He learned the value of giving back from the Jesuits and the value of a dollar from the fruit orchards. Dr. Ramon Jiménez, a consulting orthopedist in Monterey, California, who has served on the AAOS (American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons) Board of Directors and Board of Councilors, has crafted a rewarding life from family support, pride in his heritage, and an abiding joy in seeing his patients heal.
The 2009 winner of the AAOS Diversity Award, Dr. Jiménez has also Chaired the AAOS Patient Education Committee, as well as the Diversity Advisory Board. The drive to attain such professional success began with Ramon Jiménez’s grandparents. “In 1920’s Mexico thousands of Catholics were being persecuted by the socialist government. My mom’s parents left everything and came to the U.S. to pick fruit while my dad came with his family and built a career as a tool machinist and layout expert. My parents pushed my siblings and me to both garner an education and assimilate into the U.S. culture. But my parents never wanted us to lose our culture. The fact that I speak Spanish every day is not just a great link to my past…it is useful because the area where I practice is 64% Hispanic.”
As for the lesson of giving back, Ramon Jiménez had to progress in order to have something to give. In the monetary realm, he learned early on that earning a living might involve hard work and little pay. The first thing he gave back? A hot dog. “When I was seven years old my mom took my siblings and me to the orchards to pick fruit, with the purpose being to help us decide how we wanted to earn a living. I spent my first day cutting apricots and spreading them out on a 3 foot by 6 foot tray. For the two hours of work it took to do one tray I was paid 35 cents. Midday I heard the hot dog truck coming. When I asked how much a hot dog was the vendor said ‘35 cents.’ I decided he could keep his hot dog…I’d rather eat apricots. From this I learned the value of a dollar, and worked every day through high school, college, and medical school.”
If Dr. Jiménez had not evolved into someone who lives the Jesuit social responsibility credo, well, it would have been a miracle. Why? Because he had a “brother” alongside him from grammar school all the way through medical school. “The Jesuits really emphasize the value and beauty of giving to others. When a patient says to me, ‘Thank you, doctor. I feel better after seeing you’ then I know that I am doing justice to the Jesuit heritage.”
But it wasn’t because of the Society of Jesus that Ramon Jiménez entered medicine—it was because of a tardy doctor. “When I was 12 my grandfather had acute urinary retention and was in dire straits. We waited alongside him as the minutes dragged while waiting for the doctor to come to our home. After two hours the doctor arrived, treated my grandfather, and opened a window into the medical world for me. I could see that there was great need, and I wanted to help.”
While for many orthopedists the physicality of orthopedics is the primary draw, for Ramon Jiménez it was the ongoing patient contact. “While in medical school at St. Louis University I began my training in their renowned cardiovascular program, even scrubbing in on open heart procedures. When it came to operating on children, and having to tell families that the kids didn’t make it, well, that was incredibly difficult. About that time I was exposed to orthopedics and fell in love with the idea that I could help people regain their quality of life. I was also impressed that orthopedics is the only surgical specialty in which you take a patient who has a disease or injury, treat them, and then work with them until they are rehabilitated. Although the technical aspects of the work were exciting, they were secondary for me.”
A Major in the U.S. Army from 1972-74, Dr. Jiménez would have ample time to get to know the daredevils he worked with. “I went to Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and treated thousands of paratroopers from the 101st Airbone. “At practice, 3, 000 paratroopers would jump at once. With a 1% injury rate that meant 30 fractures, sprains, and/or dislocations. And for every one mile per hour of wind velocity you add another 1% to the injury rate. If it was a night jump then it was an automatic 3% additional injury rate. While that is a lot of ‘incoming’ all at once, I gained a lot of experience that set the stage for my career in arthroscopy.”
And perhaps the pace of work led him to develop a not-so-healthy habit—overwork. “Twenty-two years ago I underwent angioplasty on an artery. One of my faults had been an inability to say ‘no, ’–not so after this health scare. Not only did I cut back on work a bit, but I developed a keen appreciation for what it’s like to be the one wearing the hospital gown.”
While still a surgical resident, Dr. Jiménez, learned an important patient care lesson. “One of the best examples of patient attunement I’ve ever seen was from my chief surgical resident. On rounds he would help patients sit up in bed, bring their food trays over, arrange the bed covers—all while discussing their treatment. I’ve taken my cue from him.”
Years later, I realized that in our preop area there was a substantial lack of privacy in the changing area. I paged the president of the hospital, he came down, and I said, ‘Take your clothes off, change into a patient’s gown, and then tell me that we shouldn’t change this situation.’
As for Dr. Jiménez, he removed his OR scrubs in 2004. “I loved surgery, but I never wanted to have anyone tap me on the shoulder and tell me to quit. And frankly, I think I enjoy patients more now. The patient/doctor relationship is enhanced…I may not have all the answers but I can show empathy, and show patients that I consider them fellow human beings.”
Dr. Jiménez’s intense appreciation for the commonality of the human race has emanated from many life experiences. “During my residency I went to Tunisia to volunteer. I was astounded to find that there were six orthopedists for seven million people. I was struck by the great need; at the same time it was an incredible learning experience. At home we residents would put up an X-ray of a ‘case of the month, ’ i.e., something particularly unusual. In Tunisia we were averaging 25 to 30 ‘cases of the month’ per day. Years later I traveled to Mexico several times to volunteer, operate, and teach, bringing with me hip and knee prostheses donated by friends.”
The winner of the 2010 California Orthpaedic Association William Tipton, Jr., M.D. Leadership Award, Dr. Jiménez states, “Bill Tipton and I worked together for years and he became a good friend. Bill emphasized that we were in the business of educating patients. Whenever I met with patients preoperatively I drew their knee and pathology on the exam table paper. We know that the patient who is most informed will fare best…and if the surgeon spends time educating the patient then he or she will spend less time on phone calls from the patient and family. One of the results of my work with Bill was the patient education portal of AAOS, ‘Your Orthopaedic Connection, ’ which allows doctors or patients to print out information on their condition.”
Perhaps the accomplishment closest to Dr. Jiménez’s heart is his work on diversity. “As chair of the AAOS Diversity Advisory Board one of my proudest achievements was the expansion of mentoring. At present we have 150 mentees, each of whom is assigned a mentor to help them with the decision of choosing orthopedics and then is available as needed through the residency years. We are having to concentrate our efforts on younger and younger students because once the kids reach high school many of them drop out.”
The idea that someone who looks like you or has a last name that sounds like yours opens the possibility in your mind that you can do it as well.
Reflecting on meaningful career moments, Dr. Jiménez says, “The timing of my career was such a blessing. Just as I began my training the big innovations in orthopedics were occurring. It was the unofficial start of total joint replacement, with our program at the San Francisco Orthopaedic Residency Training Program being one of the centers designated to use the new cement. Then as I was finishing my training, arthroscopy began to boom.”
The tradition of giving back has trickled down to what Dr. Jiménez calls his “biggest legacy”—his family. “My wife of 45 years is my best friend. We are so proud of our three children; our eldest is a neonatal intensive care nurse, our middle daughter is a professor of Latin American history, and our youngest child is an orthopedic physician assistant. After ‘giving back’ at a Catholic orphanage in Mexico for two years, she worked alongside me for six years.”
Raining Paratroopers Watercolor by Dr. Ramon Jiménez
With such a breadth of life experiences, Dr. Jiménez could do little better than to get some of them on paper (or canvas). “I am a devotee of watercolors, and have done several paintings that have appeared in AAOS exhibits. The most recent was my work, ‘Raining Paratroopers, ’ that I did for the ‘Wounded in Action’ show. The reason that watercolors appeal to me is that they seem a bit like surgery. As an orthopedic surgeon you must plan things ahead of time, execute well, and burn your bridges—just like working with watercolors.”
But he saves his broadest smile for his progeny. “My grandson, Hansi, turned 11 this year and he is a 5 handicap on the golf course. When I tell my golfing buddies that I’m bringing him along they wonder if he can keep up. Then they are blown away.”
Dr. Ramon Jiménez…giving his all.
