THE FOUNDER

I was a ten-year-old Puerto Rican boy living in the South Bronx when this Idea of being a physician took seed in my mind.  At that age, I accompanied my mom to her medical appointments.  There, I was first used as a translator, between my mother and her physicians.  As we entered the medical office, the chairs were old school chairs made out of hard plastic, gray in color, and one on top of the other.  My mom used to wait for hours before she was seen. The staff was extremely impersonal and cold.  Then the physicians used to change the clinic, as quickly as one used to change the oil in your car. The interactions were rushed and extremely impersonal.  She rarely saw the same physician twice.

There had to be another way to provide care in this neighborhood, I thought.  Then when I was 13 years old, I was returning from my school, IS 149, and in front of me, I saw a man on the street dying from an overdose. I felt helpless.  What if my family was sick? Or if someone I love was sick?  How can I help them?  How can I provide a better form of health care to them?  This idea kept growing inside of me like a weed suffocating all of my internal organs.  This obsession to help my family, to help those in need, in the South Bronx, led me into a lifelong journey to Serve those in the South Bronx. I wanted to take care of my future patients as if they were my extended family.

After Medical school, I returned to do my Residency in the Social Medicine Internal Medicine program in the Bronx.  There I was indoctrinated with the idea that in order to deliver the most effective care, that you have to live, play and eat in the area that you are going to serve. As a result, my vision of my ideal practice was one that will be a welcoming Solo practitioner's office, in which all of my patients will be welcomed as members of my second family.  They will be offering coffee and a warm smile from my staff.  When they need it, even an embracing hug.  19 years later, we are still offering this service to the member of the South Bronx Community.  We will speak to you in Spanish or English, and we will speak to you about the parrandas in Puerto Rico, the resort and the country life in DR, or just the strolls that are relaxing in Arthur Avenue in the Bronx.  When you enter the practice, be aware that you are entering our second home and family. See you soon.