After spending years working with Winnipeg's homeless community, a Winnipeg doctor has taken up writing to share the stories of the city's less fortunate.

Dr. Neil Craton who works at Legacy Sports Medicine in St. Vital, has been practicing medicine for close to 35 years. He has served as one of the team doctors for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers for about 20 years, as well as one of the team doctors for the National Women's Volleyball team for about 25 years. During his spare time, he also volunteers at Siloam Mission.

Most recently, Dr. Craton decided to write a book, Wisdom from the Homeless: Lessons a doctor learned at a homeless shelter. He says writing the book was a decision that had already been made for him.

"I've been volunteering at Siloam Mission every second Friday for the past 10 years and have had some really profound experiences that need to be shared," said Dr. Craton.

The first experience was about five years ago when he was there with his niece. She was looking to get some volunteer time to apply for medicine and wanted to start doing some shifts with him. Her very first shift was one she would not forget.

"It was a blind man who had been mugged. He had his hearing aids stolen, he was partially deaf, he had a toe infection and he couldn't see what was going on with the toe. We spent a lot of time with him, helping him with his toe and trying to be kind and gentle with him," Dr. Craton explained. "At the end his visit he said he had never been treated with such kindness. I could see this really impacted my niece."

book

At the end of the day, he decided to write down that experience. From that day on, he kept running into situations that he felt needed to be written down. Eventually, those experiences turned into a book.  

The book includes true stories of people who are patrons of the mission. The mental health problems, substance abuse and the difficulties experienced by Indigenous people are recurring themes in the book. At the same time, the strength of the human spirit and the potential for joy in times of suffering are evident. The theme of reconciliation with Indigenous people is also woven through many chapters.

"I think that the book is about hope and faith, and right now I think our culture needs a lot of both," said Dr. Craton.

The book can be purchased online at Friesen Press, on Amazon or Kindle, or at McNally Robinson Booksellers.

All proceeds from Wisdom from the Homeless will be donated to Siloam Mission.