It's been 30 years since Doctors Gary Delaney, Mark McGannon and Rocco Cassone all began working in Orangeburg.
The three recall meeting in 1978 during their first week in Orangeburg at a social hosted by a fellow physician. They've remained friends over the past 30 years, and all three admit they appreciate the Orangeburg community and plan to continue seeing patients for as long as they can.
Dr. Gary Delaney
Delaney was born in Lexington, Ky., and his father died when he was 16. Delaney said he didn't have a lot of money to go to college so he ended up at the University of Kentucky. Tuition was $140 a semester plus books; Delaney lived at home to save on room and board.
Initially, Delaney wanted to be a pediatrician but said his plans changed quickly.
"I discovered when I was doing my pediatric rotation that mothers are crazy," he said. "If you can bring the child to the office by themselves, that's all well and good, but they tend to bring their parents with them."
Without money for medical school, Delaney stayed at the University of Kentucky for his anesthesia residency, where he graduated in 1975.
"It was just easier to stay in Kentucky, and I wanted to stay there," Delaney said. "I felt like the people had spent a lot of money to get me educated."
Finding employment was difficult right out of medical school for Delaney.
"Everywhere I went, the doors just kind of slammed in my face," he said. A family that lived in the apartment below him had a son, Charlie Gardner, who worked in Orangeburg at Greenwood Mills. Gardner was also affiliated with the hospital in Orangeburg.
In the middle of his last year of residency, the Gardner's moved to Orangeburg. Delaney made sure to mention that if the hospital was looking for an anesthesiologist to give him a call.
"The hospital was indeed looking for an anesthesiologist," Delaney said. "In a couple of weeks, a recruiter called me, and they flew me down here and I looked around."
Delaney said at that time, the hospital was situated on Carolina Avenue, and there was talk of building a new one on U.S. 601.
The anesthesiologist at the time was Dr. Preston Cone. Cone gave Delaney advice and encouraged him to be himself throughout his practice.
"It was just an opportunity that I really couldn't pass up," Delaney said. "The doors just kind of opened for me to come here."
The summer of 1978 was hot, Delaney said. He recalled the temperature reaching a smoldering 105 degrees.
"I thought, 'Good Lord, this is going to be some experience,'" Delaney said. "I mean, it was just hot as it could be."
Delaney married his wife, Gail, in 1981. They have five children -- sons Michael, Andy and Joseph and daughters Sarah and Frances.
Delaney said when he moved to Orangeburg, he wanted to put down roots. He said he liked the comfortable, small-town atmosphere.
"The good news was that I could be at the hospital in just four or five minutes, maximum, as opposed to a big city, where you're just staying in the hospital or you have a long commute," he said.
Delaney said he enjoys the fact that he deals with all sorts of illnesses day in and day out.
"For me, it feels good that I can help a number of different people every day, and, not to mention, you get to use all kinds of fancy equipment and all kinds of different drugs," he said.
He also likes tending to patients needs right away.
"You take a mother whose in labor, and you've become her best friend," Delaney said.
Looking back on his career, Delaney said the first 20 years were extremely busy. His kids were growing up, and he was trying his best to get to as many ball games, track meets and volleyball games as possible while being on call for the hospital
"It was difficult for a number of years because you were on call every other night, every other weekend," he said.
Delaney said the hospital's support of the anesthesia department has been great, adding that the department has never had to use old equipment, and items proven to be state-of-the-art were always purchased for its use.
"That's been a very good thing that the hospital has been so agreeable with getting what we needed to take care of the patients," he said.
Delaney, 58, said he would like to practice at least until he's 65 years old, as long as his health remains stable.
"Its been a good 30 years, it really has," he said. "If I can wing it for another 5, 6 or 7 years, that's what I'm going to do."
He spends most of his spare time with his wife and their five grandchildren.
"All the grandchildren are fun to be around," he said. "You can do whatever you want with them, and you send them back home and make their parents deal with what you've done to them."
After 30 years of practice, Delaney said the biggest lesson he's learned is to be content with where you are.
"Life's not always what you think its going to be," he said. "I think that the best thing to do is try to make the best out of every day and realize that some days are going to be awful and some days are going to be pleasant."
Dr. Mark McGannon
McGannon was raised in a family of doctors in Cleveland. His father was a dentist, and he has a brother who's a dentist and one who's a physician.
"They're all medical people," McGannon said. "Its kind of what our family did."
McGannon attended college in Cincinnati and graduated from Ohio State Medical School in 1974.
While in school, he had a chance to intern in Los Angeles but said the high cost of living and overcrowding took a toll on him.
"The children of the '60s all wanted to live in L.A.," McGannon said. "I discovered soon it didn't fit me."
He went on to do his residency training in Cleveland. When he finished, he decided that living in the snow for six months out of the year didn't fit him, either, so the job search began.
McGannon said he was traveling and interviewing at places around the country when he saw an advertisement in the Journal of the American Medical Association requesting an optometrist at the Orangeburg Eye Center. He immediately responded to the ad.
McGannon said he was impressed with the atmosphere and courtesy of people in Orangeburg.
"I was so impressed when I moved here that people wave," he said. "Strangers wave. It's just a pleasant acknowledgement of other people's humanity."
Orangeburg is also a great place to spend time outdoors fishing and gardening, McGannon said, adding that he enjoys waking up at home to the scenery of a pond and spending time with his wife, Linda. Together, they have two daughters and a son.
McGannon's typical day at work starts around 7 a.m. He often sees 45 to 50 patients a day, most of whom are from Orangeburg, but the center draws patients from surrounding communities as well.
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McGannon treats patients for a variety of needs -- from eyeglass and contact lens fittings to eye injuries, diseases and surgery.
Most eye surgery involves cataracts, he said, which is a common ailment for people over 65 years of age and can sometimes affect younger individuals. McGannon said the current procedure for the surgery is a vast improvement over what it used to be.
"When I started 30 years ago, people would be admitted in the hospital for three days, and they had to stay in bed for three days afterward," he said, adding that there were probably five or so stitches in their eye.
Now, he said one or no stitches are needed, and patients can go home with or without a patch the day of the surgery.
"The surgery is so much more successful than it used to be, and it's just a delight for people who can't see to be able to see so quickly afterwards," he said.
McGannon's son will start optometry practice this year. He also has a niece and nephew starting their first year of optometry training in Chicago.
McGannon said his advice to them is to treat their patients like family.
"Everybody here is somebody's mother or somebody's father or somebody's brother or somebody's child, and you should treat them like your own family," he said.
McGannon, 59, said his spare time centers around his three grandchildren.
"Everyone worries nowadays about the price of fuel and gasoline, but when your grandchildren call in and say, 'Grandpa, would you come visit,' you know you're there," he said.
McGannon said he'll continue to practice as long as health permits. His father practiced until the age of 75 because he enjoyed the work so much. McGannon said he's the same way and doesn't plan to retire anytime soon.
"It really is astonishing to think that I've been here for 30 years doing the same thing and that I still enjoy doing it," he said.
Dr. Rocco Cassone
A native of Stamford, Conn., Cassone said that like McGannon, his father, too, was a physician.
After high school, Cassone went to Columbia University in New York. He studied at several medical schools before beginning his residency in Cincinnati. The residency focused on cancer surgery, but Cassone said he wanted to do ear surgery. So he took some extra time at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, where he finished in 1978.
Cassone said he always wanted to be a doctor; his high school yearbook has comments about his interest in the profession. He also admired the relationship his father had with patients. A few years ago, Cassone said he got the chance to meet the first pair of twins his father delivered in 1941.
"I thought that was kind of cool," he said.
Cassone was originally going to practice in Vermont or Connecticut, where his dad practiced. But plans changed when he met a friend in Orangeburg, and he thought it was a very nice community.
There hadn't been an ear, nose and throat specialist in the area for several years when he arrived.
During a typical week, Cassone said he is in the office before 7:30 a.m., and at least four days a week, he works until 5 p.m. At least two to three times a week, he's at his satellite office in Manning or Barnwell to treat elderly patients who can't travel.
Wednesday is his operating day, when he performs surgery checks for lab work.
Cassone said he's seen a lot of changes in the medical field over the years, one of those being a tremendous improvement in equipment and surgery.
He said sinus surgery used to involve a hideous open operation that was very painful for people, but now, using endoscopes, the procedures are safer, less painful and offer better results.
The fact that patients are getting more mobile is another change. He said he has noticed that patients often leave Orangeburg for treatment.
"For me, that's odd because the physicians have continuously gotten better in town," he said.
Throughout the years and many changes, Cassone said he's enjoyed Orangeburg and is happy with his decision to stay here this long.
"I've been here a long time, and I've enjoyed the practice here a lot," Cassone said. "Its been a nice thing just making so many friends in Orangeburg and knowing people and business owners. I don't think I would have had that immediate frie-ip had I been in a bigger city."
Cassone and his wife, Carol, have two daughters, Kate and Emily; a son, Rocco Jr.; and two grandchildren.
"My family really likes Orangeburg. We spend a lot of time here," he said.
In his spare time, Cassone enjoys the outdoors and spends time driving his tractor, playing golf, fishing or hunting.
"When I came to Orangeburg, I had no idea I would like that kind of stuff so much," he said. "Just being outside and working around the pond, fishing and watching animals is a lot of fun for me."
Similar to Delaney and McGannon, Cassone doesn't plan on retiring anytime soon, but he may cutback on working full days.
"I actually like what I do," he said. "I like seeing patients. I don't feel the urge to rush into surgery on anybody, but I like seeing patients in the office and talking to them."
T&D Features Writer Candace Newson can be reached by e-mail at cnewson@timesanddemocrat.com or by telephone at 803-533-5540. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.