Bill Text: TX HR2651 | 2017-2018 | 85th Legislature | Enrolled

Texas House Resolution 2651 (Prior Session Legislation)

Bill Title: In memory of Dr. Mario E. Ramirez of Rio Grande City.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2017-05-31 - Reported enrolled [HR2651 Detail]

Download: Texas-2017-HR2651-Enrolled.html



	H.R. No. 2651



	R E S O L U T I O N

	WHEREAS, The State of Texas lost an admired leader in health
	care and higher education with the death of former University of
	Texas System regent Dr. Mario E. Ramirez of Rio Grande City on May
	22, 2017, at the age of 91; and
	WHEREAS, Born in Roma on April 3, 1926, to Efren and Maria del
	Carmen Ramirez, Mario Ramirez attended The University of Texas at
	Austin before accepting early enrollment in the University of
	Tennessee School of Medicine; he graduated in 1948, and while
	completing his residency at Shreveport Charity Hospital, he met the
	love of his life, Sarah Aycock, then a student nurse; they married
	in 1949 and eventually became the parents of five children, Mario,
	Patricia, Norman, Jaime, and Roberto; and
	WHEREAS, Dr. Ramirez founded Roma's first family practice
	clinic with his wife in 1950; after serving in Japan as a U.S. Air
	Force physician for two years, he returned to Starr County and
	established its first hospital in 1958; he made daily house calls
	over a 50-mile radius and treated many patients who could not afford
	to pay; in the wake of Hurricane Beulah, as the county's public
	health service director, he led the relief effort for nearly 14,000
	refugees; he and one other physician took care of all their health
	emergencies for two days before outside help arrived; and
	WHEREAS, Over the course of a half century in family
	medicine, Dr. Ramirez cared for countless people and delivered
	thousands of babies; he also took on numerous leadership roles in
	order to address the needs of medically underserved populations; in
	1969, he was appointed Starr County judge, and during a tenure that
	spanned nine years, he was instrumental in the creation of a
	hospital taxation district and the construction of Starr County
	Memorial Hospital in Rio Grande City; he was appointed to the
	development board of the UT Medical Branch in Galveston in 1974, and
	he mentored a host of physicians as an assistant professor at both
	the Houston and San Antonio campuses of the UT Medical School; from
	1989 to 1995, as a member of the UT Board of Regents, he championed
	education in the Rio Grande Valley and worked to address health care
	disparities, paving the way for the establishment of a medical
	school in the region; he served from 1995 to 2007 as vice president
	for South Texas programs of the UT Health Science Center at San
	Antonio, and in that role, he developed the Med Ed Program, which
	has prepared a host of high school students in the Valley and Laredo
	for careers in health science; and
	WHEREAS, Dr. Ramirez was the first Hispanic elected
	president of the Texas Medical Association, and he further served
	as president of the Texas Academy of Family Physicians; on the
	national level, he was a member of the National Health Advisory
	Council, the Ad Hoc Committee on Health Professions, and the board
	of regents of the Uniformed Services University of the Health
	Sciences; among myriad accolades, he received the Bicentennial
	Benjamin Rush Award for Citizenship and Community Service from the
	American Medical Association, the Family Doctor of the Year Award
	from the American Academy of Family Physicians, and the
	Distinguished Alumnus Award from UT Austin; and
	WHEREAS, Mario Ramirez made a tremendous impact in South
	Texas and beyond as a physician, a public servant, and a tireless
	champion of health care access for all, and his remarkable legacy
	will continue to resonate in the years to come; now, therefore, be
	it
	RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 85th Texas
	Legislature hereby pay tribute to the life of Dr. Mario E. Ramirez
	and extend sincere condolences to all who mourn his passing; and, be
	it further
	RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be
	prepared for his family and that when the Texas House of
	Representatives adjourns this day, it do so in memory of Dr. Mario
	E. Ramirez.

	Guerra

	______________________________
	Speaker of the House

	I certify that H.R. No. 2651 was unanimously adopted by a
	rising vote of the House on May 28, 2017.

	______________________________
	Chief Clerk of the House