Grenada’s Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell said the late Dr Ronald Purcell, described as “the People’s Doctor,” wrote his own story during his lifetime.
“Thank you for sharing, Dr Purcell,” said Prime Minister Mitchell, who told the congregation at the funeral service that “Dr Purcell left Grenada when I was only 3 years old.”
“Grenada simply says, ‘If it wasn’t for Dr Purcell…I don’t know what would have happened to me. His willingness to go beyond the call of duty, his willingness to assure you, is a story,” said Mitchell, who led a delegation that included Grenada Governor-General, Dame Cecile La Grenade.
“He wrote his eulogy. He understood that success was about community,” Mitchell said, adding “we celebrate his life; we celebrate his legacy; we hold him with a deep, abiding admiration — his counsel, his duty to public service.
“On behalf of the people of Grenada, we say thank you for allowing me, individually and collectively. May his soul rest in peace! Let’s try to be less selfish and more selfless,” the Grenadian prime minister told the funeral service at The Holy Family Roman Catholic Church in Brooklyn, New York.
Dr Purcell, an illustrious Brooklyn, New York-based surgeon, died suddenly on 25 March in Brooklyn. He was 73.
Cheryl Vincent, a Grenadian-born registered nurse at State University of New York (SUNY) Downstate Medical Centre and University Hospital in Brooklyn, told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) that Dr Purcell died from a cardiac issue.
Hundreds of Grenadian and Caribbean nationals, and others, attended the funeral service presided over by Fr Alonzo Cox. Quake USA Cultural Organisation, a liturgical folk group based in Brooklyn, with its origin in Grenada, paid musical tributes to Dr Purcell.
In reading the eulogy, one of Dr Purcell’s sons, Kevin Purcell, a physician, said his father graduated from medical school in 1973 at The University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, Kingston, Jamaica.
Afterwards, Kevin said his father completed an internship at Port of Spain General Hospital in Trinidad before returning home to Grenada to work at St George’s General Hospital until 1980.
In the same year, Dr Purcell began general surgery residency at Brooklyn Jewish Hospital, now Interfaith Medical Centre, following which he pursued a vascular surgery fellowship at Texas Heart Institute under the tutelage of world-renowned Dr Denton Cooley, who performed the first artificial heart transplant.
On completing his fellowship, Dr Purcell returned to Brooklyn to practice medicine, providing comprehensive medical care to thousands of people from all over the world, especially the Caribbean, while also educating countless healthcare providers.
“Dr Purcell was a fearless surgeon blessed with gifted hands. Surgery was his passion, and his patients were his precious gems. He treated everyone with love, respect, compassion and dignity, regardless of their race, economic status, sexual orientation or insurance coverage.
“At his core, Dr Purcell believed in holistic cure, committing to healing not only the body but the mind and soul, as well. He viewed his patients not as cases but as whole people — mothers and fathers, grandparents and children, neighbours and friends. He listened first, and when he spoke, it was with compassion, empathy, and hope,” the son said.
CMC
