Wounded Teacher in Rehabilitation

When paramedics wheeled a little-known schoolteacher into the emergency room of Martin Luther King/Drew Medical Center three weeks ago, doctors looked at the gaping bullet hole above his right eye and didn’t think he could survive.

Thursday, Alfredo Perez, now the most famous elementary school teacher in Los Angeles, was wheeled out of the hospital, smiling briefly at a throng of well-wishers, curious bystanders and news media.

Perez, who was struck in the head by a stray bullet in front of his fifth-grade class at the Figueroa Street Elementary School in South-Central Los Angeles on Feb. 22, was taken by ambulance to the rehabilitation unit of Long Beach Memorial Hospital, where he is expected to remain for at least two months.

Doctors said they remain uncertain about how much physical and mental ability Perez will regain.

His wife of little more than a year, Virginia, herself a teacher, expressed her thanks to the hospital staff and to “everyone for their prayers.”

To reporters, who have besieged her with requests for interviews, Virginia Perez added: “I want to ask for privacy now. After Alfredo is totally well, we can have a 10-hour press conference.”

“I didn’t think this day was going to come,” said Alfredo Perez’s brother, Jesus, who has been acting as the family spokesman. “It is the beginning of the next chapter of Alfredo’s life.”

Dr. Rick Adams, who will direct the rehabilitation at Long Beach Memorial, said Perez, 30, will receive a combination of physical, speech and cognitive therapy “with the goals of getting him to talk, walk, bathe, dress, all the things we take for granted.”

To the surprise of doctors, Perez has in past weeks steadily improved. He can now feed himself, writes frequently, has increased movement on his once-paralyzed left side, and can do single-digit math problems.

Dr. George E. Locke, head of neurosurgery, was confident Perez--who has already uttered the word “OK”--will speak again.

“He is communicating through writing and already trying to talk,” Locke said.

Still, doctors acknowledged Thursday that no matter how much progress Perez makes, he will never be the same.

“He lost some brain tissue that he will never get back,” said Dr. Taghi Tirgari, the neurosurgeon who performed the three-hour operation that saved Perez’s life. “But we just can’t tell how much knowledge he will be able to have. We hope he will go back to teaching, but that would be a miracle, another miracle.”

The bullet that traversed Perez’s brain--allegedly fired by a gang member shooting at a rival outside the school--remains lodged in the teacher’s head.

At Figueroa Street School, Principal Rosemary Lucente told reporters she planned to give students the most optimistic of reports: She would tell them later that day over the public address system that “Mr. Perez has recovered.”

At King/Drew hospital, accompanied by his wife, Perez was wheeled out on a gurney through the crowded lobby. About 50 visitors, who were in the lobby waiting to see their own loved ones, stood up as the procession, led by security guards and flanked by doctors, paraded through.

“I just wanted to get a peep at him,” said one bystander, Gracie Coleman, 78.

Once outside the hospital doors, Perez, his eyes darting at the throng of people watching him, smiled briefly before his gurney was wheeled into a swarm of media.

Twenty feet from his awaiting ambulance, security was overwhelmed and Perez was lost in a frenzy of pushing television cameramen and photographers.

His wife, petrified, sought reassurance amid the mob scene from Locke, who hugged her.

“I love you, I will miss you. Thank you,” a teary-eyed Virginia Perez told Locke.

As the ambulance sped off toward Long Beach, Locke was greeted by a variety of doctors, patients and visitors who congratulated him.

“This is probably the proudest moment of my career,” the head of the neurosurgery said.

For the hospital, which in the past has been criticized for poor management and sometimes for poor work, it was something of a shining moment. At a press conference held shortly before Perez was released, several doctors and hospital administrators thanked members of the staff and the paramedics.

“For those of us in this profession, the dream situation is when the outcome far exceeds our wildest predictions, and this was such a case,” Dr. Samuel Biggers said. “I have good reason to believe he [Perez] will exceed the predictions at the rehab center also.”

“I told him he has to get his voice up so he can speak out for gun control,” said Dr. Rosalinda M. Menoni, director of neurosurgery inpatient services.”He smiled and gave me a thumbs-up.”