YRMC nurse practitioner honored with humanitarian award
SAN LUIS, Ariz. – The commitment and the sensitivity he has shown to the needy has earned statewide recognition for Rudy Valenzuela, who divides his time between giving spiritual and medical care here and across the border.
A nurse practitioner at Yuma Regional Medical Center who is also a Catholic priest, Valenzuela is the latest recipient of the Arizona Medical Association’s David O. Landrith Humanitarian Award. Presented to him at the association’s recent meeting in Phoenix, the award honors those who go above and beyond in health care professions to help medically under-served communities.
Valenzuela, who joined the YRMC staff nearly a year ago, attends to patients in the mornings at the hospital’s primary care clinic in San Luis, Ariz., then treats patients at a clinic at the Rectoria del Espiritu Santo church in San Luis Rio Colorado, where besides serving as a priest, he and other medical staff provide low-cost or free consultations to poor patients.
Valenzuela says his greatest satisfaction is serving those who lack insurance or otherwise cannot afford medical care, or who because of language, culture or other barriers have difficulty getting care.
“I devote myself to people who don’t have access to health care because of those barriers. My attention has been to that patient who didn’t have access before. If you ask my patients, they will tell you they are with me because I speak Spanish, because I understand them and because I provide what they need.”
A native of San Luis Rio Colorado and a graduate of the University of Arizona, Valenzuela, 51, has worked in health care for 15 years, first in nursing at YRMC. Then after working in California, Valenzuela opened his own practice 10 years ago. He rejoined YRMC in November.
Eight years ago, his faith led him to become ordained as a priest, a calling Valenzuela says complements the health care he provides.
Valenzuela said he is grateful to the Arizona Medical Association for the award. “I was caught off guard that a such a well-respected organization would do that. It is something that is really special.”
He also took the occasion to praise Dr. Henri Carter, a surgeon at YRMC, for the support Carter has given him. “I heard that in one of his comments, Dr. Carter said I was like the Mother Theresa of the border. I don’t think I’m so saintly, but I agree with the philosophy of caring for the most needy.”
Besides earning his bachelor’s in nursing from the University of Arizona and his studies for the priesthood at Washington Theological Union, Valenzuela returned to the UA to earn master’s and doctoral degrees. Now he’s studying toward a degree in weight management, with the goal of helping battle what he considers one of the biggest and most worrisome health problems.
“I want to be better prepared to treat patients with the problem of overweight and obesity, helping them with that illness. The Latino community in general doesn’t see it as a disease, but now we are beginning to understand it in a better way,” he said.
“It’s an enormous problem. More than 47 percent of the population of the United States is overweight or obese, but if our genetics are added, we have other diseases that accompany obesity, like diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, high cholesterol.”
He added: “I am worried about where we’re going to end up. I see our children and youth eating (unhealthy) food, who don’t know how to eat healthy meals and who, as a result, begin to gain weight while still very young. Obviously we are going to pay the price later on, and it worries me that the parents don’t take much interest in that.”
Valenzuela said he enjoys working for YRMC because the hospital shares his philosophy of helping everyone in the community gain easier access to health care.
“I believe that is what the hospital is doing here, and I feel very good helping in that mission, although with many greater resources and greater technology than I would be able to provide on my own.”