| Neonilo A. Tejano, M.D., F.A.A.O.S. Wichita City, Kansas Kansas' Living Legend • A Super Achiever of His Time |
Kansas is popularly known as the Sunflower State and the home
state of former US President Dwight D. Eisenhowever. Its
population is approximately 2.5 million. It is 90.1 percent white,
5.8 percent black and 3.8 Hispanic. It has no figure for its
Asian-American or Filipino component. However, Wichita City has
about 300 Filipino families.
A well-known bone and orthopedic surgeon boards one of his
two airplanes at the Newton City-Country Airport and is flown to
cities in Western Kansas accompanied by one of his surgical
nurses on the Beech King Aire or Piper Seneca II owned by his
company, Esper Air Inc. It's Garden City on Fridays; Wakeeney on
Thursdays and Oakley; Elkhart and Kinsley on Saturdays. The
flying doctor spends a few hours examining a dozen or more
patients during each extended medical tour, then lands back at
Newton late in the evening heading for home.
This super-achieving physician is a Filipino whose fame extends
beyond Kansas and into the rest of the medical world. He is Dr.
Neonilo A. Tejano, a senior orthopedic surgeon at the Hertzler
Clinic, which specialized in spinal and reconstructive joint
surgeries. He is one of the most famous and successful doctors
state of former US President Dwight D. Eisenhowever. Its
population is approximately 2.5 million. It is 90.1 percent white,
5.8 percent black and 3.8 Hispanic. It has no figure for its
Asian-American or Filipino component. However, Wichita City has
about 300 Filipino families.
A well-known bone and orthopedic surgeon boards one of his
two airplanes at the Newton City-Country Airport and is flown to
cities in Western Kansas accompanied by one of his surgical
nurses on the Beech King Aire or Piper Seneca II owned by his
company, Esper Air Inc. It's Garden City on Fridays; Wakeeney on
Thursdays and Oakley; Elkhart and Kinsley on Saturdays. The
flying doctor spends a few hours examining a dozen or more
patients during each extended medical tour, then lands back at
Newton late in the evening heading for home.
This super-achieving physician is a Filipino whose fame extends
beyond Kansas and into the rest of the medical world. He is Dr.
Neonilo A. Tejano, a senior orthopedic surgeon at the Hertzler
Clinic, which specialized in spinal and reconstructive joint
surgeries. He is one of the most famous and successful doctors
in his field. Tejano is the busiest orthopedic surgeon in his state, according to the Kansas Board of Healing
Arts. Patients affectionately call him "the Filipino doctor with miracle hands." He has the distinction of being
one of America's leading orthopedic surgeons and is the most prominent physician specializing on the use of
bone growth stimulator in back fusion. He was the first doctor in Kansas to fly to rural areas to help the ill and
injured. He was the first to perform "flying consultations."
Scores of patients in Kansas are grateful beneficiaries of Tejano's scientific and surgical expertise. Many
people in the state, particularly senior citizens, can be seen proudly sporting T-shirts emblazoned with the
slogan "I am walking on Tejano joints!" The printed sign refers to hip or knee replacement jobs done by the
Filipino doctor who has become a living legend in Kansas.
The best part isn't the fame, but"seeing satisfied patients," he says. "Seeing someone who could not walk,
who is walking with the hip joints I put in."
He and his lovely and accomplished wife Esperanza are ardent supporters of music and education in their
hometown of Newton and in surrounding communities. For more than 20 years, Tejano has been a member
of the Board of Directors for the Hertzler Research Foundation. It raises money for research in continuing
education and is also responsible for the Kansas Health Museum in Halstead. This one-of-a-kind museum
offers hands-on displays where children from all over the country can learn about anatomy and physiology.
Displays on the circulatory and digestive systems, models of the heart and skeleton, are all on display at the
museum.
An active member of the Knights of Columbus, he raises money for social services in the community. A Tour
of Homes offered the Tejanos yet another philanthropic opportunity. They opened their impressive and
spacious home as part of the tour, and raised thousands of dollars. The money went to the Newton
Mid-Kansas Symphony to benefit local music students.
A few months ago, the Tejanos hosted a book fair sponsored by the Harvey County Medical Auxiliary. Funds
from the fair went to the American Medical Association's national education and research fund.
The Tejano family donates generously to local charities, including the Newton Mid-Kansas Symphony
Orchestra, the Prairie View Mental Health Clinic and the student athletic scholarship organization at Wichita
State University.
After graduating from medicine, Tejano had a one-year rotating internship at the US Air Force Hospital at Clark
Air Base in Pampanga. In 1967, he spent one year of residency in orthopedic surgery at the USAF Hospital,
and came to America in 1968 as a resident in orthopedic surgery at St. Francis Hospital in Wichita for four
years.
He joined the Hertzler Clinic in Halstead, a small town of only 17,000, but it is noted for its medical facility,
and known as the little "Mayo Clinic." He is also affiliated with Halstead Hospital, Morton County Hospital,
Elkhart; Bob Wilson Memorial Hospital, Ulysses; Stafford; Logan County Hospital, Oakley; Edwards County
Hospital, Kinsley; Memorial Hospital, McPherson; and Citizen Medical Center, Colby. At Halstead, the
chairman of the Department of Surgery, from 1974-76, and again in 1994-96.
Tejano is an active member of several professional societies, including the Harvey County Medical Society,
Kansas Medical Society, Kansas Orthopedic Society, Mid Central States Orthopedic Society, Southwest
Clinical Society of Greater Kansas City, American Medical Association, American Academy of Orthopedic
Surgeons, Hertzler Research Foundation (Board of Directors), and consultant to Kansas Foundation for
Medical Care (spine and reconstructive joint surgeries).
He is a diplomate of the American Board of Orthopedic Surgery, granted in 1975, and was a fellow of the
American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons in 1978.
Tejano is also president of Esper Air Inc., a family air charter business which has two all-weather
multi-engine airplanes. They employ the services of full-time pilots to fly his trips and schedule part-time
pilots to fly all other trips, including those of his patients.
Tejano is a part of a family of achievers. His father, the late Cayetano A. Tejano, was superintendent of
schools in Bohol, and his mother, Dolores, was also a teacher. Neonilo is married to another achiever, the
former Esperanza B. Buniao, also from Bohol. She is a graduate of the University of the Philippines College
of Dentistry in 1968, and was topnotcher in the dental board examination the same year. Mrs. Tejano takes
charge of the business side of Tejano's practice and attends to their social obligations.
The Tejanos' air charter business, Esper Air Inc., named for her, flies their airplanes as far as San Francisco
in the West and Norfolk, Virginia to the east. Medical specialists, patients and businessmen are among their
clients.
The Tejano children are achievers too. Kristine, 23, is the eldest, a 1993 BA in Communications from the
University of Pennsylvania. She was principal clarinetist for the university orchestra and vice president of the
Federal Student Credit Union. Jennipher, 22 is the Tejanos' second daughter and is a math major at
Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. She is the treasurer for her sorority and was Miss Philippines in
the Wichita Asian Association's festival pageant. Son Neil, 18, is concertmaster for the Newton High School
Orchestra. A senior, he has been accepted in Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland and will be
enrolling there this coming fall. Victor, 16, is a sophomore class president at Newton High School.
The flying doctor of Kansas has certainly come a long way from his native Bohol in the central Philippines,
which he and his family continue to visit. His outstanding achievements as an orthopedic surgeon and as a
pillar of his community have earned him lasting fame, respect and professional success and prosperity in his
adopted country. That he has demonstrated a willingness to look back and share his success with others in
undeniable proof that he is a Filipino achiever with a heart worthy of recognition and emulation by everyone.
(Extracted from Philippine Free Press's June 18, 1994 issue written by Isabelo T. Crisostomo.)
Arts. Patients affectionately call him "the Filipino doctor with miracle hands." He has the distinction of being
one of America's leading orthopedic surgeons and is the most prominent physician specializing on the use of
bone growth stimulator in back fusion. He was the first doctor in Kansas to fly to rural areas to help the ill and
injured. He was the first to perform "flying consultations."
Scores of patients in Kansas are grateful beneficiaries of Tejano's scientific and surgical expertise. Many
people in the state, particularly senior citizens, can be seen proudly sporting T-shirts emblazoned with the
slogan "I am walking on Tejano joints!" The printed sign refers to hip or knee replacement jobs done by the
Filipino doctor who has become a living legend in Kansas.
The best part isn't the fame, but"seeing satisfied patients," he says. "Seeing someone who could not walk,
who is walking with the hip joints I put in."
He and his lovely and accomplished wife Esperanza are ardent supporters of music and education in their
hometown of Newton and in surrounding communities. For more than 20 years, Tejano has been a member
of the Board of Directors for the Hertzler Research Foundation. It raises money for research in continuing
education and is also responsible for the Kansas Health Museum in Halstead. This one-of-a-kind museum
offers hands-on displays where children from all over the country can learn about anatomy and physiology.
Displays on the circulatory and digestive systems, models of the heart and skeleton, are all on display at the
museum.
An active member of the Knights of Columbus, he raises money for social services in the community. A Tour
of Homes offered the Tejanos yet another philanthropic opportunity. They opened their impressive and
spacious home as part of the tour, and raised thousands of dollars. The money went to the Newton
Mid-Kansas Symphony to benefit local music students.
A few months ago, the Tejanos hosted a book fair sponsored by the Harvey County Medical Auxiliary. Funds
from the fair went to the American Medical Association's national education and research fund.
The Tejano family donates generously to local charities, including the Newton Mid-Kansas Symphony
Orchestra, the Prairie View Mental Health Clinic and the student athletic scholarship organization at Wichita
State University.
After graduating from medicine, Tejano had a one-year rotating internship at the US Air Force Hospital at Clark
Air Base in Pampanga. In 1967, he spent one year of residency in orthopedic surgery at the USAF Hospital,
and came to America in 1968 as a resident in orthopedic surgery at St. Francis Hospital in Wichita for four
years.
He joined the Hertzler Clinic in Halstead, a small town of only 17,000, but it is noted for its medical facility,
and known as the little "Mayo Clinic." He is also affiliated with Halstead Hospital, Morton County Hospital,
Elkhart; Bob Wilson Memorial Hospital, Ulysses; Stafford; Logan County Hospital, Oakley; Edwards County
Hospital, Kinsley; Memorial Hospital, McPherson; and Citizen Medical Center, Colby. At Halstead, the
chairman of the Department of Surgery, from 1974-76, and again in 1994-96.
Tejano is an active member of several professional societies, including the Harvey County Medical Society,
Kansas Medical Society, Kansas Orthopedic Society, Mid Central States Orthopedic Society, Southwest
Clinical Society of Greater Kansas City, American Medical Association, American Academy of Orthopedic
Surgeons, Hertzler Research Foundation (Board of Directors), and consultant to Kansas Foundation for
Medical Care (spine and reconstructive joint surgeries).
He is a diplomate of the American Board of Orthopedic Surgery, granted in 1975, and was a fellow of the
American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons in 1978.
Tejano is also president of Esper Air Inc., a family air charter business which has two all-weather
multi-engine airplanes. They employ the services of full-time pilots to fly his trips and schedule part-time
pilots to fly all other trips, including those of his patients.
Tejano is a part of a family of achievers. His father, the late Cayetano A. Tejano, was superintendent of
schools in Bohol, and his mother, Dolores, was also a teacher. Neonilo is married to another achiever, the
former Esperanza B. Buniao, also from Bohol. She is a graduate of the University of the Philippines College
of Dentistry in 1968, and was topnotcher in the dental board examination the same year. Mrs. Tejano takes
charge of the business side of Tejano's practice and attends to their social obligations.
The Tejanos' air charter business, Esper Air Inc., named for her, flies their airplanes as far as San Francisco
in the West and Norfolk, Virginia to the east. Medical specialists, patients and businessmen are among their
clients.
The Tejano children are achievers too. Kristine, 23, is the eldest, a 1993 BA in Communications from the
University of Pennsylvania. She was principal clarinetist for the university orchestra and vice president of the
Federal Student Credit Union. Jennipher, 22 is the Tejanos' second daughter and is a math major at
Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. She is the treasurer for her sorority and was Miss Philippines in
the Wichita Asian Association's festival pageant. Son Neil, 18, is concertmaster for the Newton High School
Orchestra. A senior, he has been accepted in Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland and will be
enrolling there this coming fall. Victor, 16, is a sophomore class president at Newton High School.
The flying doctor of Kansas has certainly come a long way from his native Bohol in the central Philippines,
which he and his family continue to visit. His outstanding achievements as an orthopedic surgeon and as a
pillar of his community have earned him lasting fame, respect and professional success and prosperity in his
adopted country. That he has demonstrated a willingness to look back and share his success with others in
undeniable proof that he is a Filipino achiever with a heart worthy of recognition and emulation by everyone.
(Extracted from Philippine Free Press's June 18, 1994 issue written by Isabelo T. Crisostomo.)
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