A Legacy of Dedication: Dr Mike Eddles’ Journey with Lake, Smit and Partners – By Dr Stuart Kidgell, Chairman.

I met Mike soon after starting as a registrar in Radiology in 1988, and we were soon good friends. It’s not hard to understand why. Mike is a real people’s person, a fantastic loyal friend, but far more than just that.

Mike spent his first few years post medical qualification pursuing a career in Anaesthesia, obtaining a Diploma in Anaesthesiology which would have allowed him to enter practice as an Anaesthetist. I can’t imagine any of us seeing him spending his career with patients who were fast asleep. Fortunately, he saw the light and started a Radiology Fellowship in 1987 which is where his Radiology career began.

Mike joined Drs Fannin, Bortz and Partners in 1992 as an assistant Radiologist. He immediately showed his qualities and was appointed as a Partner in 1993. Mike served under 6 Chairmen before taking up the position himself and holding that until retirement in December 2023. When he retired, he was the longest serving Partner in the practice’s history with an incredibly full and distinguished career as a Radiologist and LSP Partner.

Mike served in almost every leadership or administrative portfolio in the Practice over his career. It was very soon after appointment as a partner that Mike was appointed Staff Managing Partner, long before he had completed 3 years. Mike was instrumental in establishing a School of Radiography training program at LSP, seeing the need for student upskilling with the increasing skill demands in Radiology. He encouraged and drove the funding models to enable access to many matriculants who may have not been able to afford tuition. There was a period where LSP provided bursaries for medical students in need, which Mike managed. This predated NSFAS funding by more than a decade. Mike held the staff portfolio into the mid-2000s but still managed the student program long after handing over the staff portfolio.

Mike sat on the St Augustine’s Hospital advisory and management team for more years than I can remember. This required constant interaction with the Drs (doctors) at St Augustine’s. He was the face of LSP in meetings with an often-hostile Netcare and Drs (doctors) audience but remained committed and the end result is that we have a much better working relationship with our medical colleagues. This is definitely a result of his unwavering demonstration of Radiology excellence and honesty. Many of the older Radiologists and Radiographers will recall regular unpleasant Theatre and X-ray department interactions which are a thing of the past.

Mike was part of the practice Exco before it was even formalised. He soon started attending the business meeting held before work by a few senior partners every Thursday at St Augustine’s Hospital. He was determined to ensure that Lake, Smit and Partners would become the Practice that it is today: Excellent, accountable, respectful, honest and successful.

Mike was committed to personal radiology excellence in a period predating most Fellowship programs. He ended his career as a respected Musculoskeletal (MSK) radiologist and many will not know he spent years as a part of our interventional radiology team available for emergency angiograms, embolization, urinary stents or post-surgical complications.

It is often said that someone is “part of the furniture”. I think that Dr Mike Eddles is probably more like part of the building. He has seemingly been with us forever and although retired is still often visible in person or in the IT cloud.

I am sure everyone at Lake, Smit and Partners wishes you a long, happy retirement Mike, even if you have put that on hold as you wind down slowly while keeping one eye on the worklist and quietly stepping in when we need help.