The mudflats along I-395 in Miami are not for the faint of heart. But for Dr. Pedro José Greer Jr. that is exactly where he belongs. Dr. Joe, as he is known to his patients, has spent his entire medical career treating the homeless and poor of Miami and he gives no indication that he is ready to give it up any time soon. He has made two major contributions to the city of Miami. But in the process, he has made tens of thousands of small ones.
Dr. Joe knows a thing or two about overcoming adversity. He was born at Jackson Memorial hospital, where he would later have an encounter that would set him on his current path. His Cuban mother, who was in Miami to attend a birthday party, delivered him three months prematurely on a gurney in the emergency room. His mother returned to Cuba when young Pedro was strong enough, but the family fled the Castro regime four years later.
Fast-forward 28 years to 1984 and Dr. Joe was beginning his internship at the very same hospital in which he was born. That day the fire department brought in a patient whose name they did not know. There was no address, no history. The man was homeless and suffering from severe tuberculosis. The man made an impact on Dr. Joe, who was astonished that people still suffered from tuberculosis. The mad died alone a few days later, but the impression he made would last forever.
“At that moment, I became aware of a Miami I had never known. I finally understood that every patient has a story, a soul, and that their clinical history is just a façade that conceals dreams, homes, successes, and failures. And I wanted to find those stories, hidden under the bridges.” He said in a 2005 interview with Perspectives in Health magazine.
In the last three decades, Dr. Joe opened two clinics in Miami that treats patients regardless of their ability to pay. The clinics now see tens of thousands of patients each year with over 100 physicians on the roster. And each patient is treated with dignity, kindness, and respect regardless of his or her situation, leaving each feeling just a little bit more hope. “As physicians…” he says, “we treat people, not organs, or diseases.”
In addition to treating the homeless and disadvantaged of Miami, he also served as an advisor to President Clinton, although it did not work out well. In a 2009 interview with MSNBC he says, “Too often the most critical facts never made it to the discussion table because the seats around the table were taken up by influence and money.”
He is free about his feelings toward the insurance companies as well. “Hell is going to be filled with insurance people. I hope they enjoy all the money they’re making.”
His latest venture is academic. He is now the Dean of Academic Affairs at Florida International University’s Medical School.
Dr. Joe is still going strong after nearly 30 years and a slew of awards, including the MacArthur Genius Grant, the AARP Inspire Award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and three Papal awards. But the humble doctor takes it all in stride. “This is my community; this is where I live, where my family is,” He says. “If I can’t make the place I live better through what I do, what am I here for?” The world could use a few more like Dr. Joe.
Sources:
http://www.paho.org/english/dd/pin/Number21_article03.htm
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33197187/ns/health-health_care/t/dr-joe-treats-uninsured-patients-dignity/#
http://www.hispanicheritage.org/images/press/President%20Obama%20Honors%20Dr.%20Pedro%20Jose%20Greer.pdf
http://www.americasagenda.org/Participants/Bios/Pedro-Jose-Greer-Jr.aspx