Gerónimo Lluberas

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 and his music is extant through recordings and live performances.
Lluberas published research papers in an array of medical journals and also wrote fiction. He composed dozens of Christian songs and studied painting and drawing.
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.
Medical career
In 1985, he co-authored his first professional journal article, on clinical research related to gout.
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, , ankylosing spondylitis, and Sjögren's syndrome. He was one of the first physicians to use the Prosorba column to treat rheumatoid arthritis.
He reflected his clinical experience and research interests in his professional journal writings which focused on Paget's disease, gonococcal arthritis and meningitis, pyoarthritis, pseudolupus, chronic pain and rheumatoid arthritis.
Lluberas also taught in the Nurse Practitioner Program at Kennesaw State University 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.
By April 2000, Lluberas and his teams had delivered basic health care to about 2,300 people in Belle Anse, saved the life of a four-month-old girl with meningitis, and rehabilitated patients with major injuries.
Humanitarian legacy
Lluberas wrote that, "Missionary work... the only way to act when one refuses to sit by and do nothing to alleviate--however slightly--the plight of our brethren."
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. Lluberas and his team returned to Belle Anse a year later despite safety concerns stemming from political instability in Haiti. 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. This proposal and Lluberas' comprehensive view of Belle Anse's needs laid the groundwork for the creation in 2003 of the nonprofit to build clinics, schools and basic infrastructure throughout the country.
Musical career
As a child in Puerto Rico, Lluberas studied the accordion with George Kudirka and continued his musical education with Luis Espindola.
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."
Posthumously, excerpts and an abridged version of "Butterflies in the Rain Forest, A Christian Musical" have been presented in concert form.
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.
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. 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".
Religious faith
In several of his paintings and drawings, Lluberas depicted Jesus Christ and Mother Teresa.
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.
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. Late in his life, Lluberas taught high school catechism.

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