WEST POINT, Miss.—Andrzej Wartak, M.D., has retired after 28 years of practice with West Point Internal Medicine.

Dr. Wartak moved to West Point in October 1993 with his wife, Danuta, and young children, Gregory and Jagoda. After earning his medical degree from The Medical Academy in Lodz, Poland, and completing residency training there, he had completed another residency at Abington Memorial Hospital in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania. The Wartaks were drawn to West Point because it was a small, quiet community with a hospital that offered a growing range of medical services. It turned out to be a perfect fit.

“I have enjoyed the ability to be so versatile,” said Dr. Wartak, whose practice included not only internal medicine but also sleep studies, upper and lower GI studies (endoscopy and EGD), pulmonary function tests, and heart studies including echocardiography, EKG and holter monitoring.

“Here we could do almost everything unless it’s very complex,” Dr. Wartak said. “Continuity of care is unparalleled when you take care of your patient with your own hands. Someone can describe it to you, but when you see it for yourself, it’s more meaningful.”

He is board certified in internal medicine and sleep disorders, and he served for many years as the medical director of the Sleep Disorders Center at North Mississippi Medical Center-West Point. He was also medical director for the laboratory at West Point Internal Medicine, as well as the hospital’s Respiratory Therapy Department and Cardiac and Pulmonary Rehabilitation programs.

“All of this knowledge that I have acquired,” Dr. Wartak quips, “what am I going to do with it now that I’m retired?”

Dr. Wartak appreciates the friendly, quiet environment his family found in their adopted home. “Listening to the silence is mesmerizing,” he said. “It’s just like being on a vacation.”

Now that he has retired, Dr. Wartak hopes to spend more time with family. Son Gregory lives in California, while daughter Jagoda lives in Mobile with her husband, Henry, and 18-month-old daughter, Elizabeth.  

Dr. Wartak has many plans—traveling, riding bikes, fishing, enjoying the outdoors, reading and playing ping pong, tennis and basketball—but his first order of business is to rest. “First, I’m going to see how it is when I can sleep,” he said.

Dr. Wartak leaves with these parting words: “The World Health Organization now recognizes aging as a disease, and scientists are studying ways to reverse the effects of aging. Maybe I’ll be able to come back someday 20 years younger. If so, in the words of Arnold Schwarzenegger, ‘I’ll be back.’”