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Bums put it so appropriately, fie found that retiring at 65 is ridiculous, because he still had pimples. Dr. McFarland adds that the trouble with retiring is that you wake up in the morning and you are already on the job.
So he decided to look into cruise ship medicine and signed on as a cruise ship doctor. For the next three years, he and his wife, Rosemary, spent 54 weeks on different ships for different companies and in different parts of the world. They enjoyed the fancy meals, shows and ports, and his patients were happy, upbeat people.
His emergency room experience was perfect for this setting. He found most of the ships to be well equipped and well staffed. He served on the Norway two times for six weeks each. The ship had an eight-bed hospital with a cardiac care unit, a lab and X-ray department and was staffed with two doctors and four nurses.
But even the exciting, romantic lifestyle got tiring, and they have taken a break after their June, 1994 cruise to Alaska. Just a break from ?cruising/' not work.
He re-entered emergency medicine practice, first helping provide coverage for Crosby Memorial Hospital in Picayune and now at Stone County Hospital in Wiggins. As he said: ?Working in ER is more fun than having fun.? More later.
Background
Wesley McFarland was bom in Eddiceton, between Natchez and Brookhaven. He recalls wearing overalls that had so many patches in them that they hummed when he ran.
The family moved to Natchez. He graduated from high school there. He joined the Navy in 1942 and spent four years in service. When he was discharged, he enrolled at the University of Mississippi where he met Rosemary Rollins of Bay St. Louis. They married in 1948.
He had been accepted for medical school for the next year, so he took a job as a geophysicist with Western Geophysical Company (now Western). They lived in Florida, Laurel and Elk City, Okla. He was offered a contract by the company to go to Venezuela as a crew chief, but elected
goodness he went to Mia-btaie Baptist Hospital in Nashville, Tenn., for his internship, because it provided an apartment across the street from the hospital and gave him and his family their meals in the hospital cafeteria. They had their fourth child during that period.
Internship completed, they moved to Bay St. Louis in 1954 where he went into general practice. There was only an old, small hospital.
In 1956, he built an office with an integrated room (during a period when segregation was practiced). Black babies were delivered by a wonderful midwife, Mrs. Labat. When the elderly black woman had trouble with a patient, she would cail Dr. McFarland and he would go to what was usually a small shack without power or running water.
A man left Dr. Mac a bequest of $1,000 in his will and he used it to purchase a labor table to put in one of his rooms at the office where he and Rosemary delivered babies for black patients.
Soon the new hospital was opened. His partners were Drs. Henry Maggio, Marion Dodson and John Levens. They were all so happy to have the new hospital where they could do surgery and deliver babies. He calls this period the ?Golden Era of Medicine. ?
There was no government intervention nor restrictions and you could just practice medicine. Later Drs. Maggio and Dodson returned to school to specialize
?	Dr. Maggio in psychiatry and Dr. Dodson in ear, nose and throat.
Dr. Mac spent his Wednesday afternoons (his day off) with Sister Mary Ellen, a nun at Kiln, holding a clinic for the residents in a little shed where the nuns lived.
He would gather up his samples to carry to them. In such a remote area, it was difficult to get medical care or medication. A benefactor donated Sister Mary Ellen an electric golf cart so she could make her rounds and check on people during the week. If she found someone sick, Dr. Mac would make a house call.
Emergency work
He maintained his general practice until 1968 or 1969. He
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Dr. Wesley McFarland of Bay St Louis stands behind his double doors, which originally were elevator doors.
was mentally and physically tired. He went to Phil Wimberly, then administrator at Memorial Hospital at Gulfport, to discuss the need for coverage for the emergency room. Singing River Hospital in Pascagoula had already added coverage. He started working with the late Dr. Thomas Quigley on shifts from 3 p.m. to midnight and later 3 p.m. to 7 a.m. He discovered that he really enjoyed it so he started winding down his practice to \ close it in 1970.
About the time thie new emer- ~ gency department was opened at Memorial, 24-hour coverage was initiated. Dr. Mac worked there for 19 years, serving as chief of the ER department.
In 1980, he became the first board-certified emergency medical physician. He retired in 1989. He employed 40 physicians during that period.
He has seen emergency medicine evolve from a simple job to a specialty. There is now a complete residency in ER medicine.
He says it is a stressful and dangerous job now, particularly in a large hospital. ER physicians assume the role of diagnostician, even though they only see the patient for a short time.
And, Dr. Mac says, there are tremendous liabilities, both professionally and legally. While Dr. Mac and one other physician provided the first 24-hour coverage on alternating 12 hour shifts, there are now 10 full-time ER doctors, who according to Dr. Mac, saw approximately 52,000 patients in 1994.
Many hospitals have now added what is called ?fast tract" where patients who have ?clinic? symptoms are routed separately.
Another thing that has evolved is ?pre-hospital care? by what was formerly only transportation to the hospital. Dr. Mac feels that it may have gone too far and gotten too costly since many patients still only re-
quire simple transportation. But now, qualified paramedics are provided on every ambulance and even with these trained personnel, Dr. Mac says that it is vital to ?cardiovert? (correct rhythmn disturbances) x>f a heart attack patient within 6 to 8 minutes. In most cases the ambulance arrives after 20 minutes.
And with trauma patients, Dr. Mac continues, getting the bleeding stopped is critical, so getting the patient to the ER as _S.QQn.as possible is important.
Dr. Mac finds the work in Wiggins very rewarding. He can take more time with the patients. He is pleased with the Stone County Hospital operation and feels that the core of physicians who have now opened their practices in Wiggins and are supporting the hospital, will be just what the hospital needs. There is an internist, a cardiolo-gist, a pediatrician and a surgeon.
The family
The McFarlands have three daughters. A son is deceased.
Margo is married to Randy Keel and is an ER nurse at Hancock Medical Center in Bay St. Louis. They have two sons and live in Pass Christian.
Rosemary (Rosie) has been employed at the Leprasorium (where treatment is available for lepresy) for 15 years. She is married to George Heard and they have a son and daughter. They live in Baton Rouge.
Sarah Dale Leopold lives in
Biloxi with her two sons and is a homemaker.
Dr. Mac vows that their house had a friendly ghost that stayed until the children all left and then it left, with a job well done. The children really believed in Mr. Picard and felt he took care of them. But their dear friend and family guardian has been Octavia Dunmore. A part of the family, she has been with the McFarlands for 40 years and
is now involved with the grandchildren, making certain their clothes are fixed and picking them up when the parents are busy.
Dr. Mac says that some days she comes to work and some days she doesn't, but they are always glad to see her.
Surviving the storm
Their home was almost demolished in Camille. It is well over 100 years old. There was no road ailong North Beach in Bay St. Louis before the seawall was built, and the house sat closer to the beach.
Dr. Mac, his son and a friend had planned to ride out Camille and had lumber, nails, hammers and lanterns ready, but they realized it was going to be worse than they thought and set out through the woods for the hospital. As they got to the parking lot, the water was reaching them and cars began floating by like driftwood, with lights on and horns blaring. A few minutes more would have been too late. Their grand piano apparently washed out with the tide after the front walls were blown away.
Ironically, a lighted lantern left on the kitchen table, was still lit and on the table when they returned home.
When they rebuilt, they made the kitchen larger and made a glass enclosed porch where he keeps his ?casual? collections such as shells of every size and description, large and small wood carvings from the Caribbean and other places, a pair of lifesize bow maidens figures (bought locally), a gaze ball and many other fascinating articles.
But the highlight of the porch is the entrance to the rest of the house. The double doors are of heavy brass with beautiful etching and designs and a find after the hurricane.
A friend had brought four of the elevator doors from the Illi-
nois Central Depot in St. Louis, Mo., and had one made into a table, one as a wall hanging, and never completed work on the other two when Hurricane Camille hit. He left the Coast, and when Dr. Mac and a friend found them among the debris, he called the friend to tell him. He told Dr. Mac that if he wanted them, he could have them.
They make an elegant entrance and are made even more lovely by the long stain glass windows at each side of the door.
Inside their home, there are collections of china and crystal birds, flowers, plates and first edition Civil War miniatures that are all eyecatching.
Leisure time
Rosemary used to sail and has won her share of prizes but her biggest job now is taking care of Dr. Mac. They enjoy each other. He works on his computers and watches CNN and CNBC. He has trouble understanding retirement, explaining that the usual reasons are to change places of work or live somewhere else.
For him, he is totally happy doing what he does. Working in the ER in Wiggins allows him to meet wonderful people and stay up on medicine and he loves where he lives. The scenic view from his front porch is better than most vacation spots. Why should he quit for someone to take his place with less experience?
According to Dr. Mac, society may have it backwards. Perhaps we should retire at 30 and go back to work at 65. For Dr. Mac and for many seniors, age 65 is only a reference point, not an age for retirement.
? Free-lance writer Ada Reid is grandmother of 12. She writes about seniors and seniors' events for The Sun Herald. You can write her in care of the paper at P.O. Box 4567, Biloxi, MS 39535-4567.