a century of care, he had one more legacy he wanted to leave. “When I first came to the building in St. Boniface, I saw the courtyard that had been long neglected,” he remembers. “I thought that if I had the chance, I’d like to see it flourish, so residents could really enjoy being outside.”
In 2024, when Actionmarguerite launched a capital campaign to redevelop and improve that same courtyard, Dr. Mehta was standing by. He and his wife, Kalpana, contributed $250,000 to the capital campaign, plus another $250,000 to create an endowment which will maintain the courtyard for years to come. “Almost three-quarters of my life has been spent in these walls, starting with my meeting with Sister Pépin who was in charge for many years, a long time ago”, Dr. Mehta reflects. “It was my pleasure to be able to give back.”