Long-time Lady Lake Mayor Jim Richards remains hospitalized and is undergoing kidney dialysis three times a week.
The Village of Country Club Hills resident has been a patient since early this month at UF Health The Villages Hospital.
He appeared to be in good humor during a phone interview Tuesday afternoon with Villages-News.com. He was on his to a rehabilitation session at the facility on the hospital’s fifth floor.
Richards had hip surgery earlier this year. There were post-surgery complications and Richards spent a few months at The Club Health and Rehabilitation Center at Mulberry Grove in The Villages. His access to the public at the facility was strictly limited due to concerns about the Coronavirus, but he was able to participate in Lady Lake Commission meetings via a video link. Commissioner Ruth Kussard has been serving as mayor pro tem.
The antibiotics the mayor has taken for months have taken a toll on his kidneys, requiring him to undergo dialysis three times a week. He said he’s keeping it in perspective.
“A lot of people have dialysis,” he said.
Richards is the town’s longest-serving mayor. He was elected to the commission in 2007 and his current term runs through 2021.
