Injuries while serving in the U.S. Army and later working as a tree surgeon steered Gary Smith toward a career - and a life - helping others get back on their feet.
Gary studied to become a respiratory therapist and by age 31 was working with seriously ill patients who suffer from breathing difficulties.
As McCready Memorial Hospital's chief respiratory therapist, Gary tests, treats and teaches people with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease - COPD - and other conditions that affect the airways.
“Eastern Shore people,” he says, “are prone to COPD – primarily because of smoking, but also from other causes – chicken house dust, allergies and even weather patterns and atmospheric changes.”
In an emergency, he’s among the first McCready healthcare professionals summoned because he’s specially trained to insert a breathing tube into a patient whose lungs have stopped working.
Gary supervises a staff of five respiratory therapists, which stays busy providing pulmonary function testing, treatments for lung diseases, and mechanical ventilation for patients at McCready hospital, the Alice B. Tawes Nursing & Rehabilitation Center and McCready Outpatient Center.
Gary, now 40, also pitches in around McCready outside his field. He's quick to lend a hand with landscaping, an activity for which he gained an appreciation while working as a professional tree-pruner.
Giving people a hand up is something Gary does routinely beyond the demands of his day job. He and his wife, Kimberly, volunteer at a church that provides meals to the homeless. That experience inspired the couple to get involved with a program (organized by Thom Keeton) at their Christian Community Church in Salisbury, distributing clothes, sundries and medical supplies. They've even discussed starting a roadside clinic – and eventually a shelter – for the homeless, many of whom, like Gary, are disabled veterans.
Gary also enjoys working with young athletes by officiating prep and youth-league football games.
A Seaford (DE) Senior High School graduate, Gary earned two associate degrees from Mountain State University in West Virginia; one in respiratory care and the other in general studies. He's hopeful someday of earning a Bachelor of Science degree.
The pull of the lifestyle that he appreciated growing up on the Delmarva Peninsula convinced him to move his family back "home."
The Delmar (MD) resident joined the McCready staff in 2008. He previously worked as a respiratory care practitioner at Easton (MD) Memorial Hospital, at American Home Patient, a home health company in West Virginia, and at High Point (N.C.) Regional Hospital, where he was charge therapist.
Gary considers himself an outdoorsman. He enjoys playing softball, hunting with a bow and fishing. Crabs, fish and venison are menu staples around the Smith house. Several times a week, he’ll fire up his backyard grill to cook meats -- carefully marinated in a semi-secret recipe of spices, Worcestershire sauce and white (“not red”) wine.
He is a member of the American Association of Respiratory Care and the National Board of Respiratory Care. The latter qualifies him to practice his profession anywhere in the United States.
The Smiths have three children: Donya, Steven, and Gary Jr., who proudly serves in the U.S. Air Force.