I retired and sold my general dental practice in 2021—right in the middle of the pandemic. After 38 years of daily dentistry, and finishing my career wearing enough PPE to feel like I was working in a SCUBA suit, I wasn’t exactly itching to start up again.

But when we moved to Colleton, I heard about Volunteers in Medicine. As we were building our house here, I thought, “Maybe once we settle in, that could be for me.” Then I met Candice Spadafora. The moment she heard about my background, she gave me the full sales pitch. Candice and her husband Bill have been longtime supporters of the Hilton Head VIM. Around the same time, our friend Andrew Kriner was leaving his job at Colleton River as activities director to work in development at the Bluffton VIM—and he encouraged me to join him there. Kristen Bush, who’s on the board, also nudged me in that direction.

So, I used my New York license to get credentialed, obtained a South Carolina volunteer license (a fantastic system that helps staff these outstanding clinics with experienced, mostly retired, healthcare professionals), and soon I was back in the game—doing dentistry three days a month: two in Bluffton and one on Hilton Head.

Interestingly, the Bluffton and Hilton Head clinics are independent of each other but follow the same model developed by Dr. Jack McConnell, who founded the Hilton Head VIM in 1993 after recognizing a real community need. Today, there are 35 clinics in South Carolina based on this model and over 95 across the country.  (Dr. Lee Irving a long time Colleton Member and very active volunteer physician at both Bluffton-Jasper county and HH facilities filled me in on the history. )

I work with wonderful, mission-driven staff at both facilities. They’ve made it easy to transition back into dentistry. It truly feels like a privilege to put decades of experience to good use—treating patients who otherwise wouldn’t have access to care. It’s also incredibly rewarding to once again help solve problems of pain, lost function, and facial aesthetics. I hope to keep doing this for many years to come.