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11/07/2016
David Alfaro doesn’t run the Surgical Technology program at American Career College-Los Angeles like the military, but it’s close.
“There is no gray area in what we do in the (operating room),” Alfaro said. “If you don’t do things 100 percent of the time correct, it’s the patient’s life that is affected.”
A 30-year veteran of the U.S. Navy, Alfaro started ACC’s surgical technology program in May 2005 and admits certain aspects of the military have been influential in shaping the program over the years and the advice he gives students.
“One of the things I teach my students all the time is yes, we work directly for the surgeon, but I feel the No. 1 customer is the patient,” Alfaro said. “Surgeons are 1b and patients are 1a. Every action we take in the OR will directly affect our patient.”
Alfaro served nine years in the Navy, followed by 21 years in the reserves, where he was pulled back into active duty three times. He called his retirement in September “a bittersweet situation,” but emphasized he’s happy to have left as a chief petty officer and healthy enough to continue with his “regular life.”
“I’m very fortunate that both of my employers were very supportive of my service,” Alfaro shared.
Early in his military career, Alfaro decided to be a surgical technologist after experiencing the OR and seeing how they treated him and the patients. Thirty years later, Alfaro says he stayed in uniform so long because of the people.
“You have to have a vocation to do it. It is something in your heart and that’s the reason we do it,” Alfaro said of himself and his fellow veterans.
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