Ricardo Charles Mendoza Sánchez

When the World Federation of Societies of Anesthesiology conducted a survey last year among its 140 member countries to determine who was the oldest active anesthesiologist, Dr. Ricardo Charles Mendoza Sánchez barely took notice of such a singular convocation.

But the Cuban Society of Anesthesiology and Resuscitation did not waste time in sending his professional file, taking into account that at 84 years old at that moment he was still entering the operating room almost daily at the Camilo Cienfuegos International Center for Retinitis Pigmentosa, where he has worked for three decades.

To the satisfaction of his colleagues at home, after a few months came the confirmation announced by WFSA in its November 2013 Newsletter.

The longest-lived of all the candidates was this unassuming man of remarkable scientific and human qualities, born on a farm in what is now the Espiritu Santo municipality of Cabaiguán, on June 9, 1928.

"The news surprised me, I did not expect that it would be me who was distinguished, and when I learned about it officially, I immediately thought of my family and of the people to whom I owe being an anesthesiologist, such as Dr. Mariano Valverde, Armando Bugarin, Mario Miranda, Francisco Gutiérrez Peláez and Samuel Yelín."

I also remembered, furthermore, other doctors who in different stages contributed to my professional development, among them Alberto Fraga, Franco Salazar and Carlos Llapur. Of course I also include the members of the board of directors of the Cuban Society of the specialty."

OBSTACLE COURSE
The life of Dr. Charles, as his colleagues and friends prefer to call him, is filled with adversities and fortunately realized dreams.

"As a child I lived in the countryside, there was no nearby school, and I finished primary school quite late when I was already a teenager. Then I did my Science degree at the Instituto de Remedios."

Influenced from an early age by the stories his mother told him about the doctor who had delivered him, he decides to come to Havana to study that career, managing to enroll in the 1949-1950 academic year.

"I was the oldest of four siblings and so that the second one could also improve himself, it was necessary for me to contribute in some way to reducing the family expenses of my stay in the capital."

"So when I was already in my fifth year, I start working in the archive of the América Arias hospital (currently known as the Línea maternity), where I had lunch and dinner without affecting my father's pocket."

Impressed by the seriousness of the young man and his eagerness to learn, a renowned obstetrician there, Dr. Armando Bugarin de la Cruz, takes him on as an assistant and soon he begins to help him with deliveries.

On December 4, 1956, Charles Mendoza was scheduled to take the final exam to obtain his medical degree, but the events of November 30 in Santiago de Cuba caused the temporary closure of the University and the postponement of the aforementioned test.

Later they convene a special call for March 16, 1957, but on the 13th the assault on the Presidential Palace occurs and again the evaluation that would give him his longed-for diploma is suspended.

It is during this period that at the Línea maternity itself he serves for a time as an assistant to the renowned anesthesiologists Mario Miranda Ferradás and Francisco Gutiérrez Peláez, who discover his definitive vocation toward that branch of medicine.

When the Revolution triumphed in 1959, Charles manages to graduate and is appointed anesthesiologist at the university hospital Calixto García, working there for almost four years.

This was the beginning of a brilliant professional career of more than half a century, shared with teaching and the training of more than seventy specialists in Anesthesiology and Resuscitation, which has left its mark on the National Institute of Surgery and Anesthesiology (INCA), created on Fidel's initiative in 1962, and of which he was a founder (it marked a before and after in the history of anesthesiology in Cuba), at the military hospital Carlos J. Finlay, the provincial one in Camagüey, the Salvador Allende (formerly Covadonga) and in Basra, Iraq, in the midst of the armed conflict between that country and Iran, where he acquired vast experience in the sedation and maintenance of vital signs of the war wounded undergoing risky surgeries.

ETERNAL STUDENT
For Professor Charles, a good anesthetist must be above all an tireless scholar, always be prepared to solve any type of problem that could put a patient's life at risk during the surgical act, have deep knowledge of the patient's illness, of the clinical method, and stay up to date with scientific advances in this and other specialties.

"The person who goes into an operating room tends to get nervous and frightened, which is why the anesthetist must talk with patients and reassure them, understand their fears, listen to them, evaluate them psychologically, and above all never lose composure, nor fail to comply with the established preoperative requirements, even if it may appear to be the simplest surgery."

He acknowledges among his most difficult moments having given anesthesia to war wounded with facial tissue loss from blast waves, or subjected to amputations caused by firearms.

"Also the times I had as a patient my father, my mother, a brother. In those moments you draw enough strength to do it, but when you finish and release the tensions, you feel as if a building had fallen on top of you."

He affirms that the best reward of an anesthetist is to guarantee the life of the patient undergoing surgery, prevent him from suffering, relieve his pain, or bring him out of cardiorespiratory arrest with danger to his life.

However, Dr. Charles's greatest satisfaction lies in seeing his two daughters become highly qualified professionals and upstanding people. One of them, Susana, followed in her father's footsteps and also works as an anesthetist at the Camilo Cienfuegos International Center for Retinitis Pigmentosa. The other, Silvia, is a dentist.

They are as I dreamed and I am proud to have contributed to transmitting to them the best values that can distinguish a human being. I believe I have fulfilled that duty in life, he says emotionally.

It is worth adding that at 85 years old the dean of anesthesiologists in active practice throughout the world does not tire of inquiring into the advances in his specialty to continue facing the challenges of the great adventure that his career has been.

For excellence in the practice of anesthesiology over more than five decades, last March Professor Charles Mendoza received a well-deserved recognition during the celebration of the second meeting of cardiothoracic anesthesiologists, held at the Hermanos Ameijeiras hospital.