Whether it’s the hydrangeas and roses flourishing in her garden, or her health restored after treatment for cancer, Elisa Razo of Santa Maria is quick to place credit where she feels it’s most due. “We don’t take credit. I thank God I didn’t die.
I want to give credit to the family that protects you, your friends who are your family if you, like me, don’t have children and family of your own here. And it’s his blessing that we have this care here, these people at Mission Hope who demonstrate total care, that offer classes and doctors and nurses that explain everything so well along the way. Thanks to God we have all of this here,” Razo said.
Elisa shared with her late husband, Fred Razo, a lust for life, adventure and travel, characteristics that brought them together in the early 1990s. Together they traveled through her native Mexico and settled back in his hometown where he wrapped up a career in the aerospace industry, and led a quiet life of retirement. Until his death in 2017, he always encouraged his wife to speak only her beautiful native language to him.
The practice improved his linguistic skills but hobbled her English-language acquisition. Though Razo speaks passable English now, the bilingual staff at Mission Hope were key to her understanding of critical medical information and technical details. “The total care they provided was a blessing, from the classes offered — art, support services, nutrition — to volunteers, doctors and nurses that.