About 10 years ago things were so dire friends called my family to tell them they better get down here if they wanted to see me again. Recently there was an issue with my heart. I am blessed because both times Doctor Steven Smith saved my life.
But this isn’t about me. Even his saving my life twice doesn’t make me special, because saving lives is what he does.
If you’ve lived in the Keys for a while (27 years for me) you learn that there should be a “Doctor Smith Saved My Life Club” and that “club” would have multiple chapters up and down the Keys. If I may, I will speak for all the members. We know we are blessed and we are beyond grateful because for decades Doctor Smith has been our doctor.
Some of us know from experience that he is a brilliant surgeon. He is far more than that. Thousands of times, more like hundreds of thousands of times, from 1979 to today we have shown up at his office with any and every imaginable minor or major ailment, mishap or injury and he has doctored and fixed us. He is the definition of caregiver.
According to the never-fake-news Coconut Telegraph, Doctor Smith is contemplating retirement. Whatever he decides, I wish him well. However, for once in his life I hope he’s indecisive. I hope he continues only to think about retiring at some later time because then the Keys prognosis for health and happiness will continue for many years to come.
Rita Rose
