June 14, 2022
Dr. Ravindra Rao: The Path of Selfless Service
By Sheryl Wilde
He recalls the softness of her hand so clearly, even all these decades later. “She came to my school in Bihar, India,” says Dr. Ravindra Rao.
It was before she had become one of the most well-known and beloved women in the world.
There was a tree in the school yard with a circular, cement bench around its trunk. The school children gathered there often, and when she came, she would sit next to Ravindra, and the other children.
It was there that Ravindra, and the others, sat with Mother Teresa, and they prepared to take blankets to the poor.
“She sometimes held my hand and led me to the car,” Ravindra says. “We all rode together to the village to handout the blankets.”
The trips to the leper villages with Mother Teresa, combined with his upbringing in the Hindu culture, instilled a strong sense of service in Ravindra. The Bhagavad Gita, often referred to as the Hindu Bible, and its teachings of Karma Yoga, or the Path of Selfless Service, strongly influenced his life.
“The Gita taught us it is our duty to work without rewards. It emphasized selfless action for the benefit of others.”
This philosophy of selfless action inspired Ravindra’s life and work. He married in 1975. It was a traditional Indian arranged marriage. “There was no dating before marriage,” he says. “There was a sense of sacrifice and compromise. There was a need to understand each other, to figure out how to make things work, because there was no temporariness to our relationship – we had to make it work.”
When he came to America in 1976, newly married, and with just $50 dollars in his pocket, it was a culture shock. Yet, there was always a knowing of his purpose in life.
“I was destined to be a doctor,” recalls Rao, “because my father brainwashed me. He told me I was going to be a doctor. I never knew anything else, but to be a doctor.
“When I finished medical school , there was an opening – only one opening – at Loma Linda University Medical Center. It was a pediatric internship. And I got it! It’s been a dream since then.”
Ravindra became an attending physician at Loma Linda in 1980, and held various academic and administrative appointments at the hospital over his more than 40-year career, including Professor of Pediatrics, Head of the Division of General Pediatrics, and Medical Director of the Spina Bifida Program and Team Clinic.
Dr. Rao has been involved with Mountain Shadows for more than 30 years. He became the Medical Director for Totally Kids Specialty Healthcare in 1984 and for Mountain Shadows, when it was known as Special Kids, in 1989. He joined the Mountain Shadows Board of Directors in 2009.
“It has been a humbling service,” Ravindra adds. “I was drawn to the special needs community, because I felt an obligation to care for everybody, not just the healthy. Everybody. It became a passion – a calling.”
“Dr. Rao does an amazing job caring for our clients,” says Heather Van Alstine, RN, Mountain Shadows Community Homes – Riverside. “He’s so knowledgeable about all of our clients, and he shares his knowledge with everybody. He talks to everyone with respect and communicates in a way everyone understands.”
Adds Ruth Hill, Mountain Shadows Foundation Board Member, and retired RN Health Care Coordinator for Mountain Shadows Community Homes – Riverside, “Dr. Rao really cares about his patients. He is very compassionate.
“I remember we once had a client who was blind. She refused to talk to any of us. But when Dr. Rao came to see her, she’d say, ‘Hi, Dr. Rao!’ as clear as could be. She was at Mountain Shadows for about 29 years and she never really talked to anyone, but when Dr. Rao came, she always said, “Hi, Dr. Rao.” She wouldn’t let anyone but him look in her ears. There was something about him that touched her. He has a very calming attitude and was always very respectful. He spoke as if the client was the only person in the room.
“No matter what time, day or night, he was always available when we needed him. He valued every patient; it didn’t matter how disabled. Everyone was treated as a valued individual.”
“I’ve worked with many profoundly disabled individuals,” adds Rao. “Many of them non-verbal, non-ambulatory, and often they have very minimal awareness of their surroundings. Sometimes the only thing they can do is smile.
“It was gratifying when these children, even when they hadn’t seen me for months, when they heard my voice, they smiled.”
“Let us always meet each other with a smile, for the smile is the beginning of love.”
-Mother Teresa
In addition to his work in the United States, Ravindra felt compelled to give back to his home country of India. He has served as a Volunteer Physician at Sri Satya Baba General Hospital in India since 2008.
“I go to India each year,” says Ravindra. “There’s a non-profit hospital set-up there where the poorest of the poor kids are being helped. I go there every year for two weeks. I look forward to that every year and can’t wait to go back.”
“Let us touch the dying, the poor, the lonely and the unwanted according to the graces we have received and let us not be ashamed or slow to do the humble work.”
-Mother Teresa
Dr. Rao also serves as a Volunteer Physician for the Painted Turtle, an annual camp for children with Spina Bifida, Paraplegia, Cerebral Palsy and Kidney Diseases.
“Everything I do gives me so much pleasure,” Rao continues. “It gives me pleasure to see a patient and help them.”
“The miracle is not that we do this work, but that we are happy to do it.”
-Mother Teresa
From his childhood days, sitting under the tree with Mother Teresa, one senses that now a part of Ravindra’s life has come full circle. Mother Teresa’s impact on the young boy, from a handheld, and a compassionate act, inspired within him a lifetime of selfless service.
“Several years ago,” says Ravindra, “I gave a gift to my assistant, who had been with me for 25 years. I gave her and her husband a trip to India.
“We went together and we ended the trip in Calcutta, the home of Mother Teresa. We visited where she grew up and we visited her tomb.
“At the tomb, we all bowed our heads with respect to her. And I told my assistant, “I’m done. I just did what was in my heart – to honor Mother Teresa. What else could I possibly want to do?”
While his work with children and the disabled over the past 40 years has been extremely gratifying, Ravindra is now ready to move into a new phase of life.
“I have two grown children, Rekha and Rajiv,” says Rao, “and I also have a three-year-old grandchild now! They all live in Oakland, and my wife, Gayathri, was feeling the pain of not seeing them. So, I said, ‘Okay, it’s time!’ I decided to retire and we’re moving to Oakland to be with our children and grandchild.”
“Love begins at home, and it is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the action that we do. If you want to bring happiness to the whole world, go home and love your family.”
-Mother Teresa
We thank you, Dr. Rao, for the deep love you put into your every action with the children of Mountain Shadows. And, as you move into this new chapter of life, we wish you continued happiness.
You will be greatly missed.