Veronica Ron-Priola, medical director for the Pediatric Health Center at Danbury Hospital, has a penchant for sports cold and fast and completely out of character for a native Venezuelan. The icy apple does not fall far from the tree and her son, too, likes cold sports; he will soon hurtle down an iced chute in the Olympics on little more than a Flexible Flyer.
“I grew up around the medical profession,” said Ron-Priola. “Both of my parents are physicians. They didn”™t push me to go into medicine, but I was always interested. As a teenager I worked as my mother”™s medical assistant.”
Ron-Priola studied pediatric medicine in the Dominican Republic.
“People always ask me, why the Dominican,” said Ron-Priola. “In Venezuela, we do not have college, we go straight into the career or graduate school. When I finished high school there were political disturbances in Venezuela; they closed all the universities and because all the medical schools in the country are government owned, they were closed. My parents didn”™t want me to waste time and wait it out.” In the Dominican Republic Ron-Priola met her ex-husband, a ”˜gringo”™ from New York City.
“We got married, and that”™s how I ended up in the United States,” said Ron-Priola.
Ron-Priola moved soon after to Carmel, N.Y., and then to Danbury, finally coming to work at Danbury Hospital after having her first child, now headed for the Olympics.
Upon coming to the country, Ron-Priola, once a tennis player and golfer, became fascinated with winter sports. She began skiing avidly and then became a devout snowboarder. The conveyance downhill didn”™t matter; she just liked going fast.
“I think when I”™m snowboarding I”™m the oldest woman out there,” said Ron-Priola. “I love it, even better than skiing.”
Ron-Priola”™s involvement would go far beyond a week on the slopes and a cup of coco. One winter she saw an advertisement for luge tryouts.
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“I don”™t know why I wrote the number down,” said Ron-Priola. “I didn”™t even know what luge was.”
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Ron-Priola brought son Dan Joye, who was 10 at the time, to try out.
“Apparently they go to different cities throughout the country recruiting,” said Ron-Priola. “They had a camp in White Plains, N.Y., with sleds on wheels. I found out years later that the recruiters also look at the parents to see how athletic the parents are. Dan did very well but he was too young to enter the team, but he was invited to Michigan to try out on a natural track.”
In Michigan, Joye did so well that he was accepted into the ranks of the U.S. National Junior Luge Team. With Ron-Priola”™s full support, Joye quickly became one of the top lugers in the country.
“He has the no-fear factor,” said Ron-Priola. “Luge is the fastest sport on ice. He does the doubles luge. He is on the bottom and totally blind, but drives the sled as a partnership.”
Ron-Priola said her passion became her son”™s life in luge.
“We would drive to Lake Placid and spend long weekends staying at the Olympic Center,” said Ron-Priola. “It was very difficult, but it is what he wanted. I would never want him to be doing something because he felt like he owed it to me.”
Joye has been one of the youngest Americans to excel at the sport. Ron-Priola has in her time supporting her son become an avid luge fan.
“I haven”™t been able to see him in Europe, but when the world cups are in Lake Placid and Salt Lake City we”™re there,” said Ron-Priola. “I”™ve never been afraid to watch him, even though they go 95 mph.”
Joye competed in the Winter Olympics in Turino in 2006 with Preston Griffall and will compete in this year”™s Winter Olympics in Vancouver with his partner Christian Niccum.
Ron-Priola”™s unique interest also spans that of law enforcement, where she aids prosecutors in assault investigations.
