As a young doctor in Dormont, he delivered more than 1,000 babies. He started practicing medicine in an era when house calls were part of the routine, not a special or unusual service.

Dr. Edward Farrell, of Upper St. Clair, eventually focused much of his attention on the elderly, enjoying a 40-year relationship with Allegheny County's Kane nursing home system.

On Dec. 29, Dr. Farrell, 82, hung up his stethoscope, finishing a 54-year career in medicine in the South Hills.

He has seen health care evolve in ways that he believes are giving people longer, more productive lives.

"Health care has changed. The drugs we have today have made a big difference. You can do a lot more to help people," Dr. Farrell said last week in a phone conversation from West Palm Beach, Fla, where he is enjoying a three-month winter vacation.

Through all the change, the development of sophisticated drugs and procedures, Dr. Farrell said, there's a steady rhythm to practicing medicine.

As a general practitioner, his job was to usher patients through "the nooks and crannies" of health care.

"The practice was the same, from day to day, year to year," Dr. Farrell said. "I didn't make any discoveries," he added wryly.

Dr. Farrell, who grew up in the city, served in the Navy in the Pacific during World War II. After the war, he earned his undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of Pittsburgh.

In 1952, he opened a general practice in Dormont, where he did everything from deliver babies to treat the elderly, some of whom ended up at the old Kane Hospital in Scott, Allegheny County's giant nursing home for the indigent.

Beginning in 1975, Dr. Farrell said he started visiting patients at the Kane Hospital as part of his overall practice.

"It was a sideline. I did that for an hour and a half every morning," he said.

Around 1985, he moved his practice to Fort Couch Road in Bethel Park.

When he closed his general practice in 1992, he continued working in the Kane regional center in Scott, one of four nursing homes that replaced the Kane Hospital in 1982.

Dr. Farrell said the old Kane hospital had a bad reputation at first, largely because it served elderly who were indigent.

"I don't think it deserved it," he said. Over the years, the residents of Kane "were like family to us."

Dennis Biondo, executive director of Kane Regional, said Dr. Farrell had been "an inspiration to many during his tenure."

"He is a true professional and has impacted the lives of so many people, patients and their families, employees and our community," Mr. Biondo said.

A widower with four children and 13 grandchildren, Dr. Farrell plans to continue living in Upper St. Clair, but will travel to visit his children, who live in such places as Wyoming, California and the Great Smoky Mountains.

Asked for some advice for staying healthy, he offered this time-honored mantra: "Keep active and don't get too fat," he said. "Daily exercise is good for you."

He leaves the Scott regional center at a time when Allegheny County, which operates the four Kane Regional Centers, is redesigning the centers to offer more long-term services to the elderly, including services for patients who are not indigent.

The Kanes offer new long-term care services, such as assisted living, independent living and multiservice centers to provide more nontraditional alternatives to the elderly.

The Kane regionals also offer respite care and short-term rehabilitation, as well as hospices and Alzheimer's disease memory care.