VOLUNTEERING IN ARIZONA

When my husband and I retired we decided to do some volunteer work at a Phoenix, Arizona clinic. A fellow worker had told my husband about this non-profit clinic that practiced complimentary as well as allopathic medicine. The Clinic was looking for volunteers to help in the office and in the medical area. Perhaps we could find a solution for my husband's severe headaches that had plagued him for years. After the five day work week he often spent his Saturdays recovering from these headaches. We would later learn they were caused from inhaling fumes from the chemicals he worked with as a technician. I purchased a special reclining chair that friends thought would help relieve these knock-out headaches as he tried to relax by our large window. One Saturday our door bell rang and the seven year old boy from next door innocently asked, "Is Mr. Davis dead?"

At the Clinic I was assigned a desk with the necessary equipment to transcribe letters dictated by the husband and wife team, Drs. William A. McGarey, and his wife, Gladys Taylor McGarey, both medical doctors. Volunteering fingers spun out paper words dictated by these doctors. Both have authored books as well. My desk faced a window and I could watch the palm trees gently swaying in the Arizona's winters. A slender lady often strolled by my window glancing at a file in one hand, and nibbling on a crusty bagel with the other as she continued on to the treatment rooms. A little multi-tasking is needed at times. She is Dr. Gladys Taylor McGarey, daughter of missionaries who was born in India where her parents, both medical doctors, helped the needy. Now in her eighties she still writes a column for the magazine "Venture Inward" in Virginia Beach, Va., as well as being a consultant at her daughter's Scottsdale Holistic Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona. As a child she recalls watching the women of India working in their gardens with kurpe and sickle to feed their families. These tools are used until so worn they are useful only as play tools in the hands of a child. "Use what you have on hand while you look for better tools." was always her mother's advice.

At the A.R.E. Clinic in Phoenix and the Scottsdale Holistic Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona, many were willing to switch to an organic diet with fruits and vegetables making up to eighty per cent of their food intake, they were able to keep the body in an alkaline condition. Fish, chicken and wild meats are considered best for protein needs. The old fashioned castor oil pack was often suggested. It can be difficult to give up desserts but with diabetes on the rise it can be a matter of life or death. Avoiding sprays, chemicals and pollution was suggested. With regular physical exercise, encouraging thoughts for self as well as others, were among the common everyday tools to restore and maintain health of body and mind. Doing volunteer work taught us new ways to keep the body healthy. "Using that in hand while searching for better tools." like the good doctor advised.