MIAMI – For a family in Florida, COVID-19 hit hard after two doctors, a father and son, died of COVID-19 just over a month apart.
Dr. Carlos Vallejo, 57, practiced internal medicine at his private practice in Miami Lakes; he died August 1st.
“My father was an incredible boy,” said his son, Charles Vallejo Jr., 26, “he cared deeply for his patients and they saw him as a family.”
Carlos Vallejo was admitted to the hospital on June 27 – the day his father, pension obstetrician Dr. Jorge Vallejo, 89, died at COVID-19.
Charles Vallejo, who follows in the footsteps of his father and grandfather and is a medical resident, is of the opinion that his father contracted the virus in the treatment of his patients who were in rehabilitation centers and nursing homes. Some were COVID-19 positive.
‘My father did not have any underlying health conditions. He was very healthy. It’s an enormous shock. Of all of them, he is the last one I would think would die at COVID, ”said Charles.
He told how he and his family would plead with his father to be careful about infected patients, maintain a safe distance and wear protective gear.
“He would tell us he would protect himself as much as he could, but would say, ‘I have to go in there and see my patients,'” Charles Vallejo said. “He would touch her and listen to her lungs.”
He said his grandfather, who was healthy and strong for his age, was careful about the virus and stayed home most of the time during the pandemic.
“The week before he got COVID, I was walking with my dog and saw my grandfather cutting a tree,” Charles Vallejo said.
But his grandfather decided to go with the family to a restaurant to celebrate his 89th birthday and he may have accidentally contracted the virus from his son, Carlos, who started seeing symptoms the next day.
“An angel on earth,” says one patient
Florida has to deal with one of the country’s worst upheavals in cases of coronavirus that began in late June and July. Miami-Dade County reported the highest amount of cases and Hialeah, a city with a blue collar, was at the heart of the outbreak.
It was in these communities that the two doctors served, where many knew the family and recognized their last names.
Blanca Mourino, 68, has been a patient of both Carlos and Jorge Vallejo since moving to South Florida from New York in 1995 and has fond memories of both. His mother was also a patient.
“He was an angel on earth and is now my angel in heaven,” Mourino said of Carlos Vallejo through tears.
She said that when she was sick, she would often describe her symptoms over the phone and Carlos Vallejo would call the medication to the pharmacy, saving Mourino a trip to his office and money for the visit.
‘I love him so much. I can not return to the office, knowing he will not be there, ‘said Mourino, a retired postal worker.
Carlos Vallejo is survived by his wife, a psychiatrist, and three children. He and his wife attended medical school and were married for 33 years. He loves to travel the world and go diving and skiing during his time out of work.
From working-class patients to the Queen of Salsa, Celia Cruz
Jorge Vallejo was born and raised in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where he became an outspoken critic of Fidel Castro’s late revolution. By 1965, he fled the island with his wife and two sons, ages two and three, and settled in the largely Cuban-American city of Hialeah.
After passing his medical management exams, he began practicing at Hialeah Hospital and delivered thousands of babies through his years of practice. In 1992, Jorge Vallejo delivered what was arguably the smallest baby in the US, born at 22 weeks and weighing less than a pound.
“My grandfather would see people from all walks of life, from recent immigrants to celebrities,” said Charles Vallejo, who added that his grandfather once saw the legendary ‘Queen of Salsa’, the late Celia Cruz.
He practiced medicine until he was 74, when his wife died. He lived alone, across the street from his son and family and remained active, even driving an hour and a half to the family’s summer home in the Florida Keys.
Charles Vallejo will now continue the tradition of his father and grandfather – introducing a profession that is now losing some of its members to the deadly virus.
“One of the greatest moments of my life, and his life,” Charles Vallejo said of his father Carlos, “was when I finally got my white coat from medical school. He was there and so was my grandfather.”
“He was a great father,” Charles said, “and a role model for me.”
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