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Career Influenced by The Mayo Clinic and an Alligator
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My wife, Marion, and I are both third generation natives of Florida. And so, heading up to Minnesota in our old Volkswagen bug for my three year residency at Mayo Clinic seemed like an adventure to the north pole. We soon learned to love Rochester and the good people there, and we have always had fond memories of our time in Minnesota. The mother of one of my classmates lived on the coast of southern Georgia, and she wanted him to move there and practice at the local hospital. During his visit to see if this was a good place to begin his career, he came upon a large alligator near his mother's house. As he was from Minnesota, he returned to Rochester and declared that: "There is no way I am taking my children to live in a place with huge reptiles in the yard." As a Floridian, this didn't bother me in the least—I joined the hospital staff there and practiced in Georgia and Florida for the next thirty years. Since I have retired I have written a memoir, Good Times in the Hospital. Although this is mostly a collection of humorous anecdotes, it also reflects the importance of compassionate care that was impressed upon me during my years at The Mayo Clinic.
Written by J. G. McCully MD
