Listening Beyond Words Changes Everything

“He never complained. He never asked for anything. Silence does not mean everything is fine.” - Martha Ornelas

Martha Ornelas says this about her father, Pedro Ornelas Lomeli, and in those words, you hear both love and grief held tightly together. Their story became a shared journey through Adventist Health White Memorial, Los Angeles at a time when nothing felt certain.

When a simple cough changed everything

Martha Ornelas is from Lincoln Heights, just steps from Adventist Health White Memoria, Los Angeles. But closeness did not make what came next any easier.

“It started with a cough,” she recalls. “We thought it was COVID. We tested him, isolated him, and waited. But he was not getting better.”

In their home, like many others, going to the doctor did not do something quickly.

“In our Latino culture, you don’t go to the doctor unless it is serious,” she says. “We did not know how serious it already was.”

When her father, Pedro Ornelas Lomeli, finally saw specialists, including Dr. Christopher Hiromura and Dr. Eric Garcia, the diagnosis came quickly and urgently. Cancer was growing and blocking his airway. A tracheotomy was needed.

“I was not expecting to hear that news,” Martha Ornelas says. “Everything changed in that moment.”

Sixty-three days of uncertainty

Pedro Ornelas Lomeli spent 63 days at Adventist Health White Memorial, Los Angeles most of them in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). What followed was a constant shift between hope and fear.

“Some days he looked strong,” Martha Ornelas remembers. “Other days he looked tired, like he was giving up inside.”

After surgery, he could no longer speak. A man known for quiet strength now faced silence as his only voice.

“If he could have spoken,” she says softly, “he would have said this is why he does not like going to the doctor.”

“He never asked for anything,” she adds. “He believed his struggle was his responsibility alone.”

The nurse who changed everything

In the middle of uncertainty came a steady presence, Beatriz Figueroa, known to the family as ‘Nurse Betty.’

“From the very beginning, she made us feel safe,” Martha Ornelas says. “She explained everything, spoke directly to my dad, and never rushed him.”

During a critical emergency, ‘Nurse Betty’ remained with them and later made sure Pedro Ornelas Lomeli was cared for before the family saw him again.

“She made sure he was clean and comfortable,” Martha Ornelas recalls. “Then she joked with him and told him she wanted him to look “guapo” [handsome]. That made him smile.”

“I can still see her gently cleaning his face,” she says. “He looked at her with so much softness. That stayed with me.”

Care beyond medicine

For Martha Ornelas, Adventist Health White Memorial became more than a hospital. It became a place where listening mattered as much as treatment.

“Silence does not mean everything is fine,” she says. “People need someone who understands what is not being said.”

She believes that understanding changed everything for her father’s care.

“It is not just medicine,” she says. “It is seeing the person.”

Why access to care matters

Today, Martha Ornelas works in a Family Resource Center in Northeast Los Angeles. From there, she sees the bigger picture.

“Hospitals like Adventist Health White Memorial are anchors for families like mine,” she says.

She also understands what makes that care possible.

“Community hospitals depend on support,” she says. “Without it, families lose access to this kind of care.”

Your support of Adventist Health White Memorial will help ensure families in crisis are met with care, compassion, and people who listen beyond words.

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