So as from year to year we count our treasure,
Our loss seems less, and larger look our gains;
Time's wrongs repaid in more than even
measure –
We lose our jewels, but we break our chains.
                                      Oliver Wendell Holmes

Portrait of John – the man with two hats
by Dr Mark Nowaczynski

John L., age 80, lived like a hermit.
Isolated and alone, he had slipped
through the cracks. His apartment showed
evidence of hoarding, where he had built
a defensive trench and spoke of going on
maneuvers at night. He was a Korean War
veteran with flashback, suffering from
PTSD as well as dementia. He benefitted
greatly from ongoing interdisciplinary
home-based primary care.

This piece is from the exhibit "House Calls
with my Camera", on display at the Royal
Ontario Museum from May 15, 2010,
until January 16, 2011.
www.rom.on.ca/exhibitions/special/housecalls.php

Dr Mark Nowaczynski is the Clinical
Director of House Calls interdisciplinary
mobile team serving frail seniors, a
not-for-profit program in Toronto, Ont,
providing frail, vulnerable, marginalized
and house-bound seniors with physician-
led interdisciplinary care at home.