1971 marked Dr. Franciscuss last year practicing plastic surgery. It was obvious that he was going through a major change in life. I feel a lot of that change in him happened after he met Imelda. He became a street doctor after that in 1972. He was working in a place called the Grosssbart Clinic in Pittsburgh, PA. This was a huge change for him. He was dealing with patients that had suffered gun shot wounds, malnutrition, and untreated sores. This was a very poor area in Pittsburgh.
In an excerpt from an interview with his daughter she stated, he was one of the only the only white persons there in the heart of the Pittsburgh ghetto. He stayed at this place until 1980. He then decided to help more people that were in much need of medical assistance. He went to the Lakota Reservation in North Dakota. He worked with Native Americans that had alcohol and drug abuse problems. He also set up a literacy volunteer program on the reservation. He did this until 1984 when he decided to retire from his medical practices.
When he retired he was 65 years old. In 1986 Dr. Franciscus was diagnosed with cancer from smoking. He spent the last five years of his life putting up a strong fight against the disease. His daughter noticed in the last years of his life he had begun writing an article on Dr. Schweitzer, and that he had become very fascinated with him. I feel that there was a big turning point in the doctors life when he met Imelda. He quit shortly after he met her and it seemed to change his whole lifestyle.