Richard has been a volunteer Registered Nurse (RN) and outreach worker for the senior center since about 2003. He has also been working with the RCMS Living Well program since its start.

He has had a very interesting career, starting with Senior Personnel Administration Specialist for nearly three years in the US Army in Korea and in Fort Knox, Kentucky.   He then farmed a 360 acre cattle and small grain farm in North Dakota.

Richard has also worked in an industrial complex at a large aircraft manufacturing plant. He has taught middle and high school mathematics, and taught English, and computer programming in an urban, multi-racial setting. He worked at Robert College in Istanbul, Turkey, organizing and directing a program of Computer Education in an international school, was a computer systems analyst in a large urban school district.

He has prepared federal income tax forms for individuals and small businesses in the Seattle area.

A licensed pilot Richard was with the Flying Doctors of Mercy. He was a health care volunteer at rural clinics in El Fuerte and San Blas, Mexico. He set up clinical and patient records, helped stock and inventory clinical pharmacies, triaged clients, helped assess community health needs and planned for patients' monthly trips to clinics. While at the El Fuerte Clinic, he installed a modern electrical system, and assisted doctors and nurses with translations when needed.

He also served in the U.S. Peace Corps in Potrero Guazú, Paraguay, where he assessed health status and health needs of this rural Paraguayan community, assisted local nurses and doctors in immunization project, and set up a community pharmacy to enable rural community access to medical supplies and medications. He helped local farmers in small business management, including egg production and gardening projects, aided communities in achieving and maintaining well and latrine sanitation.

Richard has attended Spanish language school and is certified proficient at the intermediate level.

In the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, Richard was a medical clinic volunteer for the Rain Forest Health Project at clinics in remote villages along the Amazon River in the Peruvian jungle. He performed medical examinations, triaged, diagnosed and prescribed treatment regimens, assisting other medical personal with translations.

He has done much more, including Co-Coordinator/Director of Health Care Clinic in Rosarito Beach, Baja California, Mexico, and Applicant Assistance Specialist at a Disaster Resource Center in the Laurel Elementary School in New Orleans (Orleans Parish) after Hurricane Katrina.

                                                                   --##--