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In memoriam: MLHS student honored with memorial nursing scholarship

by CHERYL SCHWEIZER
Staff Writer | March 1, 2022 1:00 AM

MOSES LAKE — Fabrizio Delgado worked all his life to help people.

His father Ronaldo Delgado said Fabrizio got his first experience with service to others at Moses Lake High School, where he was a member of the MLHS Key Club.

“He wanted to go into the medical field. He studied microbiology, but then decided that he did not want to be in the lab, but rather helping people out,” Ronaldo said. “He was always very sociable and liked to interact with people.”

Fabrizio was 29 when he died in October 2021, due to a medical condition. His family and friends decided to remember him by establishing a scholarship fund for nursing students at the University of Washington. The Delgado Memorial Fund for Nursing Students will provide $1,800 annually for those studying nursing at UW..

“When we got the idea to have this fund, we decided to have this fund earmarked for nursing students, especially those in Eastern Washington who needed help,” Ronaldo said. “We have asked that an emphasis be placed on students from rural areas, especially Eastern Washington.”

Fabrizio received his undergraduate degree at UW and worked as a certified nursing assistant.

“He was very much aware of the lack of nurses, not only here but also in Seattle. More importantly, he saw the lack of bilingual nurses. He saw the need for that and wanted to help,” Ronaldo said.

What got him interested in nursing, his dad said, was a volunteer job with the Columbia Basin Health Association.

“He decided to volunteer at the Mattawa clinic. He spent one summer in Mattawa, and that was a pretty good experience for him. He met some people there, doctors and nurses, and really enjoyed it. He decided he wanted to be a nurse,” Ronaldo said.

“He was a very people-oriented man. He enjoyed very much the relationship he had with the patients,” he added.

The UW nursing program was his choice, but the Accelerated Bachelor of Science Nursing program was pretty competitive. He applied regardless and was accepted. He died prior to graduation; the UW will award his degree posthumously during commencement this spring.

“He will graduate together with his classmates,” his dad said.

Fabrizio’s volunteer experiences and his job as a CNA took him all over Seattle, working with cancer patients, with women and children at Mary’s Place shelter and with the city’s homeless. He volunteered at a foot care clinic that nursing school students started for homeless people.

“He was one of the founders of that clinic,” Ronaldo said.

The COVID-19 pandemic didn’t slow Fabrizio down - he kept working, kept volunteering regardless.

“At the height of the pandemic, he was going out, helping homeless people. I was very concerned about him in that time because he was out there on the front lines,” Ronaldo said. “That was before the vaccines were provided. He went through the worst time helping others. In my view, he was very brave in that sense.”

Fabrizio liked Seattle, but his ultimate goal was to return to the east side.

“He wanted to come back and work here,” Ronaldo said. “That was very important to him. He always talked about the lack of diversity and the need for nurses here, especially bilingual ones. In Seattle, when he was working as a CNA, they would call him because he was the only one who spoke Spanish. (Otherwise,) they had to rely on telephone services or interpreters. He saw the need for direct contact from provider to patient. He felt that was a lack, a void that needed to be filled, so he wanted that,” Ronaldo said.

Jenny Vincent, associate director for advancement at UW, said nursing students can access the application for the fund at the nursing school’s scholarship website, https://bit.ly/DelgadoMemorial.

People may donate to the Delgado Memorial Fund for Nursing Studentshere: https://bit.ly/3IuvY1C.

“The memorial fund will be there as long as the University of Washington is there,” Renaldo Delgado said. “His work will continue through that fund.”