Ruth Yesenia Cortes

Ruth grew up in Anaheim, California, the middle child, out of five, of Jose and Laura Cortes. She attended Esther L. Walter Elementary School where she was an exemplary academic student, kind and a ball of energy. She was surrounded by teachers who encouraged her love for learning and art.

She attended Dale Junior High School and continued her academic excellence, her leadership skills participating in student government and continued her childhood friendship bonds while always acquiring new ones.

She attended Magnolia High School where her academic career continued to soar, always a leader she participated in the Associated Student Body, as student body president, she joined the cheerleading team, making Varsity Song & Dance Cheer and was their captain, ran track and was a member of several clubs on campus. She could be seen laughing and enjoying her time with her friends as well as all the teachers and staff who held her in high regard. She graduated Magnolia, class of 1997.

She attended San Diego State University, San Diego, CA and graduated in May 2002 with a Bachelor of Science – Pre-Medicine/Pre-Medical Studies. During her college years, as always her kindness to others brought on more friendships. She dedicated herself to her studies and spent her time off either visiting her family or working. When she wasn’t working as a VIP tour guide for Disneyland back home in Anaheim she spent hours as a lab assistant on the campus laboratories and hours at Scripps Mercy Hospital in San Diego as an ER Triage volunteer.

When her mother died in a car accident a couple months after college graduation, she put her medical school plans on hold in order to care for her two younger sisters and father. She worked whatever jobs where available to her without a second thought as long as she could help. She knew that the cost of financially assisting our father with our two younger sisters as well as herself was not going to be feasible with the type work available in the area. She held off on her schooling again and in 2003 selflessly enlisted herself in the United States Airforce Reserves and although an error in her application didn’t give her the officer status she should have received with her educational background, she didn’t quit and instead she did what she always did, she excelled any way. While enlisted she trained in phlebotomy with the San Bernardino Blood bank and became a certified Radiology tech through the Community College of the Airforce. She spent six years in the Airforce acquiring different levels of training and traveling to different assignments, collecting knowledge, friends and memories, all the while providing for her family.

When her years were up with the USAF, she was presented with the opportunity to further her education and be able to attend medical school through the US Navy and took the opportunity to achieve her goal to work in the medical field. She entered Touro University in 2010 and once again excelled. She enjoyed this new challenge and formed bonds with her classmates which would last throughout her career and these last years of her life. While she studied, she also worked, she was as always constantly thinking of how she could help her family back home. She financially continued to assist our father who was older and suffering for illness and assist her two younger sisters; one a single mom who she persuaded to pursue a career in medical by first obtaining a certification as a pharmacy assistant and then as a certified LVN. Both of which she financially supported. Through Touro she traveled to Bolivia to work on a gender based violence policy with the World Health Organization (WHO). She saw it as another opportunity to serve those who were in need. When she graduated Touro in 2012, her siblings and father were unable to attend her white coat ceremony as her father was ill and she felt it best if her siblings stayed in case he needed them there.

In July of 2012 she graduated from Officer Development School in Newport, Rhode Island. She was excited to get to put her skills to work. She was stationed at Naval Hospital Camp Lejeune where she worked in the emergency room then transitioned to Family Medicine. In 2014 she deployed to Afghanistan to Shindand AB where she was part of the Forward Surgical Team (FST) for a Combined Joint Special Forces Task (CJSOTF-A). There her PA role extended to trauma, primary care provider, surgical assistant, assistant pharmacy officer, information management officer and instructor for both corpsman and Afghan Army Nationals. She provided care for over 500 patients and participated in multiple mass casualties.

In April of 2015, when she returned to the states, she was assigned to the Naval Hospital Guam Family Medicine where she treated a variety of patients both military forces transiting the region and the locals in Guam and Micronesia. She volunteered to teach corpsmen medical skills and diagnostic processes. Unsatisfied with her father’s care as well as other patient care she had witnessed over the years and always looking for ways to improve patient care, in February of 2016 she completed the Team STEPPS instructor course and applied these concepts toward patient care improvement in hospital settings.

In 2016 she was allowed to return to California to spend the last weeks of her father’s life with him. After he passed, she was briefly assigned to Camp Pendleton, San Diego for the remainder of the year while she waited for her next deployment. While at Pendleton she participated in the command HEDIS CQT team for diabetes, completed the Navy Sexual Assault Medical Forensic Examiner course. She helped to mentor both corpsmen and medical assistants to improve their skill sets.

In 2017, she was assigned to the Nimitz-class USS George Washington in Newport News Virginia, Newport News Virginia where she was assigned as the ships physician assistant, in addition she was clinic manager, Brig medical officer, Lab Officer and Pharmacy Officer. In September 2018, she was invited as the guest speaker during the Hispanic heritage ceremony, where she shared her experience joining the military.

Always looking for a challenge and the ability to serve further in the medical field, she applied and was accepted to the Navy Physician Assistant Orthopedic Fellowship. She spent this last year studying and working at the Naval Medical Center, Portsmouth Virginia.

Ruth had a passion for helping others, especially using her skills in medicine. She was a skilled artist and used her drawings to bring joy to others and to educate patients. She enjoyed traveling with friends which was evident by her ever growing list of places she had visited and placed she longed to see. She ran for fitness and as a way to destress and accumulated, trophies and medals for 5k’s, 10k’s and marathons she completed. She was known for her quick wit, infections smile and laugh, her kind, compassionate, selfless spirit and her love of life.

She is preceded in death by her father, Jose and mother, Laura. She is survived by her sisters Judith, Ana, Vanessa, brother Jose and several cousins, nieces and nephews. A vigil service will be held at Fairhaven Memorial Park Mortuary, Rose Window Chapel, Santa Ana, California on Friday November 15th, 2019 from 4 pm to 8 pm. A funeral service will be held on Saturday November 16th, 2019 at St. Justin Martyr Church in Anaheim, California at 10 am and she will be laid to rest following at the Holy Sepulcher in Orange, California. Flowers are welcomed as well as donations in her honor through gofundme for Touro University where she attended PA school. The funds will be used to create the Lt. Ruth Cortes running space at the new gymnasium being built where a plaque will be created in her honor alongside the purchase of a treadmill, a brick for the PA Veterans Memorial garden in Durham, NC and a to have an annual scholarship through the American Academy of PAs Veterans Caucus for female Veterans attending PA school

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Ruth was born on October 19, 1979 in Hawaiian Gardens, California the middle child out of five of Jose and Laura Cortes. She graduated from Magnolia High School in Anaheim, CA class of 1997, received her Bachelor of Science in 2002 from San Diego State University, San Diego, CA and graduated from Touro University, Vallejo, CA as certified Physician’s Assistant in 2012. She served in the United States Airforce Reserves for six years and was actively serving as a Lieutenant in the United States Navy.

Ruth accomplished a great many things for which she viewed as a blessing and faced adversity through it all but her Christian faith never wavered. She had a passion for helping others, especially using her skills in medicine. She was a skilled artist and used her drawings to bring joy to others and to educate patients. She enjoyed traveling with friends which was evident by her ever growing list of places she had visited and placed she longed to see. She ran for fitness and as a way to destress and accumulated, trophies and medals for 5k’s, 10k’s and marathons she completed. She was known for her quick wit, infections smile and laugh, her kind, compassionate, selfless spirit and her love of life.

She is preceded in death by her father, Jose and mother, Laura. She is survived by her sisters Judith, Ana, Vanessa, brother Jose and several cousins, nieces and nephews. Services are listed on this site. Flowers are welcomed as well as donations in her honor through gofundme for Touro University where she attended PA school. The funds will be used to create the Lt. Ruth Cortes running space at the new gymnasium being built where a plaque will be created in her honor alongside the purchase of a treadmill, a brick for the PA Veterans Memorial garden in Durham, NC and a to have an annual scholarship through the American Academy of PAs Veterans Caucus for female Veterans attending PA school.