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All the good Dr. Robert Quintano did during his many years of practicing medicine and as a father and husband is returning to his widow and their eight children just a few months after his death from a heart attack at age 72 on Aug. 24.
Dr. Quintano, a plastic surgeon by training and profession, was a quiet legend, serving as a founder and one of the driving forces behind St. Anthony’s Free Medical Clinic in the former St. Adalbert’s School on East 155th Street in the South Bronx.
His wife, a nurse herself, shared the doctor’s life and his ministry at St. Anthony’s, which is sponsored by the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal. She said their volunteer work there came about after a mission by the Redemptorist Fathers at their parish church, Immaculate Heart of Mary in Scarsdale, then pastored by another legend, the late Msgr. Edward Connors.
The way Mrs. Quintano described it, that mission “got a fire burning in us.” Fueled by a desire to give of themselves, they asked their pastor to recommend a suitable outlet. Msgr. Connors put the couple in touch with Father Benedict Groeschel, C.F.R., one of the founders of the Renewal Friars, who invited them to come and see the type of outreach the friars were doing in the community. (Father Groeschel, as many readers know, died Oct. 3.)
Taking that first step back in 1998 was all it took, she recalled on the phone last weekend. Before you knew it, Dr. Quintano was lining up helpers to help him set up two examining rooms and a supply room. One thing led to another and before long, they were recruiting physicians to volunteer their services.
Through the years, many of their medical associates from Lawrence Hospital in Bronxville, where Dr. Quintano served for many years in addition to maintaining a private practice, joined the couple at St. Anthony’s. Besides morning hours on Saturdays for indigent adults, the clinic is also open one day during the week for children.
The clinic’s doctors provide a lot of physical exams for people returning to work, vaccinations for children and treatments of general ailments and diagnoses of other more serious conditions. Mrs. Quintano credits the friars for the Catholic, pro-life approach that permeates the clinic’s work.
Mrs. Quintano said her husband was unwavering in his devotion, dedication and generosity toward the clinic, even at times when she worried about the family’s finances with each of their children enrolled in Catholic schools.
“He was a happier man when he came home from the clinic,” said Mrs. Quintano, who continues to serve as a coordinator for the clinic in addition to working as a nurse and a real estate agent. Their daughter, Kimberly, who is due to graduate from law school this year, has also taken up work on its behalf.
Because her husband was an unassuming fellow who never sought the spotlight, Mrs. Quintano said it has been very gratifying to receive letters from those with whom he worked at the clinic, especially younger people whom he mentored while they volunteered as high school, college and pre-medical students, including many who were students at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville. Many spoke about his teaching ability, and the mentoring relationship he held with so many, especially in medicine but also with his Catholic faith.
To see many others who benefited from the good work and service of her husband was both an affirmation and a bit of a revelation to Mrs. Quintano. Now that it’s time that “the baton is passed,” she is hoping that one or more of those he mentored returns to St. Anthony’s to share with aspiring medical students what her husband shared with them.
The Franciscan Friars of the Renewal celebrated Dr. Quintano’s life and service at St. Anthony’s at a Mass in St. Adalbert’s Church Dec. 20.
