Dr. Pedro “Joe” Greer has been practicing medicine for more than 25 years. He’s devoted most of that time to helping Miami’s homeless and poor — many of whom know him as simply “Dr. Joe.”
As he recently told his wife, Janus, Greer’s career headed in that direction early, when he was serving his internship and working in the intensive care unit of a Miami hospital. One patient was dying of tuberculosis.
“He had a little wristband that had his name, and it said ‘no address,’ ” Greer remembers. “I knew that this man had, at the very least, parents — maybe siblings, a spouse. And we went out to try and find his family.
“And what I saw was a little window into this world of poverty that existed in my backyard, that I didn’t even know was there. And then we went out under the bridges, started seeing patients on Tuesday nights.”
Dr Pedro Greer and his wife, Janus.
Story Corps is an “independent nonprofit project whose mission is to honor and celebrate one another’s lives through listening.”
The project is brilliant and unprecedented, allowing anybody to interview somebody they know in a private interview booth. Sons interview fathers, teachers interview students, and in this case a wife interviews her husband – a Florida based Doctor – about how he got started helping the homeless.
The interview is heart-wrenching and gives you a glimpse into the mind of one of the many unsung heroes walking among us.
That’s why we’re beginning a new series where we will promote stories about Everyday Heroes in order to bring to light some of the invisible heroes of the world who too often go unnoticed.
So take a listen to the first in our series of Everyday Heroes.
Dr. Pedro “Joe” Greer has been practicing medicine for more than 25 years. He’s devoted most of that time to helping Miami’s homeless and poor — many of whom know him as simply “Dr. Joe.”
As he recently told his wife, Janus, Greer’s career headed in that direction early, when he was serving his internship and working in the intensive care unit of a Miami hospital. One patient was dying of tuberculosis.
“He had a little wristband that had his name, and it said ‘no address,’ ” Greer remembers. “I knew that this man had, at the very least, parents — maybe siblings, a spouse. And we went out to try and find his family.
“And what I saw was a little window into this world of poverty that existed in my backyard, that I didn’t even know was there. And then we went out under the bridges, started seeing patients on Tuesday nights.”
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