In Memoriam- HN Arturo Rivera

In Memoriam

By Lt. William Spence, Pharmacist, Naval Hospital Sigonella

I cannot say enough good things about this Corpsman, and I am clearly not alone in this sentiment. People from across the entire hospital, the entire installation, people from the States, people from the Navy Pharmacy community, people who used to be stationed here – they have all reached out to talk about the positive impact he made in their daily lives.

I have never met another individual who is always smiling, always happy, always laughing. And his positivity was resilient. He could weather me on my grouchiest day and come back for more. I could accurately gauge my level of grouchiness by whether or not a shot of espresso would magically appear on my desk.

There was nobody he did not like and there was nobody that did not like him. Patients absolutely adored him. He truly cared about each and every one of them and treated them all with dignity and respect. He could handle even the most challenging patient with a smile on his face and kindness in his heart. He was the heart and soul of this pharmacy and he was the perfect choice to serve as the one in charge of Morale, Welfare, and Recreation. In the ways that mattered, he was already responsible for our happiness so this appointment just made it official. He loved this responsibility. He put an incredible amount of time, effort, energy, and love into every facet of this job – honestly, he put those words into everything he did. HN Rivera even cared about people he never met. He volunteered at least 50 hours in the service of those less fortunate than him in our local community of Sicily. It brought HN Rivera joy to bring others joy.

I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about his intelligence, work ethic, and dedication to patient safety. Although a brand new Corpsman, he was fully competent to staff in all areas of the pharmacy. This is fortunate because it seemed like all the challenges and difficult patients coincided with HN Rivera’s overnight call schedule. Because of his attitude, intelligence, and confidence-inspiring abilities, I had no hesitation allowing him to train new Corpsman – a pretty huge level of trust in someone who had only been a pharmacy technician for approximately 6 months at the time. In fact, because of the level of trust he earned, he was put in charge of all training for the entire department. He had that spark, that drive, in him coupled with an innate ability to make people feel good about themselves. He would have made the best kind of leader. He was the best kind of leader.

I want everyone to know how honored I am for the chance to have had this individual in my life. I am so incredibly thankful for the time I had with him and I will be forever changed by his impact on my life.