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

Ponce, Puerto Rico Ponce (, , , ) is both a city and a municipality on the southern coast of Puerto Rico. The city is the seat of the municipal government. Ponce, Puerto Rico's most populated city outside the San Juan metropolitan area, was founded on 12 August 16 ...

, that excelled as a civic leader.

Physician

Pujals Cárdenas was born in

Humacao, Puerto Rico Humacao () is a city and municipality in Puerto Rico located in the eastern coast of the island, north of Yabucoa; south of Naguabo; east of Las Piedras; and west of Vieques Passage. Humacao is spread over 12 barrios and Humacao Pueblo (the ...

, and graduated from the

University of Barcelona The University of Barcelona ( ca, Universitat de Barcelona, UB; ; es, link=no, Universidad de Barcelona) is a public university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia, in Spain. With 63,000 students, it is one of the biggest universities i ...

, 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, 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 designe ...

. 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 Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

had championed seeking greater political autonomy for Puerto Rico. He was also an active participant at the

Grito de Lares ''El Grito de Lares'' (''The Cry of Lares''), also referred to as the Lares uprising, the Lares revolt, the Lares rebellion, or the Lares revolution, was the first major revolt against Spanish rule in Puerto Rico. The revolt was planned by Ra ...

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-lu ...

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