For the first part of his professional life, Jim Moser used his bachelor’s degree in horticulture from Ohio State University for a 30-year career in nursery and lawn care, including 10 years as owner and manager of Churchill’s
For the next chapter, he used his associate in science in Surgical Technology from Great Bay Community College for a 15-year career assisting surgeons, anesthesiologists, and other specialists in the operating room at Exeter Hospital.
Now 70, he will retire in May from his job at Exeter Hospital, capping a rewarding second career. He credits Great Bay for supporting him as a non-traditional student when he was in his 50s and helping him find the rewarding, stimulating, and “completely different” second career that he sought when he and his wife, Jeanne, sold the nursery in 2004.
“I had the luxury of time and a little of that, ‘What am I going to do now?’ I wanted to do something different than what I had done for most of the past 30 years of my life.”
Surgical technology presented itself as a career option after he attended a Body Worlds exhibition at the Museum of Science in Boston, which showcased the human body and anatomical structures using the plastination process.
“After I saw Body Worlds, I said ‘This is what I am going to do.’ The human body is amazing, and working within it, literally, is always fascinating,” he said, noting that his sister worked as an operating room nurse.
Surgical technologists are responsible for ensuring the operating environment is safe, the equipment functions properly, and the operation is conducted under conditions that promote patient safety.
Moser loves his second career and recommends surgical technology to anyone interested in working directly with surgeons, anesthesiologists, RNs, and other surgical personnel before, during, and after surgery. “It’s the most interesting work. It’s hands-on, you and the doctor. What surprised me the most was not just the work, but the atmosphere in the operating room. It’s usually just four or five of you, and the level of intellect and knowledge and conversation is always stimulating.”
He chose to enroll at Great Bay because acquiring an associate’s degree in Surgical Technology required only a two-year commitment, and one of those years involved hands-on clinical experience. Moser had the luxury of time, but once he made up his mind, he was ready to begin his new career.
A two-year commitment felt like something he could do.
“What caught me off guard at first was being an adult student. I was nervous about that,” he said. “But in the end, you follow the same group of students through the two-year program. I became the class dad, and I enjoyed being around the kids. They were all respectful and enthusiastic, and the teachers were all really good. I had a lot of support along the way, the faculty, fellow students, and where I did my clinicals. It was a lot of work, but it was a lot of fun.”
His first year out of college, Moser worked at what was then known as Hale Hospital in Haverhill, Mass., where he did his clinical work as a student. He spent one year there, then was hired to work in the operating room at Exeter Hospital, where he has remained.
“The whole thing has worked out rather well,” he said.
