Medical building dedicated to Dr. Lucero
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June 23, 2013 |
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Boundary Community Hospital CEO Craig
Johnson dedicates the Lucero Medical
Services Building in honor of the late
Dr. Ernie Lucero. |
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On Saturday, June 15, about a hundred people
gathered at the medical services building to
witness a short ceremony giving the facility a
new name in honor of one of Boundary County's
most beloved physicians; "The Lucero Medical
Services Building."
 "Dr.
Lucero, or Ernie as he always corrected me, was
a remarkable man," said Boundary Community
Hospital CEO Craig Johnson in bestowing the
facility's new name. "As a physician assistant
and then a physician, he cared for many of us in
the community over his 33 years of service in
Bonners Ferry. Shortly after his passing,
Darrell Kerby said, 'Ernie did not have any
patients, but he did have many friends he cared
for.'"
The story of how Dr. Lucero came to serve his
friends here is as amazing as the man himself.
Born in the barrios of Los Angeles in 1947, he
was a lackluster student with no real direction
in life, but he fulfilled his mother's request
and graduated high school. He found the path his
life would take after enlisting in the U.S. Navy
as a corpsman, and he served two tours in
Vietnam, treated ill and injured Marines.
After his honorable discharge, he enrolled in
the physician's assistant program at the
University of Washington, where he graduated as
a PA from the second class in the school's
history, and in 1967. He accepted a job offer
from Dr. Edwards and came to Bonners Ferry,
working with patients for ten years before
returning to school, first at the Idaho State
University, then at
the University of Utah School of Medicine in
Salt Lake City, Utah, where he graduated summa
cum laude with a doctorate in medicine.
He then returned to Bonners Ferry, where he
practiced until his untimely death on December
15, 2012, the last 15 years in the building that
now bears his name.
Just inside the vestibule is a plaque with a
picture of Dr. Lucero as most fondly remember
him, dressed in a white lab coat, his forthright
smile beaming. On it, you can read more about a
remarkable man who overcame long odds to become
a leader in the Boundary County medical
community. |
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