Last year I was leafing through an issue of Jersey’s Best and I came across an arresting, glossy spread for The Valley Hospital and its new LGBTQ program. The spread made you want to sign up for whatever they were selling. I watched their video of Dr. Raffaele Bernardo, in a white coat with stethoscope around his neck, intently addressing the camera against a bright clinical background.
The photogenic and articulate Dr. Bernardo promised first rate health care at Valley’s new LGBTQ health care center in Paramus. A fixture in Ridgewood for 73 years, The Valley Hospital had just moved to a new 370 bed facility off Route 17 in Paramus in April 2024.
I wound up as a patient at The Valley Hospital where everything was brand-spanking new including its new hospital smell. The patient rooms were spacious, with one patient to a room, wide screen cable TV, and a large, impressive bathroom with a shower. It felt like a budget resort lodge. And the staff was exceptional, going the extra distance. “Care like no other” is their tag line.
I wanted to know more about Doctor Raffaele Bernardo and Valley’s LGBTQ program, so I visited his office near the hospital. Dr. Bernardo (he goes by Ralph) is trim, average height, in his early 40s with large brown eyes and a soothing voice, the kind of voice you want to
announce the end of the world.
“I was born and raised in Bergen County,” he said. “And I’ve been here most of my life.” His parents were Italian immigrants and owned a popular Italian restaurant. “I worked in the restaurant for a very long time; they started me folding pizza boxes in the back and I was a server.” It was assumed that he would get his MBA and take over the business, he said. But the all-consuming nature of restaurant management wasn’t for him. Breaking the news to his parents wasn’t easy but they adjusted.
“I went to Villanova University in Pennsylvania as a computer engineering major. Being an engineer in Italy is something that people respect,” he said. “So, I figured maybe that’s how I’ll appease my father. I’ll get a degree in something that is respected in Italy. Villanova has one of the best engineering programs in the country. Unfortunately, the courses I was taking were very dry, very black and white. I thought this is not for me.”
He made friends with other students in the nursing school and eventually took courses at Delaware County Community College to become an EMT (Emergency Medical Technician.) “I worked as an EMT at Villanova for about a year or two. I joined my squad at home in New Jersey where I was a training officer for a few years. It was very rewarding to know that you were able to help somebody in need.”
After some time spent in Italy, he returned to New Jersey’s Rowan University, then Rutgers Medical School, then Yale with a fellowship in Infectious Disease. He started working at Montefiore Einstein in the Bronx and their clinic in Nyack, New York.
Bernardo and his husband Justin live in Bergen County and both worked in NYC, he said. Justin is at Columbia University Medical Center. Being parents with a young son, they hoped one of them could work in New Jersey to be closer to home, given the unpredictability of traffic on the George Washington Bridge. While at Montefiore Bernardo was a member of an online group for gay dads. The group held an event at a local park for dads and their kids. There Bernardo met Josh Gregoire, Assistant Vice President for Quality and Performance Improvement and Valley Medical Group Clinical Operations. In a serendipitous twist Valley was looking to create a LGBTQ program. The dots connected and Bernardo became Medical Director of LGBTQ+ services at Valley.
He is creating a one stop shopping destination. It includes primary care, HIV, and adult transgender care. Their sexual health services encompass a wide range of preventive care, testing, and treatment options for sexually transmitted infections. They offer both post-exposure prophylaxis as well as pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV and same day HIV tests with results available within 20 minutes.
Their adult transgender care begins with gender-affirming hormone therapy and may be followed by surgical referrals.
“Why should you have to worry about getting health care? You can walk through our doors and know that you’re going to get affirming, safe, comprehensive care and not be judged, questioned or discriminated against,” he said. “The more you fragment someone’s care, the less likely they are to follow up.”
He’s concerned about the current political climate and said, “We need to band together more than ever. If someone comes after one letter of the LGBTQ+ community, they’ll come for all of us. We especially need to protect transgender youth because they are our most vulnerable. We need to remember that we’re all queer people.”
He works with a medical assistant currently and hopes to expand the practice. How’s he doing? Check out his rave reviews online.
