A RENOWNED orthopedic surgeon, scientist, and inventor who was recognized worldwide for his achievements in the field of medicine, Dr. Ramon B. Gustilo has launched his book “Heart of the East, Tempo of the West” that spoke about his biography.
The event was held last Saturday, August 23, 2019, at L’Fisher hotel in Bacolod City and was attended by affluent personalities in the field of medicine, as well from the academe and business, family members, and other guests.
Carla Gomez and Millie Kilayko were the authors of the book.
Gomez is a full-time journalist of the Inquirer and Visayan Daily Star. Through her experience, she has mastered the craft of drawing stories out of people and writing her discoveries without losing substance.
Kilayko, on the other hand, is a multi-awarded champion of the poor. She heads foundations that have uplifted lives of thousands from impoverished communities in the Philippines.
Dr. Gustilo is a of native Manapla, Negros Occidental. During his younger days, he helped attend to water buffalos in a farm in his erstwhile town. Coming from a poor family, his parents, Jose Hiponia Gustilo and Consuelo Balgoa, received little education. Dr. Gustilo is a nephew of Dr. Romeo Gustilo who inspired his medical career.
What pushed him to strive in life was an unfortunate bolt of lightning on the pasture that threw him off a carabao down through the mud. That incident drove him almost to tears and he muttered, “I will not be poor.”
They were nine in his family, but one of siblings died at a young age. Ramon’s parents taught them to value hard work, to respect elders, and to honor God above all.
During World War II, Ramon would walk 10 to 12 kilometers from their village to buy dried fish to sell so he could earn extra money to give to his mother and had the initiative to do things in order to earn more.
Ramon finished his elementary education at Manapla Elementary School and graduated salutatorian. He studied his secondary education at Negros Occidental High School and finished salutatorian again. That paved way to a one semester full scholarship where he enrolled himself to a medical course at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City and half scholar in the succeeding semesters.
His parents had to borrow money from friends and relatives, and one time his father had to sell his roosters in order to pay his tuition. During summer vacation, Ramon still plowed fields in his hometown in order to earn extra money.
All went well with Ramon’s education in the Philippines, but it was never achieved without his sheer hard work, dedication and prayers.
He graduated from his medical course at the age of 26 and spent his internship at the Philippine General Hospital. He took and passed the Medical Board exam, and a few months after graduation he left for the United States with an airline ticket funded by an agency which he later had to repay on an installment basis.
He promised to help in the education of his siblings as his parents molded him to always put God and family first.
Four of Ramon’s sisters, Teresa G. Fayette, Herminia G. De Leon, Thelma G. Espeleta, and Dolores G. Galvan became nurses, while Purita G. Aguirre became an accountant and Rodolfo Gustilo became a metallurgical engineer.
Ramon started to carve a life for himself in the new country and earned his orthopedics specialization in the United States. He was the first Asian to be admitted in the orthopedic residency program at the University of Minnesota.
And that was the time he met his wife Gloria Pearl Lorraine Carlson, an American of Swedish descent of Shafer, Minnesota who was then a student nurse at Northwestern Hospitals. She was 18 while Ramon was 26.
The couple got married at a small Catholic Church in Taylor Falls, Minnesota on February 6, 1960. Dr. Gustilo was 29 and she was 22.
Gloria said that their life together has never been boring. They were blessed with five children Melissa, a teacher; Nicholas, a computer expert; Lillian, a lawyer; Christopher, a businessman; and Tara, a doctor.
A rockstar in the medical profession
This was how Dr. Hector Gayares Jr., president and medical director of Adventist Medical Center in Bacolod City, described Dr. Gustilo who currently heads the Orthopedic Department of the said hospital.
Other doctors were honored to assist a world renowned surgeon (Dr. Gustilo) in the operating room, an icon in the field of orthopedics in the medical world.
Aside from being an orthopedic doctor, Dr. Gustilo had his inclination in research.
When he became chairman of the Department of Orthopedics Surgery in Hennepin County Medical Center, he saw the need to develop a bio-mechanics laboratory for his research. But the hospital did not have the money for it. That time, the machine cost $25,000.
He and his wife were saving money to buy a house. But he asked her to allow him to use the money to buy the machine, even though they already had three children that time. And his wife, who has been supportive of his career, agreed to him.
“The Gloria” machine spurred the beginning of a big biomechanics laboratory -- the Midwest Biomechanic Laboratory located beside the hospital. Later, Dr. Gustilo and his assistant of 25 years, Dr. Richard Kyle, purchased a seven-storey building for the orthopedic research lab which they eventually donated to an institute -- Excelen Foundation. It continues to serve its research mandate.
The Excelen Foundation’s basement, called the Gustilo Learning Center -- an anatomical and biomechanical testing laboratory, was set up for testing new devices and new procedures on human cadavers. “The Gloria” machine is still there and continues to serve its purpose.
While Dr. Gustilo labored on research, he also teaches as a full-time professor at the University of Minnesota and consultant to the United States Surgeon General with a rank of a full colonel.
Results of the medical cases that he handled especially on treating bone fractures and other trauma cases were mostly published and that made him known all over the world.
He did not make any money out of it, but everybody in the medical profession began to know him after that.
To date, Dr. Gustilo holds 18 patents, published over 31 chapters in orthopedic textbooks, 89 full length articles in various journals, and has been invited to give over 143 lectures, both nationally and internationally.
“I teach the art and heart of the practice of medicine. If you are a good doctor, money will come. But don’t go for the money before you become a good doctor. Don’t even think of your fees before you perform a good job. You should treat people all the same, irrespective of their ability to pay. You serve all patients and learn from them all,” Dr. Gustilo pointed out.
Dr. Gustilo had done more than 15,000 joint replacements and fixed thousands of broken bones.
Giving back
Dr. Gustilo went home to enjoy his retirement age. But he said, “I have to come back to Manapla to give back to Manapla what it has given me.”
He poured out his investments in his home town to include a resort and entertainment center, a subdivision, and a gasoline station.
He has also put up a mango plantation with 1,000 mango trees, and built the Gustilo Clinic and Ambulatory Surgery Center, now converted into a Dr. Ramon B. Gustilo hospital that envisions to provide quality and affordable healthcare for every person through a socialized billing system that will make world class medical treatment available to people of all spectrums of society.
He also sustained his scholarship program for the poor but deserving students.
Thirty-two scholars have already finished their chosen field of education particularly as registered nurses, lawyers, doctors, teachers, accountants, among others.
Twenty-six scholars are still studying in various colleges and universities in Bacolod City and in the Province of Negros Occidental.
According to his wife, Gloria, those investments were Dr. Gustilo’s acts of will and love for his fellowmen.