In a lucrative profession where he could have lived solely in the world of the haves, Dr. Erwin Vasquez instead chose to make a difference in the world of the have-nots.
Vasquez, a cardiologist, founded and ran for the last two decades a free medical clinic in Oakland Park for low-income people without health insurance. His work won him many awards around the community.
On Thursday, Vasquez died after a bout with prostate cancer. He was 64.
Vasquez started his La Clinica Luz Del Mundo (Light of the World Clinic) in 1989 after observing the needs of the large number of uninsured people in
, especially in the Hispanic community.
“We lost an angel,” said Sandra Lozano, the clinic’s director for nine years. “He always believed in preventative medicine and the value of treating diseases at their onset. This was his baby. As he kept telling me for several months, ‘Sandy, the clinic has to go on.'”
Vasquez was born in Venezuela, got his medical degree in 1970, received further training in Michigan and Missouri, and came to Florida to start a heart practice in 1978.
He started the clinic as its main volunteer doctor and built it up over the years so that it now has a roster of 20 volunteer medical professionals who last year handled 13,000 visits from uninsured patients.
“He has a legacy of caring for others, speaking for those with no voice, the poor, the underserved in our community,” said his wife, Elaine Miceli Vasquez.
He is survived by his wife; three stepdaughters, Lisa Miceli-Capano, Kristen Drago and Kim Davis; and four grandchildren.
A memorial mass will be held at 1 p.m. Wednesday in the chapel at Holy Cross Hospital, 4725 N. Federal Highway in Fort Lauderdale. In lieu of flowers, the family requests a donation in his name to the clinic, his Vasquez Famly Foundation or the Broward Community Foundation.
