Profiles: Heroes, Role Models and Pioneers of Trinidad and Tobago - by Nasser Khan

113 Deputy Mayor on three occasions between 1920 and 1926. Due to his efforts, a piped water system was installed on Laventille Hill named “The McShine Reservoir” which still services the area today. He served as a member of the Executive Council from 1937 to 1943. • He received the Order of the British Empire and later the title Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. HALSEY MCSHINE (1912-2006) H alsey McShine attended Tranquillity Boys’ Primary School and Queen’s Royal College, and spent his entire medical career in the public health system. As a specialist surgeon at the Port of Spain General Hospital (POSGH), he pioneered many medical procedures including cardiac surgery in the West Indies. He performed the first successful mitral valvotomy in the region in 1956 and the first repair of ductus arteriosus in Trinidad in 1959. McShine’s most celebrated accomplishment was the West Indies’ first open-heart operation using hypothermia on May 22nd 1968 at the San Fernando General Hospital. His patient was a six-year-old boy with a defective heart valve. After a long and illustrious career spanning some 50 years, Dr. McShine retired in 1992. He served on the Task Force that developed the Mount Hope Medical Sciences Complex and was past President of the Trinidad Medical Association and the Chest and Heart Association of Trinidad and Tobago. • 1962 OBE (Order of the British Empire) • 1969 Chaconia Medal Gold