Physician's Corner

by Christina Adrean BSN RN CCRN

What brought you here to Victoria?

I went to school with a local physician and we stayed in touch. I kept in touch and there was an opening here in Victoria. I was obviously interested. Victoria is like my hometown weather. That’s how I got here.

Who was the person who most influenced you in your career and how?

This is a complex question. You know, you are a total person, because of different areas, people influence you. Your family, your work environment, your education, so I would say with my family, it was my mother she influenced me a lot, she was always selfless and helping other people and then I had some good teachers growing up in school and colleges, medical school. One person I will probably mention in my fellowship at UCON (University of Connecticut) there was a doctor with the last name Lahiri. I learned a lot of my work ethics from him. He was always available. If you call him at 3 o’clock in the morning, he’d be there before any fellow, residents, or medical students. He’ll see each and every patient, every day. If you consult him on a patient, he’d see the patient every day until the patient is discharged. He never signed off on any case. So I learned a lot of my work ethics from him.

What relieves your stress?

I think the best thing for stress is exercise. It’s good for the mind and body. And you can pursue your hobbies, reading, try to get together with friends, travel. Traveling is my passion. Getting together with good friends. Having a good time. You can try things like meditation and things like that, but I’m not that good at that yet.

If you hadn't become a physician, what might you have done?

I have a couple of other things I like. I like science and mathematics and such, I would have done some science related things or mathematic related things. Also I like history a lot, so that would have been an option. Right now I try to do it as my hobby.

You mentioned that you enjoy traveling, when you visit home in India. What do you look forward to when you go back home?

Things in India are developing rapidly almost a 10% growth rate a year. So there’s a lot of new things coming up: New hospitals, malls, new infrastructure. India is a complex society. A lot of rich people a lot of poor people and middle class people. You see a lot of people helping each other. There’s also a lot of pathology. Anything you can read in the book you can see in India. There’s a lot of sick patients especially infectious disease.

If you could choose what you could be doing in ten years from now what would it be?

I thought about that a little bit, it’s best to combine what you’re good at with your passion. One thing I forgot to mention earlier is that I like the Himalayas and lot and traveling, and hiking. We had spent some time in Med School doing some charity work. So I would like to do traveling and healthcare at the same time.

What do you enjoy most about working in this community?

Besides the weather, I would say this (Victoria) is a good sized community. I hate traffic so I can get place to place in five minutes. There are people here who are still appreciative of doctors and appreciative of what we try to do for them. And people overall are nice and straightforward. And it (Victoria) is close to all the big cities so you can have fun on the weekends.

Do you have any questions or anything we didn’t talk about that you would like your readers to know about you?

Always try to do your better today than yesterday. Just like that guy from Austin, Matthew McConaughey, said, that his idol right now is himself and his leader (God), so try to do your best, learn from all your experiences, and live for the well being of everybody.

Dr. Bhatia has been practicing at Warm Springs Specialty Hospital since 2004. Thank you Dr. Bhatia for your outstanding service!