Rafael Pujals Cárdenas (ca. 1830 – 23 April 1889) was a late 19th-century Puerto Rican physician practicing in

Ponce, Puerto Rico Ponce ( , , ) is a city and a Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality on the southern coast of Puerto Rico. The most populated city outside the San Juan, Puerto Rico, San Juan metropolitan area, Ponce was founded on August 12, 1692Some publ ...

, that excelled as a

civic Civic is something related to a city or municipality. It also can refer to multiple other things: Civic or CIVIC can also refer to: General *Honda Civic, a car produced by the Honda Motor Co. *Civics, the science of comparative government * Civic ...

leader.

Physician

Pujals Cárdenas was born in

Humacao, Puerto Rico Humacao () is a Humacao barrio-pueblo, city and Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality in Puerto Rico located in the eastern coast of the island, north of Yabucoa, Puerto Rico, Yabucoa; south of Naguabo, Puerto Rico, Naguabo; east of Las Pi ...

, and graduated from the

University of Barcelona The University of Barcelona (official name in ; UB), formerly also known as Central University of Barcelona (), is a public research university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was established in 1450. With 76,000 students, ...

, Spain. He was the first physician with a medical degree title in Ponce, becoming the first medical doctor on the staff at

Hospital de Damas Hospital Damas, formerly called Santo Asilo de Damas, is a 331-bed teaching hospital in Ponce, Puerto Rico. History Hospital Damas was founded in 1863 as Santo Asilo de Damas by Sister Francisca Paz Cabrera, and it was attended to by the group ...

, where he worked without pay. He later became the first medical director of

Hospital Tricoche Albergue Caritativo Tricoche or Hospital Tricoche (English: ''Tricoche Charitable Shelter'' or ''Tricoche Hospital'') is a historic building located on Calle Tricoche street in Ponce, Puerto Rico, in the city's historic district. It was designed ...

. In addition to his private medical practice, Dr. Pujals was also the physician for the famed Ponce Municipal Fire Corps in the last quarter of the 19th century.

Civic leader

Pujals also excelled as a civic leader and on 30 June 1877, he became the first director of the reorganized Gabinete Ponceño de Lectura (Ponce Reading Cabinet), an early version of today's

Ponce Public Library The Ponce Municipal Library, formally, ''Biblioteca Municipal Mariana Suárez de Longo'' (English: Mariana Suárez de Longo Municipal Library), and also known as Biblioteca Publica de Ponce (English: Ponce Public Library), is the library system ...

. In 1886, he was also one of the nine cosigners of ''El Plan de Ponce'' that Roman Baldorioty de Castro had championed seeking greater political autonomy for Puerto Rico. He was also an active participant at the

Grito de Lares ''Grito de Lares'' (''Cry of Lares''), also referred to as the Lares revolt, the Lares rebellion, the Lares uprising, or the Lares revolution, was the first of two short-lived revolts against Spanish rule in Puerto Rico, staged by the Revolu ...

Death

Pujals died in Ponce on 23 April 1889, victim of an

asystole Asystole (New Latin, from Greek privative a "not, without" + ''systolē'' "contraction") is the absence of ventricular contractions in the context of a lethal heart arrhythmia (in contrast to an induced asystole on a cooled patient on a heart-lun ...

Legacy

The government of Puerto Rico honored Dr. Pujals naming a school in Ponce after him. He is also recognized for his contributions in

civic duty Civic engagement or civic participation is any individual or group activity addressing issues of public concern. Civic engagement includes communities working together or individuals working alone in both political and non-political actions to ...

at the Ponce Park for the Illustrious Ponce Citizens.''Civism.''
TravelPonce. Retrieved 16 May 2012.

References

Notes