Gerónimo Lluberas

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José Gerónimo Lluberas Acosta
Dr. Gerónimo Lluberas
Born	7 January 1956 Ponce, Puerto Rico
Died	7 May 2003(2003-05-07) (aged 47) Marietta, Georgia, U.S.
Nationality	Puerto Rican
Education	Universidad Central del Caribe (MD)
Years active	1980–2003
Known for	Medical missionary to Haiti
Medical career
Profession	Physician
Institutions	Kennesaw State University, Kennestone Hospital
Sub-specialties	Rheumatology
Research	Gout

Gerónimo "Gerry" Lluberas (January 7, 1956 – May 7, 2003) was a Puerto Rican physician, humanitarian, writer and composer. His medical mission work in Haiti led to the foundation of the nonprofit HERO (Health & Education Relief Organization)^[1] and his music is extant through recordings and live performances.^[2]

José Gerónimo Lluberas Acosta was the first of four boys born to attorney Gerónimo Lluberas-Kells and artisan Clara Acosta-Recurt. He spent his early childhood in his parents' birthplace of Ponce, Puerto Rico.^{[citation needed]} The family later settled in Carolina, near San Juan, Puerto Rico. He attended Roman Catholic parochial schools, took private accordion lessons and taught himself guitar.^{[citation needed]} He showed an aptitude for the natural sciences, and he was eventually to earn a doctorate in medicine at the Universidad Central del Caribe in Cayey and to pursue a career as a rheumatologist.^{[citation needed]}

He married Magali Huertas Amil in 1978 and the couple adopted two children in Bogotá, Colombia: Gerónimo Orlando in 1984 and Cristina Marcela in 1987.^{[citation needed]}

Lluberas led an active religious life and, through his church, organized medical missions to Haiti. His first trip attracted local and international media attention when Lluberas and his team were stranded for several days in Belle Anse after roads and bridges were washed out by Hurricane Georges. They were eventually airlifted out by helicopter.^[3]

Lluberas published research papers in an array of medical journals and also wrote fiction. He composed dozens of Christian songs^[4] and studied painting and drawing.^{[citation needed]}

At age 46, Lluberas was diagnosed with "unknown primary site" cancer and began chemotherapy. He died the following year. He was interred at Borinquen Memorial Cemetery in Caguas, Puerto Rico.^{[citation needed]}

In 1985, he co-authored his first professional journal article, on clinical research related to gout.^[5]

In 1988, he accepted a position at the Lupus Center in Atlanta, Georgia. He later established a private practice in Marietta, Georgia and treated patients with rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, Paget's disease, ankylosing spondylitis, and Sjögren's syndrome.^{[citation needed]} He was one of the first physicians to use the Prosorba column to treat rheumatoid arthritis.^[6]

He reflected his clinical experience and research interests in his professional journal writings which focused on Paget's disease,^[7] gonococcal arthritis and meningitis,^[8] pyoarthritis,^[9] pseudolupus,^[10] chronic pain^[11] and rheumatoid arthritis.^[12] Lluberas also taught in the Nurse Practitioner Program at Kennesaw State University^[13] and was associated with Kennestone Hospital, later WellStar Kennestone.

Beginning in September 1998, Lluberas organized and led medical relief trips to Belle Anse, Haiti. During their first trip, Lluberas and his team examined about 400 patients with malnutrition, high-blood pressure, and diseases caused by poor sanitation and water pollution, and collected clinical data from 315 of these patients on hypertension prevalence.^[14]

By April 2000, Lluberas and his teams had delivered basic health care to about 2,300 people in Belle Anse,^[15] saved the life of a four-month-old girl with meningitis, and rehabilitated patients with major injuries.^[16]

Lluberas wrote that, "Missionary work...[is] the only way to act when one refuses to sit by and do nothing to alleviate--however slightly--the plight [of poverty and disease] of our brethren."^[16]

In late 1997, Lluberas outlined a plan for medical mission work in Belle Anse, Haiti, that included building an improvised clinic to provide pre-natal care, vaccines for childhood diseases and Hepatitis A and Hepatitis B, rehydration and eye care, and making "house calls" to local chapels. He identified the lack of safe water as the town's major underlying health care problem.^{[17][verification needed]}

While stranded in the wake of Hurricane Georges during his first mission to Belle Anse, Lluberas documented the impact of the storm on local roads, bridges, water systems, health, housing and agriculture.^[18] Lluberas and his team returned to Belle Anse a year later despite safety concerns stemming from political instability in Haiti.^{[19][verification needed]} Following his third trip, in 2000, Lluberas outlined other initiatives to aid Belle Anse including delivering clothing and equipment, fixing the town's electric generator, upgrading the water supply, building a school and developing a wharf.^[15]

In June 2000, Lluberas suggested starting a nonprofit organization to fund future medical missions and sponsor a full-time doctor in Belle Anse.^{[20][verification needed]} This proposal and Lluberas' comprehensive view of Belle Anse's needs laid the groundwork for the creation in 2003 of the nonprofit HERO (Health & Education Relief Organization) to build clinics, schools and basic infrastructure throughout the country.^[21]

As a child in Puerto Rico, Lluberas studied the accordion with George Kudirka and continued his musical education with Luis Espindola.^[22][23]

In 2002, after he was diagnosed with cancer, he edited the songbook "Camino de Fe, Worship Compositions", a selected anthology of his works. As his illness progressed, he started work on "Suite on a Neutropenic State" for oboe, string quintet and timpani, dedicated "To all on chemotherapy and their loves ones."^[24]

Posthumously, excerpts and an abridged version of "Butterflies in the Rain Forest, A Christian Musical" have been presented in concert form.^[25]

In 2006, HERO Records released a CD of Gerónimo Lluberas' music titled "Butterflies in the Rain Forest/Music for Meditation & Celebration". It includes performances by, among others, singers J.J. Hobbs, Christopher Crommett and Victor Ryan Robertson.^[26][2]

Lluberas' song "Aguinaldo del cañaveral", in an arrangement by Gary Anderson for symphony orchestra, vocal quartet and tenor soloist, is featured on the CD "Navidad de mi niñez" which was scheduled to be released commercially in October 2011.^[27] In addition, Lluberas' is credited as co-composer, along with Christopher Crommett, of the opening song of the "Navidad de mi niñez" CD, entitled "Diciembre, diciembre".^{[citation needed]}

In several of his paintings and drawings, Lluberas depicted Jesus Christ and Mother Teresa.^{[28][better source needed]}

After settling in Marietta, Georgia, he became active in two Roman Catholic parishes, Transfiguration and St. Ann. At Transfiguration, he helped start the Respect for Life Ministries whose "womb to tomb" resources would range from pregnancy counseling to caring for the elderly.^[29]

During a visit to Belle Anse, Lluberas prayed before he performed a delicate procedure to remove a foreign object embedded in the cornea of an eight-year-old boy's eye. Despite Lluberas' lack of surgical training, the operation was a success and the young patient's sight was saved.^[16]

In 2000, Lluberas received the "Lumen Gentium" (Light of the People) award from Transfiguration Catholic Church,^{[30][verification needed]} Late in his life, Lluberas taught high school catechism.^{[citation needed]}