Page 13 - ARUBA TODAY

A13
Friday 31 January 2020

Loyal visitor of Aruba publishes his life story in a book:

From aspiring surgeon to undercover operative

funds to go back when a at a hospital in New York derstand human behavior
friend of his who was do- State. I got my degree in and so I did. We travelled
ing psychiatry told him that psychiatry and that’s why to Washington many times
state psychiatric hospitals the title of the book is The and I was introduced to
in Massachusetts are taking Unintentional Immigrant a lot of people.” He re-
doctors and pay a good because it was not my idea ceived a phone call two
salary. “I was actually there to stay.” years later from someone in
to make money to return to Washington from the intel-
Argentina. I had a student Undercover ligence services wanting to
visa which I had to turn into Eventually the couple re- recruit him to be part of the
a working permit, a green turned to Massachusetts office of strategic informa-
card. I worked there about where DeNapoli opened tion. It sounded interesting
two years when I met this a psychiatry practice and to him but he thought: this
crazy nurse,” he laughs. they got four children. “A must be a joke, my friends
They fell deeply in love and friend decided to run as are setting me up.
they decided to get mar- US Representative and he
ried. “I made psychiatry my wanted me in his cam- Continued on Page 14
career and went working paign team because I un-

EAGLE BEACH — Jorge De- United States to specialize
Napoli is the author of the in some branch of surgery.
book ‘The unintentional im- In those days of course we
migrant’ telling the story of did not have internet so
his life. His journey is not a the only means of commu-
common one as DeNapoli nication was by telephone
used to be a US secret ser- which took hours to do it.
vice servant for about 20 Another form was to write
years. He also built an im- to different hospitals where
pressive career as a psy- I was going to do a rotat-
chiatrist. In the year 1995 ing internship at first.” One
he and his belated wife hospital in New York City
fell in love with Aruba and answered that they would
they have spent more than accept him right away
35 years visiting the island. and of course he was de-
“This book is my legacy to lighted. “I was a city boy
my children and grandchil- and moving to fantastic
dren that they should know New York was a dream.
who their father was and But when I got there I was
my friends from the US and surprised because it was
Aruba.” a hospital in Harlem and it
was not up to standards. I
Aruba Today meets De- did my internship there but
Napoli for an interview when I tried to apply for sur-
during his vacation on the gical service they wouldn’t
island and he is open to accept me. Number one
talk about his extraordinary because I was a gradu-
life. “I graduated from the ate from a foreign medical
University of Buenos Aires school and number two
medical school, I am Ar- because my internship was
gentinean and after two at a substandard hospital.”
years of practicing surgery He decided to go back to
I decided to move to the Argentina but he had no