This week
Still in clinic. Still in scrubs.
Where you'll find her
- Bay Roberts
- Bense Clinic, St. John's
Hi, I'm Felicia.
Doctor, mother, wife, daughter, Newfoundlander. Spruce Ridge is the small clinic she runs.
Dr. Felicia Pickard
Practicing general surgeon · FRCSC
Same hands, every visit.
When Felicia treats you, it is Felicia treating you. The chart is hers. The plan is hers. The next visit is hers too. Patients tell their story once. Decisions stay in the same person’s head from one visit to the next. Adjustments are quiet, because someone is still keeping track. That is the only thing she asked of the clinic when she started it. Everything else came after.
Four letters, a long apprenticeship.
What each one was, and what it taught her.
Bachelor of Science
The undergraduate years. Reading bodies before treating them.
Master of Science
A research degree. It taught her to slow down before reaching for an answer.
Doctor of Medicine
Med school and the long apprenticeship that comes with it.
Royal College of Surgeons
Canadian fellowship in general surgery. Years of supervised operating before practicing on her own.
FRCSC denotes Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of Canada
I would rather start small and adjust than start big and apologize.
Felicia
How she tries to work.
Notes she pinned for herself a long time ago. They are reminders, not promises.
Listen First
The patient knows their body better than the chart does. Felicia tries to remember that every visit.
Less, More Often
Smaller doses, smaller adjustments, more check-ins. Quieter outcomes, fewer surprises.
Long Game
Pelvic care and aesthetics both reward patience. The plan is allowed to change as you do.
Plain Language
No jargon she would not say to her own family. Notes can go to your family doctor if you ask.
Newfoundland is home.
Felicia practices here because she lives here. The province is small. The medical community is smaller than that. Patients are not a stream of strangers; they are people she will see again, at a wharf or a wedding or the grocery store. That changes how you work. The chart is never anonymous. A decision made today is one she will live with at the next visit, and the one after. She did not start the clinic to grow it. She started it so the people on this island had someone steady to come back to.
Doctor. Mother. Wife. Daughter.
The person who walks into the operating room is the same one who packs school lunches and texts her mum back. The life outside of medicine is not a competing thing. It is the reason there is medicine in the first place. It also means she has been on the patient side of the desk. The waiting. The not-knowing. The wanting to feel a bit more like yourself again. None of that is theoretical to her.
A note from Felicia
I started Spruce Ridge for the patients I would want my own mum, sister, or daughter to see.
Felicia
Sit down with Felicia.
Bring your questions. We talk through what is bothering you and what the options are. Whatever you decide is up to you.