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THE WONDERS
    OF RETIREMENT

Continued from page 15

Dr. Guerra inspected a child with a bad burn at
Dong Ba Thin, Vietnam, 10th AVN dispensary, on
Feb. 22, 1966. OFFICIAL U.S. ARMY PHOTO
COURTESY GUERRA FAMILY.

medical education, to be credentialed as a physician, and to take      well-being of the population.” They are currently in the process
care of and learn from patients in the community, one cannot get       of developing a website.
to that level of accomplishment but for tremendous public support
that goes into education and training programs for medicine,” he         In case this is sounding less and less like retirement, Dr. Guerra
said. “So I feel very strongly about the obligation that we as physi-  explained his post-career lifestyle and why it works: “Our schedules
cians have to give something back.”                                    are still fairly busy, and Beverly and I are quite involved with any
                                                                       number of activities, but we do find time for each other.” For two
  Upon his retirement and to that end, Dr. Guerra founded the          people so embedded in their careers, a full stop was never an option;
Fund for Public Health, under the umbrella of the San Antonio          a gradual reduction seemed a more gratifying and realistic path.
Area Foundation. In a recent meeting with his board, they dis-
cussed how to “serve and engage the community in public health,          “Maybe it’s better to do it this way. It seems to be working, and
and ways to leverage [the fund] to bring the broader community         we’re having a good time, and still taking time to appreciate the
together around specific issues that will hopefully better inform      beauty around us.”
the community about public health, and improve the health and
                                                                         Julie Catalano is a freelance writer in San Antonio.

16 San Antonio Medicine • September 2015
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