DR. RUDOLPH AND DOROTHY BALDONI
If anyone knows a good hospital when they see one, they would be Dr. Rudolph Baldoni and his wife, Dorothy. As grateful patients of Hoag, they feel very fortunate to live down the road from some of the best physicians, nurses, staff and technology.
Dr. Baldoni is one of nine children from an Italian American family in upstate New York and Dorothy is a native of Nova Scotia. The two met when she was on duty at Hollywood Hospital (where she worked as a nurse). Dr. Baldoni was a handsome young medical student from California Osteopathic College (which was later absorbed into the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine). Two years later, after Dr. Baldoni completed his internship at Los Angeles County Hospital, he and Dorothy were married.
They moved to Orange County where Dr. Baldoni did everything from taking care of common colds and performing surgeries to delivering babies. They recall at that time, Orange County still had unlit dirt roads instead of freeways and farms instead of shopping malls. For nine years, his career thrived with the growing community while Dorothy was busy raising their three sons. He and Dorothy decided that he would pursue a specialty in anesthesiology.
Just a few months into his residency at USC School of Medicine in anesthesiology, Dr. Baldoni was approached by a group of Orange County physicians to join them in building a community hospital in Fountain Valley. He agreed and, from 1973 until 1985, he was chief of anesthesiology at Fountain Valley Regional Hospital; thereafter he served as both an overseer and anesthesiologist for the outpatient surgical center. He served on the hospital board of governors and, in 1982, as chairman of the board of the hospital. Meanwhile, Dorothy engaged in a career in interior design and subsequently designed and subcontracted their current home.
When Dr. Baldoni retired, their sons surprised him with a Duffy boat named No More Gas. He and Dorothy have since traveled the world and enjoyed watching their five grandchildren achieve their own dreams. They feel so fortunate to call Newport Beach home and Hoag their hospital.
As grateful patients, they included Hoag in their charitable remainder trust to ensure Hoag would continue to stay in the forefront of the research and treatment of women's cancers. As a former hospital executive, Dr. Baldoni knows the importance of supporting Hoag to continue to provide excellent health care today, but also to ensure that it is available for future generations.
"They've treated us so well," says Dr. Baldoni. "We are very impressed with what Dr. Melvin Silverstein is doing with reast cancer and with all the physicians we've met."
Although it has been many years since Dorothy was a nurse, she greatly admires the profession it has become today. "Our children's and grandchildren's doctors are here and we've always respected Hoag," she said.
