I Want to Know If I Got to Get Married

A Doctor on the Grenfell Mission

In 1969, Miles Frankel, a young British doctor, was recruited by the International Grenfell Association to provide medical services to communities in northern Newfoundland and coastal Labrador. From St. Anthony he travelled—by boat, Jeep, aircraft, and even dogsled—to nursing stations and small cottage hospitals strung out along the coast. Ever willing to heed the call, his work in outport Newfoundland and Labrador would sometimes require him to take on the role of veterinarian! “After two years at Poplar, I was proud of what I had achieved in turning myself into a competent doctor, but I was convinced that I had no interest in going further in the hospital service. Then, one day, I saw in the British Medical Journal an advertisement for a travelling doctor for the International Grenfell Association, with ‘interesting work in the Subarctic.’ I applied and got the job. Six weeks later, I immigrated to Canada and transferred my medical skills across the Atlantic. It was a life-changing experience, and I never regretted it.” Professionally, Dr. Frankel remained a rural doctor, both in Canada and Ireland. His was a mission of mercy, always undertaken in the spirit of new experience and a desire to help those in need. In I Want to Know If I Got to Get Married, he recalls with compassion and good humour the places he visited in rural Newfoundland and Labrador, the province’s lively customs and traditions, and the resourceful people he met.