Mary Ann Casey will give a bittersweet farewell today to friends and colleagues at UNMC — a place she has called her second home for the past 35 years.
“I have lots of fond memories,” said Casey, a coordinator of graduate training in UNMC’s family medicine department.
Times have changed
When she first walked through the doors of UNMC in 1968, things were certainly different, Casey said. “My first office was in Conkling Hall, which no longer exists,” she said. “The campus seemed like it was at a standstill for the first 10 years.”
Then came Wittson Hall and construction of the patient-visitor parking garage, which her husband, Lawrence Casey, a civil engineer, supervised. “The campus has been booming ever since,” she said.
Managing schedules
As the coordinator of graduate training, Casey manages the schedules of family practice residents’ numerous rotations, which have grown from 25 when she started to more than 50 today.
“I’ve seen over 365 people graduate,” Casey said.
Setting up programs
Over the years, Casey has helped set up many programs, including the Rural Training Track program, where residents spend one year in Omaha then two years at a rural site, and the Accelerated Rural Training Program, where fourth-year medical students sign a contract to spend a few years in a rural area once they complete their residency.
She even got to meet Jerry Lewis when she helped set up the Muscular Dystrophy clinic.
Still on-call
Although Casey will toast her retirement today, she won’t be gone completely. Like the true dedicated worker colleagues describe her as, Casey said she “will still be on-call to help out or to answer a question or two.”
“That’s Mary Ann,” said James Stageman, M.D., director of Family Practice residency programs and Casey’s boss.
Dr. Stageman wasn’t surprised when Casey offered to be on call. “She is a hard worker and very committed. She can get more done in an hour than I do.”
Casey’s retirement is going to represent a challenge to the department, Dr. Stageman said. “She takes care of so many things, half the time I don’t even know if a problem comes up. Mary Ann just takes care of it.”
Over the years, Casey said, it has been gratifying to see the residents grow personally and professionally. As coordinator, there were always weddings and babies to schedule around, she said. In that sense, “I’ve been a part of a lot of people’s lives,” she said.
Looking out for the residents
As a resident, Michael Sitorius, M.D., chairman of the department of family medicine, remembers Casey as firm, but compassionate. “She truly cares for the residents, for their success and their happiness,” Dr. Sitorius said. “She is like a mother figure to them.”
Even as she leaves the department, Casey is still looking out for the residents. “Their lounge is such a mess,” she says smiling. “I’m making a cross-stitch pattern that has a picture of a woman with a broom that says ‘Pick up after yourself, your mother doesn’t live here.’ ”
Retirement = reading, cross-stitch and family time
Casey said retiring will enable her to attend to the books she hasn’t had time to read, the cross-stitch patterns she has started but not quite finished, and the kitchen cupboards that need to be re-organized.
But mostly, it will mean more time to spend with her two grandchildren and her husband, who had a stroke 10 years ago. “In April my husband and I will celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary,” she said. “We are hoping to take a cruise to Alaska.”
Although she is looking forward to retirement, Casey said she’d miss UNMC, particularly “the contact with the people who have graduated. This department has become like an extended family for me.”