By Tom St. Myer
Irreplaceable. That is the simple but accurate word Community Health Northwest Florida CEO Chandra Smiley uses to describe Dr. George Smith. Yet that is the challenge Smiley will soon encounter.
The 66-year-old Smith is retiring this month after touching countless lives for 31 years as a physician at Community Health. Smiley and patients alike describe him as kind, caring, thoughtful, and attentive.
A Calming Presence for Patients
“With the fast pace in which our clinics run and the challenges our patients face, I’ve never seen him rattled or upset,” Smiley said. “He’s always been kind of calm in the storm.”
Maritza Ramos is so fond of Smith that she drives 30 minutes to take her autistic sister, Rosa, to see him.
“He’s just special. When he told me he was leaving us, I started crying,” Ramos said.
Bettye Ellis is the mother of a 39-year-old son with multiple health issues. She credits Smith for her son being healthier than ever.
“If there was a 1 to 10, he would get a 10,” she said. “Very on top of it as far as a doctor is concerned. We’re going to miss him so much, oh my goodness.”
A Calming Presence for Patients
Smith served as a captain at the 49th Fighter Hospital at Holloman Air Force Base in Otero County, New Mexico, before venturing to Escambia County in 1994. He weighed offers from Orlando Health Group, Sigma Family Practice Clinics in Tampa, and Community Health, formerly known as Escambia Community Clinics. Only Community Health remains in operation.
“This was more a calling for me than just a job. I really feel this is where the Lord wanted me to be, and he’s sustained me over the years. There’s never a dull moment,” said Smith, who the Florida Academy of Family Physicians named its Florida Family Physician of the Year in 2006.
Community Health operated at just one site with 35 employees when Smith arrived 31 years ago. The health clinic currently operates at 14 sites and employs about 400.
“The fact I was consistently here all the time, I’d like to think, contributed to our growth,” Smith said.
Uninsured and underserved patients receive health care at Community Health. The patients find a physician in Smith who treats them as his equal. He is calm, compassionate, caring and actually listens when they voice their concerns.
Smith voices frustration that he treats uninsured patients. He said the United States is the only first-world country without universal health care.
“You get the best health care in the world as long as you have the funds,” he said. “Some in our country get less than third-world care because they don’t have the money. It’s unfortunate for a country of this size and this wealth.”
Healthcare Inequities: A Doctor’s Perspective
Smith voiced similar frustrations with how the country pours resources into hospitals and intensive care for patients after they develop complications as opposed to investing in preventive health measures. He said the pharmaceutical industry is another eyesore for the U.S. Individuals in other countries pay a third or half of what Americans pay for their medicine.
Those frustrations aside, Smith loves his profession and is still on top of his game. So why retire?
“It’s maybe not a bad idea to quit while I’m ahead,” Smith said. “I would have worked until 70, but I am able to get my social security now, and my wife has encouraged me to take it easy.”
Smith is retiring from Community Health, but he will still examine patients in Northwest Florida. He treats patients at the jail and fills in at the Jay Hospital emergency room. He plans to continue in both roles for the foreseeable future.
Reception for Dr. Smith
When: 4-6 p.m. on Friday, May 9
Where: Community Health Northwest Florida, First Floor Reception Area, 2315 W. Jackson St.