Healthcare Heroes: Mario E. Ramirez
September marks the landing of Hurricane Beulah in 1967. The storm crossed over the Caribbean, the Yucatan Peninsula, and then moved into the Mexican and Texas areas of the lower Rio Grande Valley as a Category 3 storm that spawned 115 tornadoes across the state. A slow moving storm, Beulah caused significant flooding and damage, taking 59 lives by the time it dissipated.
In the aftermath of the storm around 14,000 refugees from Mexico crossed the border into the Rio Grande Valley, seeking food, shelter, and medical care. This sudden influx nearly doubled the local population, stretching the need for relief efforts. One of the people helping to lead the effort to provide that relief was Dr. Mario E. Ramirez.
Born in South Texas in 1926, Ramirez knew from an early age that he wanted to be a doctor after one of his younger siblings passed away from illness. By 1950 he’d completed his medical degree and residency and returned to Texas to practice in his hometown of Roma. For a majority of his career he served as the small community’s only doctor, persevering despite financial struggles and other hardships. After a tour serving in the US Air Force, Ramirez opened Roma’s first hospital, which later expanded to include a surgical wing.
When Beulah hit in 1967, Ramirez was on the ground throughout, at the center of relief efforts during the immediate weeks after the storm. During this time he coordinated with doctors and staff from area hospitals and beyond, including Mexico, as well as the U. S. Army and volunteers.
Serious flooding was the greatest concern in the surrounding areas; close to 30 inches fell during and after the storm. Ramirez began coordinating shelters for the displaced while juggling treating his patients and dealing with major water damage at his hospital as refugees from Mexico began crossing the border, seeking relief from the same floodwaters. The US military began shipping in food and supplies and Ramirez quickly became the central hub of disaster relief. He’d not only been on the ground since the beginning but his knowledge of the local area and its residents made him well suited to lead.
Medical care arrived soon after, as teams of medical staff from around Texas began to fly into the area. Relief efforts remained difficult. The Army set up field hospitals and emergency clinics were organized, often using make-shift equipment. A local high school shop class built IV poles (seen in the picture at right), duct-taped cardboard boxes acted as incubators for babies, and medical staff worked for days on end providing all the care they could. Many sick and injured, especially those with serious conditions, had to be flown out to hospitals in other cities to get them the care they needed.
It was slow going but thanks to the leadership of Dr. Ramirez and the countless other medical staff and volunteers, the human cost of the storm was far less severe than it could have been. His work in the aftermath has been studied as an example of disaster medicine that has helped develop better responses and procedures.
Dr. Ramirez has been honored by multiple US presidents and served as Vice President of South Texas Programs at UT Health San Antonio from 1995-2007. The Mario E. Ramirez, M.D. Library at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley is named after him.
Learn More
- View the Hurricane Beulah Photograph Collection
- Pioneer Physician interview with Mario E. Ramirez
- Oral History interview with Mario E. Ramirez
- Major Hurricane Beulah (Nation Weather Service)
- The Port in the Storm: Mario Ramirez, Hurricane Beulah, and the Lower Rio Grande Valley – Thesis by Fernando Ortiz Jr.