Four Years and Counting: Alberto's Story

Just one week into Alberto’s hospital stay was admitted to the nearest hospital, the doctors would deliver some devastating news.

Sick with COVID, he was told he was going to die. “It was an incredibly stressful situation for me because the kids didn’t know that their father was at the point of dying,” says his wife, Karla. Three days into Alberto’s admission, his father passed away from COVID, followed by his mother only six days later. Karla made the tough choice to delay telling Alberto the news, knowing it could interfere with his healing process.

Alberto spent forty days in the hospital, fighting hard to stay alive. When he finally left, he was a different person, both physically and mentally. He could no longer walk on his own or breathe without an oxygen tank.

“They had told me COVID would disable me for life,” said Alberto, who was only 42 at the time. “I didn’t want that to happen. I have three kids and a wife who support me, so I had to continue moving forward and get back up again.”

A week after being discharged, he began his recovery journey at the AltaMed Paramount clinic. From the start, Alberto felt like he had found a friend and motivator with his new primary care provider, Maribel Khoury, M.D. 

He says, “Dr. Khoury told me something I’ll never forget. She said, ‘You’re one of the few who’ve come back from the hospital. I’m going to help you recover.’ It’s very rare to find a doctor like that. She didn’t see me as a number but as a person, which motivated me a lot.” 

When Alberto arrived at the clinic with pneumonia and other complications, Dr. Khoury and the clinic staff jumped into action. They quickly began treatment and advocated for him on the phone, making sure he could see each specialist as soon as possible. Edith, a medical assistant at Paramount, also helped Alberto apply for disability benefits. With medical and social support, Alberto could focus his energy on what he needed to do: be at home, rest, and recover. 

“Alberto is a perfect example of somebody who would have ended up in an emergency room time and time again because he ran out of oxygen or didn’t know how to navigate a situation,” says Dr. Khoury. “The beauty of community centers like AltaMed is that we’re there to help in situations like that.”