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At 90, he's earned a break.
The first four decades of his practice reflect the heartbeat of America and its "greatest generation." The last 17 show the heartbeat of Hilton Head Island.
McLean helped more than 15,000 baby boomers come kicking and screaming into the world during his 40 years as an OB-GYN doctor in Syracuse, N.Y. After each one, he said a little prayer.
"I always felt it was a wonderful opportunity and privilege to be a part of the miracle of birth," he said.
McLean is told he carried around a little, black bag as a 4-year-old. He was reared in small-town America, his father an entrepreneur who had a hardware store, manufacturing company and farm. He sold furniture and was a funeral director. And McLean had to work his way through Hamilton College, washing dishes, waiting tables and cleaning johns. In the summers near home in Waterville, N.Y., he worked on county roads, digging ditches for 40 cents an hour. With the money he paid his own tuition, then about $450 a year, and got out of college debt-free.
He stepped into a world at war. He joined the Navy to see the world, but it sent him to medical school and assigned him to a veterans hospital in Johnson City, Tenn. He didn't get to see the world, but felt he played an important role in World War II by treating wounded warriors.
McLean's career brought more hard work. He got by on four or five hours of sleep most days. He saw patients in the office from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., then made house calls. When his head hit the pillow, the phone would ring, and he'd go sit with women in labor, giving their husbands in another room hourly updates.
That was 1948, and a baby delivery cost $125. That included all prenatal care, 10 days in the hospital and six weeks of care afterward. When McLean retired in 1988, his annual medical malpractice insurance premium alone was $60,000.
When he started, all doctors in the three Syracuse hospitals where he practiced and was a medical staff leader were required to work three months a year in a clinic for the indigent. It was volunteer work.
In retirement on Hilton Head, all McLean's medical work was free.
TOUCH THEIR LIVES
He was one of the "pioneer" retired doctors and nurses on duty when the VIM Clinic opened 17 years ago. Their stated goal was "to understand and serve (free of charge) the health and wellness needs of the medically under-served workers of Hilton Head and Daufuskie islands, and their households."
Founder Dr. Jack McConnell, also a retiree, set this as their vision statement:
"May we have eyes to see those rendered invisible and excluded,
Open arms and hearts to reach out and include them,
Healing hands to touch their lives with love,
And in the process, heal ourselves."
McLean said it worked from Day One and still does, with no government money. The clinic has been replicated in more than 70 cities.
McLean was there as it grew out of a monthly social gathering of retired doctors. They met at Hilton Head Hospital under the leadership of Dr. Cliff Tichenor, who always prepared a lot of good jokes. They'd hear from a practicing doctor, and they'd get nostalgic. Soon enough, McConnell put them to work, but not until he and others moved heaven and earth to change state law on licensing for retired doctors, dentists and nurses, got them malpractice insurance coverage, and built and equipped a clinic.
THE HEARTBEAT
McLean didn't deliver any babies here, but he saw gynecological patients. He was chairman of the medical staff for 12 years and served on the clinic's board.
He saw the clinic's demand and services grow exponentially. Where else, he asks, could a patient see three specialists in one place to treat her thyroid, gall bladder and back?
He saw the clientele change, with a heavy influx of Hispanics. He said the Latino community gives back to the clinic, volunteering to do the maintenance and upkeep of the building and grounds or serving as interpreters. He found his patients to be appreciative and thankful.
He's been gone only a few weeks, but he already misses it.
McLean got a three-wheeled, 24-gear bicycle for his 90th birthday. He rides it seven miles each morning through his Hilton Head Plantation neighborhood. In the garage, he carves blocks of wood into delicate song birds or maybe a salad bowl. He and Marilyn follow the alligators, birds and deer in the marsh outside their large den windows. She's still volunteering at the Bargain Box thrift store.
McLean doesn't need a stethoscope to find the heartbeat of the community he calls home. He said it is volunteerism. It is the practice of helping others.
