04 wint anes alum single pgs - Department of Anesthesiology - Duke ...

DUKE ANESTHESIOLOGY ALUMNUS | 7
Mission:
Possible
BY SHERRY LAYTON
In the Department of Anesthesiology, we have
occasion to repeat one of our favorite slogans:
“Extraordinary people, extraordinary care.”
Duke anesthesia alumnus Dr. Lynn George (‘80)
and his wife, Ruth, give bona fide credence to
another truth: “Ordinary” people can do the most
amazing, and yes, even the most extraordinary
things.
Emerging from the usual style of medical
practice—he once called himself “an old country
doctor”—Dr. George and Ruth have built a
career of giving selflessly, offering their time
and skills to better the lives of others, resulting
in work that is anything but usual.
Dr. George learned anesthesia “in selfdefense,”
in the mountains of North Carolina.
In 1964, he enrolled at Duke in a mini-residency
program. “That was my first contact with
Duke. I learned well and gave anesthesia
through 1978,” he said. Ruth George, also
Ruth George (r)
at the Bethany
Cripple Children’s
Center (BCCC),
Kijabe Hospital.
employed by Duke, served as a nurse in the
emergency room and on the Sims ward.
Already an active duty soldier, Dr. George
joined Duke’s anesthesiology residency program,
sponsored by the U.S. Army from 1979-
1980. He remembers Dr. Merel Harmel as not
only being the department chairman but also a
major influence on his life and learning.
“I was pretty much the oldest of the residents
and kind of went with the flow. Dr.
Harmel says I went through [it] with grace,” Dr.
George said. “Dr. Harmel was really one of the
most personal, concerned, and caring persons
I’ve known. He took a lot of personal interest in
his colleagues—he wasn’t just the professor
type.”
In 1980, Dr. George completed the
residency program and departed for a sixyear
tour of Germany and Ft. Belvoir, Virginia,
respectively. Beckoned by the
Blue Ridge Mountains, Dr. George
(by now a reservist) and his family returned
home to Boone, North Carolina, in 1987 and set
up private practice. Perhaps prophetically, the
Georges found themselves neighbors to
Franklin Graham, III, who lived close by in
Blowing Rock. One Sunday, while attending
church in Boone, the minister remarked that
the congregation had never produced a missionary.
“That stayed in my mind,” said Dr. George,
“especially since I felt that we are all on earth to
serve, and that this would be something to contribute
to helping others.”
Declaring themselves as “semi-retired,” the
Georges began spending large chunks of their
time doing volunteer anesthesia and nursing
care on behalf of patients in the developing
countries. Coupled with the popular World
Medical Missions, an offshoot of Samaritan’s
Purse, the Georges annually joined other medical
volunteers for mission trips to countries like