Rafael was born in El Salvador and came to the United States when he was four. He grew up in California and his passion for working with patients began right after high school when he worked in San Francisco at the University of California Medical Center as a patient transporter.
Shortly thereafter, Rafael started college. He went part-time for many years while working one, sometimes two jobs. In between he got married and he and his wife adopted two children. With the extra demands of family life and working, it was 20 years before he got his first degree in Biology from Western Washington University. Two years later he received his second degree in Physical Therapy from the University of Washington. Now, as he says, “every time I go home, my wife gives me the third degree”.
Rafael once had a patient say to him, “You can’t possibly know how I feel until you’ve walked a mile in my shoes…”. Well, he very well can relate because in 1976 Rafael was afflicted with Guillain-Barre syndrome, a neurological disorder that affects the myelin sheath (the covering surrounding the nerves). It took him about 5 months to recover from it. So when he tells a patient “I know rehab is hard”, he doesn’t just say it…he actually knows it because he had to do rehab himself.
For Rafael, the true reward of this job is to help people start to regain their independence and their sense of self and to help people get better and get on with their lives. His personal philosophy goes along with a famous quote by Lucille Ball, “Humor is the one thing that makes the human condition tolerable…”. Rafael believes if you can develop a rapport with the patient, not as a patient, but as a human being it helps the rehab go smoother. Therefore he uses humor to put the patient at ease.
Fun fact about Rafael: He once worked as a tour guide in San Francisco!