A dedicated Georgia doctor was not about to let snowy conditions
stop him as he walked a mile to get to his patients at a local
hospital last week.
Dr. Dean McKenzie, the chief of cardiothoracic surgery at
Children's Hospital of Atlanta, made the trek after roads in the
area were inundated with snow and ice.
"When I heard that he walked, I immediately was like, ‘Of course
he did,’” said Laura Beckwith, whose son is one of Dr. McKenzie's
patients. “It exemplifies the type of person he is.”
When icy roads prevented Dr. McKenzie, our Chief of
Cardiothoracic Surgery, from driving to work yesterday, he walked a
mile through snow and ice to get to the hospital. Thank you to the
men and women on our staff who made it possible to continue with
surgeries, procedures and exams as winter weather swirled outside
this week!
The highly unusual snowfall in the region left roadways tough to
navigate. In addition, local schools and non-essential government
offices were shut down, but not hospitals.
Beckwith’s son, Madden, has congenital heart disease and Dr.
McKenzie performed open heart surgery on him in December. Beckwith
said she met the doctor at 28 weeks and something about him made
her choose him as their physician.
“Something about his presence made us trust him with our son’s
life,” Beckwith said.
Beckwith posted a photo of Madden and Dr. McKenzie after hearing
about his journey to work.
“When everyone else is calling out, he walked to work. It spoke
volumes about his character,” Beckwith added.