AARP The Magazine - January/February 2011

Pedro José Greer Jr., M.D.
Caring for
the Poor

Maya Angelou

Two heartbreaking events led Pedro José Greer Jr., M.D., to open the Camillus Health Concern, a medical clinic for Miami’s homeless. First was the tragic death of his sister in an auto accident, which left Greer feeling he “never wanted to see anyone die or suffer alone.” Several years later Greer treated a homeless man dying of tuberculosis. So this son of Cuban immigrants responded by opening Camillus. “There was huge need out there, and the only thing I knew how to do was be a doctor,” he says. Today Camillus cares for 10,000 homeless patients annually, and St. John Bosco Clinic, which Greer cofounded in 1991, treats an additional 6,000 poor immigrants. For his good works, the gastroenterologist, 54, received a 1993 MacArthur award, the 2009

Presidential Medal of Freedom, and three papal medals. —J. D.M. , 0 t , 20 e n

She is one of the most respected and beloved
voices of our time—a poet, author, playwright,
civil rights activist and teacher, and a fearless
storyteller. So it is a testament to Dr. Maya Angelou’s enduring
intellect and curiosity that today, at 82, she is adding “foodie” to
her staggering list of achievements. In her new book (her 31st),
Great Food, All Day Long: Cook Splendidly, Eat Smart, she shares
this epiphany: “Eat great food; don’t eat much of it.” She herself
has lost 40 pounds in the past year and says she felt compelled
to share her newfound wisdom. Angelou’s extraordinary powers
of observation have guided her professional and personal life.
Raised in St. Louis, Missouri, and Stamps, Arkansas, she was
sexually molested as a young child by her mother’s boyfriend,
who was then killed by an uncle. Afterward she refused to speak
for six years. These early years were the subject of her best-
selling memoir, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. A friend and
counselor to Langston Hughes and James Baldwin, to Malcolm X
and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., she donated her correspondence
with America’s great black cultural figures to Harlem’s Schomburg
Center for Research in Black Culture in October. Though her
achievements are extensive, Angelou counts among her biggest
treasures the love of family. “Not mush, not sentimentality, not
even indulgence, but love,” she says. “The only way we can heal
and grow hearty is if we know love.”—J.D.M.