SAH anesthesiologist remembered as caring physician

A former anesthesiologist at Sault Area Hospital is being remembered in and out of the operating room as a caring physician who loved being in the great outdoors. 

Dr. Scott Wilson died March 28. He was 56 years old. 

Wilson was extremely well liked among his co-workers in the operating room, and was known for his love of mathematics, language and regularly challenging hospital staff to figure out his number riddles.  

“He absolutely loved his job, he loved the people he worked with. He was excited to get up and go to work in the morning,” said Wilson’s husband, Jacob Lucas. “He very much loved his job. He loved the challenges it brought, he loved to problem solve through them and find new and better ways to do things.

“He just honestly enjoyed his job.” 

Wilson graduated from the University of Ottawa Medical School in 1995. He would eventually launch a practice in Marathon, Ont. at the Marathon Family Health Team, providing care in obstetrics, emergency and family medicine. 

Wilson would later provide locum anesthesia coverage at Sault Area Hospital after completing a year of anesthesiology training, eventually becoming a full-time staff member there in 2010. 

Wilson was also an assistant professor in the Anesthesia Division for the Northern Ontario School of Medicine. 

Dr. Phil Dopp, chief of anesthesia at Sault Area Hospital, remembers Wilson as a caring physician who put the interests of his patients first and would look for ways to better their experience at the hospital. 

“He was extremely easygoing, he had a good rapport with all his patients and all the staff that he worked with,” said Dopp. “In addition to all his colleagues, he was certainly well loved by all his nursing colleagues as well as the anesthesia assistants.”

Dopp said Wilson was constantly pushing for change in order to make the processes at the hospital better for the future.  

“He was an early adopter of new technologies and new approaches to how we used to do things,” he recalled. “He was certainly always looking to be on the cutting edge of what is the newest and best for patient care.”

It was always a good day in the operating room when Wilson was there, according to Dopp.  

“He was young, he was still in the prime of his profession. He still had lots of enthusiasm left for his job, and he still wanted to keep working,” he said. “It’s just sad, it’s unfair. It just seems that somebody that had so much left to give and so much enthusiasm still was taken away prematurely.”

Outside of the operating room, Wilson was an avid cyclist, traveler and outdoors enthusiast. His husband fondly remembered taking advantage of the outdoors around Sault Ste. Marie after moving here March 13, 2020.  

“Then the world shut down a week later,” said Lucas. “It was great for us. We spent all sorts of time together — we hung out, we cooked, we went outdoors, we were out hiking and snowshoeing, biking. It was great.”

Wilson was born in Hamilton, Ont. in 1966 and grew up in Oakville, Ont. But Lucas said his late husband “loved everything” about the Sault.  

“He loved being outdoors, he loved being so close to being outdoors, how easy it was to just go out and do things — and he just loved spending that time outside,” he said. “This place is perfect for him.”

Wilson is also survived by his three children. According to his obituary, Wilson was a proud and caring father to Paul, Rachel, and Jonathon Wilson and valued weekly pizza night with them and loved their camping trips along Lake Superior’s coast. 

Friends and family are invited to attend a Come and Go Celebration of Life at Northwood Funeral Home Cremation and Reception Centre April 15 from 2-4 p.m. Memorial donations to ARCH would be greatly appreciated by the family.