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Life on Campus
“I need to stay
connected at all
times”
Student Eva Ahmed on
why she prefers LRT to
cellphone-unfriendly
subways
p. 12
Dr. Homer Tien at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Facing an Emergency
Traumatologist Dr. Homer Tien
advises that you don’t waffle
WHEN DR. HOMER TIEN IS ASKED WHY he received the Order of
Military Merit in December, he shrugs. “I guess because I’ve
been in the Forces for a while,” he offers modestly.
Only later does the colonel, who is also director, trauma
services, at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and a U of T
professor, recall his exceptional advancements. “In ’96, I
was the first medical officer posted to the Canadian military
counterterrorism team on the NATO mission in Bosnia. And,
oh yeah, in 2006 I was the first Canadian surgeon deployed
to Kandahar,” he says.
Since then, Tien has been deployed to Afghanistan five
times, most recently last fall for a two-month tour of duty.
At the Kandahar military base, Tien would start the day by
strapping on a 9 mm Browning pistol. “I’m so used to wearing
a gun, I didn’t even think of it,” he says. Then he’d grab a
coffee at the base’s Tim Hortons and head to the military
hospital. He would perform such procedures as digging
shrapnel out of the bodies of British, American and Canadian
coalition soldiers, and caring for civilians who had stepped
on landmines. “Amputation is common with a landmine
injury,” he explains. “Sometimes we have to do a triple
amputation, which is really sad, especially with a child.”
On occasion, Tien would work 36 hours straight – without
complaining. “The only thing I have to do on the base is
work,” he explains. At home, he’s busy helping his wife drive
their three daughters to music lessons and sporting events.
Tien enlisted in the Canadian Forces in 1990 to pay for
PHOTO: TIM FRASER summer 2012 9