I am in a similar position in which a lot of seniors find themselves: no longer earning a salary, reasonably good health, and with lots of good experience that suddenly is no longer being utilized on a day-to-day basis. Unlike several of my colleagues, however, I am fortunate to have developed many interests over the years, which do tend to keep me occupied. I retired from teaching and practicing medicine in 2003. I could have surrendered my license, but chose to maintain a limited license, which allows me to see patients at free healthclinics.
When Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, I contacted Heart to Heart International and they deployed me to Slidell, LA, where a nurse and I ran a church-based clinic for two weeks. On January 12,Haiti suffered one of the worst catastrophes ever recorded, an earthquake taking the lives of 300,000 people. Once again, Heart to Heart accepted my offer to help and I was able to spend two weeks working in a clinic in Port-au-Prince. Because of scheduling difficulties, I ended up celebrating my birthday in Haiti in March, 2010. It was my eightieth.
Both of these experiences were at once gratifying and saddening, as one might imagine. I have been asked to return to Haiti, which I will probably do.
