Be prepared to lead your practice through a crisis

When he saw firsthand the magnitude of the destruction brought down on New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, and when he considered the mountain-high obstacles that would have to be overcome to reopen his practice, urologist Neil Baum, MD, says he thought about retiring from the solo practice he’d started in 1978.

“That definitely crossed my mind, until my wife pointed out that I had nothing to retire to, that I wasn’t ready to re-tire,” Baum says.

Instead of retiring, Baum chose to be inspiring. “I came back and saw a city that really needed doctors. Here is something I can do to help. So, it was what I felt was a civic responsibility in addition to my own personal desire to get back to work again.”