By Lauren FitzPatrick
Staff writer
Dr. Rodrigo B. Floro spent the last years of his life helping to modernize medicine in his native Philippines.
After the general surgeon left the private practice he shared with his wife in Oak Lawn, and after he finished a military stint for his adopted country, he started raising money for the first new hospital in the Philippines in some 25 years.
“This is state-of-the-art, very modern,” said his wife, Dr. Lourdes Dimaano Floro, who lives in Orland Park, displaying photos of the hospital with huge glass windows and the latest technology inside.
Dr. Floro was among the first to get the Asian Hospital and Medical Center off the ground. He put up seed money to attract investors and eventually directed medical affairs for the facility in Alabang, a district outside Manila, that opened in 2002.
“Now the Asian Hospital is very busy,” Floro said. “It’s like a five-star hotel because it (has) a holistic basis. They don’t feel like they are patients in a hospital.”
Dr. Floro died Sept. 26 while working at his hospital. He was 64.
“He touched a lot of lives,” said Floro, an allergist who still practices in Oak Lawn. “He’s compassionate, caring — that was always foremost in his actions.”
Born in the Philippines in 1940, Dr. Floro attended medical school at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila.
He met his wife there, and they completed their studies together.
In 1967, they moved to the United States for further training. Both doctors performed internships at the old Cook County General Hospital, and then Dr. Floro went to Little Company of Mary Hospital in Evergreen Park for his surgical residency, while Floro completed an allergy specialty at Rush-Presbyterian Medical Center.
“We had intentions to go back to the Philippines,” she said. “And then we decided to stay, and we established a practice.”
The practice, Rodrigo B. Floro, M.D., and D. Floro, S.C., is still located at 5423 W. 95th St. in Oak Lawn.
Once a general surgeon, Dr. Floro then specialized in laproscopic procedures, which uses tiny incisions to minimize recovery time and pain.
In Chicago, he chaired surgery at Englewood Hospital before it closed, and at St. Bernard Hospital.
In 1991, Dr. Floro joined the Air Force Reserves and was activated to serve in Operation Desert Storm as a flight surgeon. He then was stationed in Arkansas for the rest of his active duty, so his wife said she visited him on weekends. He was made chief of general surgery for the 314th Medical Group.
But in the end, he wanted the hospital in the Philippines to flourish, so he spent much of his time there with a medical school friend and cardiologist, Dr. Jorge Garcia, while his wife held down the practice in Oak Lawn.
“I guess that became his full-time occupation,” his wife said of his long work day, from 6:30 a.m. often until 8 p.m. “That’s how dedicated he is.”
His dedication to the country he was born in did not go unrecognized. Among those attending his wake in the Philippines was the president, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
In addition to his wife, Dr. Floro is survived by twin daughters, Dr. Christina Floro, D.M.D., and Dr. Clarissa Rhode, M.D.; two sons, Rodrigo Floro and Lance Cpl. Robert Floro, Marine Corps; and two grandchildren.
Arrangements were by Zimmerman and Sandeman Funeral Home, (708) 460-7500. Dr. Floro was buried at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Alsip.
Lauren FitzPatrick may be reached at lfitzpatrick@dailysouthtown.com or (708) 633-5964.
