ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — In a place filled with the beeps of machines, he is the voice of calm.
A voice heard around the halls for Flagler Hospital in St. Augustine for nearly 40 years. A light melody coming from 78-year-old William Boulware, better known as Mr. Bill.
"I do a lot of things, I just go and help wherever I’m needed," he says humbly.
As a nurse assistant, Mr. Bill spend much of his day wheeling patients to the operating room. He makes sure they are warm enough and checks to see if they have any family that wants to walk with them. No matter what, he doesn't want a patient to feel scared or alone.
So if the patient is open to it, he says a prayer for healing with them and then as he wheels them down the hall - he sings.
"As long as I’ve known Bill, he’s been singing to patients," says Susan Jozwiak, she's been a registered nurse for 52 years and takes care of patients coming in for surgery.
She says Bill is a kind gentleman with a heart of gold.
"If a patient asks for something, he will find a way to get it," says Jozwiak.
Sometimes that is just a caring, reassuring voice to remind them they are not alone.
"I let them know that they have a wonderful doctor and nurse that is going to care for them, and that helps take a lot of stress off the patient," says Bill.
Staff also says, Bill gets to work 30 minutes early every single day - at 4:30am- to make hot, fresh coffee for the operating room staff.
"If you come in and have a cup of coffee, you can start your day good," he explains.
At 78-years-young, Mr. Bill says there is no 'swan song' in the plans for him.
He wants to keep working as long as possible.
"I don’t feel like I’m working," he says with a smile," I feel like I’m helping."