Madonna Rehabilitation Hospitals

Father and Son Provide Generations of Care at Madonna

October 14, 2022

Francisco Paronable has been caring for patients for two decades. Encouraged by his sister, he pursued his RN degree and quickly found his passion. Some would even call it destiny.>

“We have at least eight nurses, maybe even more in our family,” Francisco said. “My sister, my brothers-in-law, cousins, uncles, we’re all in the medical field.”

For the past five years, Francisco has been caring for Madonna’s most critically ill or injured patients in the Specialty Hospital. He says he loves the challenge of high acuity and complex cases.

“We see a little bit of everything here,” he said. “It’s everything you would see in an acute care hospital, so you use every part of your skills and training.”

While taking care of patients, Francisco makes sure he models Madonna’s core values: collaboration, hospitality, respect, innovation, stewardship and teaching. He also carries those values over into his home life, as he has motivated his son, Jet, to follow in his footsteps.

“Seeing him at home, coming back in his uniform was really inspiring,” Jet said. “He’s the hardest working man I know, and I wanted to be [like] that.”

Jet started his journey at Madonna in 2020 as a nurse aide while he pursued his degree in nursing. He did his clinical rotations and his preceptorship on the Omaha Campus. When it came time to apply for a job, his decision was easy.

“It’s just the culture here that is so great,” Jet said. “You see a lot of nurses here, like my dad, and they’re here for a long time, five years or ten years. People just want to be here, and I want to be around people who want to be here and do good work.”

While his dad works with a high-acuity patient population, Jet felt called to work with the youngest patients. Since many pediatric patients typically have a longer length of stay than their acute care counterparts, Jet says he loves the opportunity to build connections in his role in the pediatric unit.

“The kiddos are just so inspiring, and getting to know them and their families, I just thrive on that,” he said.

Francisco remembers when Jet was that small. He would take him to school in the mornings. Now, he takes him to work. It’s also a special full-circle moment for the pair, becoming co-workers.

“My dad used to work with his dad on the farm growing up,” Jet said. “Now, I’m here working with him. We may be on different units, but it’s just neat knowing we are both following the same career path at the same organization.”

Jet jokes that someday when he has children, he wouldn’t mind having future generations of Paronables continuing the Madonna nursing legacy.

“I just want to be like my dad, be a good nurse and be a good dad,” he said.  

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