You knew I couldn’t leave you

(Column published Jan 5, 2012, in The Post and Courier)

When I retired from The Post and Courier last summer, it put an exclamation point on a newspaper career that spanned four decades and carried me from the halls of Congress to the sidelines of the Super Bowl.

For me, it was a moment in time to reflect on what I’d done in my professional career and question what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.

This is the answer to that question.

Beginning today, I will be writing two columns a month about healthcare, perhaps the most significant issue of our times. With Baby Boomers like me entering the most challenging and expensive period of their lives, and people of all ages in need of ever-tightening healthcare resources, this is an area where human interest stories abound.

And that’s what I’m good at.

For several decades I penned thousands of newspaper columns about people in the Lowcountry, their successes, their failures, their hopes, and their dreams.

With each by-line, I always felt a deep responsibility to treat each topic with respect and reverence. I tried very hard to find good stories, tell them with compassion, and entertain at the same time.

It was a wonderful job that I enjoyed immensely.  So, I’m not going to stop.

Family feeling

This opportunity really began back in 2007 when I was diagnosed with prostate cancer by a Roper St. Francis urologist. That led to a biopsy, which led to surgery, which led to radiation treatments.

During that time I got to know the people behind the walls, down the halls and inside the rooms at Roper St. Francis.

They even helped me start an annual golf tournament to raise money to fight prostate cancer.

Over the last few years, I’ve found the entire Roper St. Francis Healthcare system is filled with compassionate people who love doing what they do. As the largest private employer in Charleston County, it has the same feeling I had working for a family-owned newspaper.

Like old times

That said, I invite you to join me every other Thursday here in the pages of my old newspaper haunt where we will explore some of the untold stories of the healthcare industry locally and the major issues facing us nationally.

And don’t be fooled. I am not trying to pretend I am not working for Roper St. Francis Healthcare. Indeed, I’m proud to represent this organization, one of a handful in this area I would consider lending my name to.

But they have given me what every writer desires, free reign to look inside the workings of Roper Hospital downtown, Bon Secours St. Francis Hospital in West Ashley, Mount Pleasant Hospital East of the Cooper, and any nooks and crannies of the organization that might be interesting to people like me, and you.

So please, come along and see what I see, hear what I hear, and learn what I learn.

It’ll be like old times.

(Reach Ken Burger at ken.burger@rsfh.com)