Physician memorialized at ICU dedication
BRAWLEY — Pioneers Memorial Hospital honored a beloved and accomplished physician Tuesday by dedicating and naming its intensive care unit in his honor.
Dr. Jose Rocamora was a long-time Imperial Valley physician who helped bring the first ambulance service to the Valley and helped establish the intensive care unit at PMH. He passed away in May 2017, following a battle with cancer.
The dedication ceremony was attended by members of the Rocamora family as well as by several local physicians.
A plaque of Rocamora now hangs just outside the ICU center and reads, “He headed, cared and encouraged. A distinguished medical practitioner who dedicated over 43 years of exceptional Cardiology service to the patients and community of the Imperial County.”
“Dr. Rocamora dedicated more than 40 years of his career and his life to the people of the Imperial Valley,” said PMH Chief of Staff Dr. Kestutis Kuraitis. “This gesture by Pioneers is a testament to that devotion and care he provided for so many years. The community and his colleagues are incredibly grateful for his unbound energy, compassion and genuine love for the people of the Imperial Valley.”
Among the many speakers at the event was Dr. Rocamora’s wife, Barbara. “This is really a big honor,” she said. “Joe would’ve been so delighted and so happy. He so deserved this, not just because I was married to him and knew what kind person he was, but I saw him every day leave the house and go to the hospitals. He probably spent more time at the hospitals than he did with me. This has been a long time coming. I’m glad it finally came into fruition, because truly I can’t think of anyone who deserves it more than Joe.”
A native of Argentina, Dr. Rocamora graduated from Buenos Aires Medical School in 1962.
He then came to the United States where he took part in the Rotating Internship in Worchester City Hospital, Worchester, Mass.
He completed two years as a resident in internal medicine, including one as chief medical resident. He then became the cardiology trainee at St. Rafael’s Hospital in New Haven, Conn.
In 1967, he became a Memorial Research Fellow with the New Haven Heart Association Department of Cardiology at Yale New Haven Hospital: Yale University School of Medicine.
Upon completion of that fellowship, Dr. Rocamora began a fellowship at Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation in the cardio pulmonary division in La Jolla.
Through his efforts in La Jolla, Dr. Rocamora met Imperial Valley physician Dr. Francisco Alvarez, who shared the need for a cardiologist in the area. Dr. Rocamora eventually moved to Calexico in 1974 when he opened his own practice.
He entered a partnership with Dr. Roberto Abdelnur in the early ‘80s. They practiced together until 2015.