Twin Cities Community Hospital emergency physician Dr. Thomas Hale hung up his stethoscope for the last time Monday.
After 37 years, Dr. Hale worked his last shift as an ER doctor.
"I feel blessed. I've had a wonderful career here working with a lot of fantastic people and fantastic doctors here in San Luis Obispo and I feel truly blessed," Dr. Hale said.
He moved to California from Nebraska after finishing medical school and came to the Central Coast in 1984.
"[In] the ER you see a very wide range of problems... you get to see a lot of folks that never plan on seeing you so you don't see everybody at their best and you get the opportunity to really make a difference in people's lives," he said.
Dr. Hale is also the president of the Central Coast Emergency Physicians Group.
He says his retirement plan is to be the best full-time grandpa to his two grandsons.
