For Fitz-Gerald, passion knows no age
At age 80, very few people can imagine themselves still working a regular job. Fewer still can imagine working the same job they were working in 1965, but for Demopolis’ Dr. Maurice “Mo” Fitz-Gerald, he wouldn’t have it any other way.
In fact, he was just recertified as a diplomate of the American Board of Family Medicine for the 8th time in his career, meaning that he not only still has what it takes to sit through a seven-hour exam, but is also up to date with current trends and treatments in family medicine and cleared to practice as a board-certified physician for another seven to 10 years.
Fitz-Gerald, who was born and raised in Mobile, Ala., came to Demopolis in 1965 to practice family medicine after completing medical school at the Medical College of Alabama (now UAB) in 1962. Following an internship in West Palm Beach, Fla., and a two-year stint in the U.S. Army, the Fitz-Geralds made their way to Demopolis.
“I was raised on a city farm in Mobile, and my wife’s daddy farmed too. He sold his place in Mobile and bought a place up here out at Gallion, so we’d looked over the area and we’d already had the idea of having a farm, but we wanted more a recreational farm than a business farm,” said Fitz-Gerald, explaining how he came to Demopolis.
“My father-in-law decided he wanted to move back to the coast, so we bought his farm out here at Gallion and had 500 acres and an old farm house. It was wonderful for raising the kids.”
Also drawing the young Fitz-Geralds to small town Demopolis was the proximity of the Tombigbee and Black Warrior Rivers as a recreation source.
“I’ve always liked watersports, so being able to go from the office to the water in 10 minutes was a big plus for me, too,” he admitted. “You can’t do these kind of things in a big town, so consequently it gave me a lot of time with my family. This town has been great to and for my family.”
“I knew from my training that I’d be doing more here than you’d do in, say, Mobile or somewhere like that. Things like surgeries, delivering babies, and I knew I wanted to have that kind of practice,” said Fitz-Gerald.
Since 1965, that’s exactly the type of practice Fitz-Gerald has run, and across his career, he has seen the field of medicine evolve constantly.
“When I started practicing, believe it or not, the newest thing for the treatment of heart attacks was you got [the patient] up out of the bed and walked them. Up until that time, they’d put you to bed for three weeks and you developed pulmonary emboli and you’d die from them rather than the heart attack.”
At that time, the mortality rate for patients suffering heart attacks was around 50-percent. With the new walking treatment, that rate dropped to around 40-percent.
“That’s a 10-percent drop, so that was significant at the time,” said Fitz-Gerald.
“The next thing that came along, we started to realize that folks were dying from arrhythmias. They’d have the heart attack and then blood vessel would be clotted off. That caused that portion of the heart to die, which caused the arrhythmia. But, we found out that we could use electricity to get rid of the arrhythmia and again, we dropped the mortality rate from 40-percent to about 30-percent,” explained Fitz-Gerald.
“Well then, we found out that we could actually dissolve that clot. They’d come to the hospital, we’d give them streptokinase, and then send them on to the cardiologist for a stent or bypass surgery, whichever they needed. That dropped the mortality rate down to 10-percent, and now we’re down to about 5-percent if you make it to the hospital. The problem then and now is that 25-percent of people having a heart attack never reach the hospital, so if we can fix that, we’ll lower the mortality rate even more.”
Fitz-Gerald’s passion for medicine was baffling as I sat and listened to him explain in explicit detail about the history of treating heart attacks. At 80-years-old, it took nine minutes for our conversation, which was supposed to be about him and his recent achievements, to turn to an educational lesson on heart attacks.
“Thankfully, the incidence of heart attacks is falling since we can now give you a statin to prevent you from building up these atherosclerotic plaques,” he said as we moved on to another topic.
A 50-year career in medicine has not come without at least some frustration, according to Fitz-Gerald.
Back to the statin.
“I can give you a pill and tell you to take it every day, and if you don’t you’re going to have a heart attack. Problem is, you’re not hurting. It’s hard for people to remember to take it. Yet I tell you if you don’t take it, you’ll have a heart attack. That’s frustrating, but you see it all the time” said Fitz-Gerald.
He then got around to talking with me about sitting for his most recent exam to be recertified.
“Well, it’s two parts really,” he said. “The experience that I have helps out, but you also have to keep up with the new things coming out all the time.”
Those new things that he referred to are current trends in medicine.
“In order to keep up, I get somewhere between 100 to 200 CME (continuing medical education) hours each year, but I have to if I want to keep up with the younger guys” said Fitz-Gerald.
In case you’re wondering, the minimum requirement is 50 per year.
“So not only do I learn the new stuff, but I also have the experience to know the foundational information.”
Fitz-Gerald went on to explain that some physicians do not like taking boards, as the exams are commonly called.
“The way I see it, the American people are spending millions of dollars every year on experimental works to find new ways to treat this, that, and the other. I feel like I have the obligation to learn those things so that I can get you to benefit from the tax dollars that you’re spending on new ways to treat illnesses,” he explained.
The exam itself is seven hours long and includes items like patient scenarios, EKG interpretations, x-ray interpretations, and other items of clinical relevance.
“If you’re up-to-date, you can pass the thing just as well as anybody,” said Fitz-Gerald.
“Also, if you can pass a seven-hour exam, you ain’t got Alzhiemer’s,” he said, lightheartedly.
While he meant it as a joke, that moved us on to our next topic.
“What keeps you going at 80-years-old?” I asked.
His answer was simple and straightforward.
“I just really enjoy it. I mean what’s more fun than helping another person? He may have pneumonia, and I can give him antibiotics…I know how to give him antibiotics and make him better,” he said.
He also finds joy in being able to remedy illnesses today that early in his career were incurable and, at times, even meant death.
“A lot of the things I’m treating today that I’m able to get well in two or three days, I used to have to put patients in the hospital, maybe operate on them, and sometimes they made it and sometimes they didn’t,” said Fitz-Gerald.
Medicine is also a better value today than it was in 1965.
“Believe it or not, medicine is cheaper now. When I first started practicing, it didn’t cost much, but it didn’t do much either. Now, it may cost, but it does a lot more,” he explained.
Another secret to working at 80-years-old is the daily schedule. For Fitz-Gerald, it goes something like this: get up and workout at 6 a.m. for 45 minutes three days a week.
“When you raise five boys, you somehow end up with a gym at your house,” he joked. “I used to do it five days a week, but as I got a little more mature…”
He let that statement finish itself.
Next comes his stop at Bryan W. Whitfield Memorial Hospital, where he’ll round on any patients he has admitted to the facility. After that, he’ll make his way to the office and start seeing patients. At 2 p.m., he’ll wrap up the day seeing patients and head home for a nap. After his nap, he’ll make his way to his study to watch a video or two for his CMEs.
“That’s another thing interesting about medicine,” he said, interrupting the conversation about his daily schedule. “Can you tell I’m sold out on medicine?” he asked.
“Right now, I’m watching a continuing education video from the University of Pittsburg. There’s a cardiologist who’ll lecture to me for about 15 minutes on how to treat heart disease, another doctor is going to lecture on pneumonia, another on gastrointestinal problems. In this one series, I’ve got over 23 hours of information. I’m watching another video series from Harvard,” explained Fitz-Gerald.
“Now, a lot of this information is the same, but every now and then, you’ll pick up on a little pearl of information from Harvard that they may not be doing at Pittsburg, and vice versa,” he said.
“Watching these videos and then taking this test I just took guarantees that the patients I treat are receiving the same treatments that they’re using in Pittsburg or Boston or anywhere else,” explained Fitz-Gerald.
After his nap and study time, the work day ends.
“My wife and I, we’ll end the day with some television and a glass of wine.”
Fitz-Gerald said that his two o’clock nap has been crucial throughout his career, especially since he still takes call at night and on the weekends.
“My patients can reach me anytime. They have my telephone number and anytime they have a problem they can call me. Now, they don’t worry me, but they know I’m there for them. I can handle it over the phone or tell them to go to the emergency room, see me in the office the next day, whatever may need to be done,” said Fitz-Gerald.
The last question to round out our interview was the most obvious: what about retirement?
Fitz-Gerald was clear in his response.
“I hope I live to 100, and I hope I can practice medicine till at least 110.”