HOPE Celebrates Hispanic Staff for National Hispanic Heritage Celebration Month
By Liz Ferrell
Development & Community Outreach Specialist
September 15 through October 15 is National Hispanic History Month, and HOPE has nine great reasons to celebrate the contributions of Hispanic Americans – our Hispanic-American staff members! Every one of them is a rock star and their work makes HOPE’s work possible for nearly a quarter of HOPE’s patients.
Day after day our nine Hispanic American staff members, along with other bilingual staff, make it possible to provide quality healthcare to native Spanish-speaking patients with limited English proficiency (LEP), helping ensure these patients and HOPE’s staff can communicate with one another. And at least as important as their command of the English and Spanish languages is the cultural understanding these staff members bring – an intangible but priceless insight for patients and HOPE staff alike.
Recently these remarkable individuals each took time out of their busy days to talk one-on-one and tell me a little about themselves.
Adriana Polanco Vasquez remembers the day she started at HOPE – “June 17th, 2019!” – as a bilingual patient service representative. In November 2020 she began working at her current position as bilingual dental coordinator with Engle Family Dentistry. Adriana’s family originates from Veracruz, the capital city of Veracruz, Mexico – “just 30 miles from the beach!” she said. She lives in Franklin, Kentucky, with her partner and their dogs.
Maria Ramirez has been with HOPE for nearly four years, beginning as a bilingual patient service representative and now working as a bilingual navigator for both medical and behavioral health providers and staff, as well as pharmacy staff on occasion. She is married with a 9-year-old son and an 11-year-old daughter, and lives in Lafayette. Her family comes from the city of Celaya in the state of Guanajuato, in northern Mexico.
Maria Garcia Ruiz, who goes by Maggie, works as a bilingual pharmacy technician and has been with HOPE for nearly two years. She lives in Westmoreland with her husband and four children – a 14-year-old daughter and three sons, ages 17, 12 and 8. Maggie has lived in the U.S. for 25 years and she considers it her home. Her family originates from Veracruz.
Joanna Rivas began working at HOPE last November and is a bilingual navigator. She lives in Lafayette with her husband and two sons, ages 16 and 4. Her family came from Morelia, Mexico.
Reyna Ruiz has been with HOPE for almost a year, working as a patient service representative. Her family comes from Veracruz. Today she resides in Lafayette.
Leslie Barba joined the HOPE family as a medical assistant in March of this year. She is married with three children – two sons, ages 10 and 3, and a 10-month-old daughter. Leslie as born in California, but her mother is from Mexico City and her father is from Veracruz.
Denise Martinez joined the HOPE staff in June and works at HOPE Gallatin as a patient service representative. She and her husband Jacob live in Gallatin with their blended family of four sons: two 12-year-olds, a 3-year-old and a 2-year-old. Her family’s roots are primarily in Veracruz, Mexico, and Spain.
Julissa Martinez began working as a patient service representative at HOPE earlier this year. Her family originates from Oaxaca, Mexico, which borders Veracruz.
Aidalyz Ruiz, who goes by Addy, joined the HOPE family as a medical assistant in July. She and her boyfriend and their dog, Thor, live in Lafayette, but keep close ties with their parents and her two brothers. Addy was born in Nashville. but her mother is from Puerto Rico and her stepfather is from Mexico.
As I asked questions about their culture, they shared some wonderful insights, with several common elements - but often completely different perspectives!
The Strength of Family and a Simpler Way of Living
The strength of family and the joys of a simpler way of living are a recurring theme.
“Families are united; they’re together,” said Maria. “In Mexico, once a mother gives birth, her mother and mother-in-law come to take care of her and her newborn and her family for the first 40 days. And elders are cared for at home, not placed in assisted living or nursing homes, because there’s enough family around so that they’re cared for by more than just one family member.”
“We have a great sense of community and we’re very family-oriented,” Reyna said. “Everybody knows everybody and we all help each other out if we can. Families and friends get together for cookouts most weekends. We know our extended families, not just immediate families. We celebrate anything! Drivers license, birthdays…”
Julissa added, “Our families get along well, and seem more connected than families in the United States. We know our extended family and most of us live in the same area. … I never feel alone.”
Joanna said once they come to the United States, families take proactive steps to remain close. “A lot of families come from a culture where extended and immediate family live together, or close to one another,” she said. “Here in the United States, even though some of us live in different cities, we stay close. We visit, call, FaceTime each other. And we all try to be together to celebrate holidays and big occasions.”
“I love the cultural pride, the food, the music, the salsa dancing, the romance, the passion for all things Mexico,” Denise added.
Maria misses a simpler way of life that is harder to maintain in the United States. “Typically in Mexico, when you are making a home, you buy a lot and the community and extended family helps you build your home, so you don’t have to worry about a mortgage or rent. … Also most people raise much of their own food – corn to make tortillas, tomatoes, peppers, squash and beans. A lot of people either provide their own meat because they have cattle or they hunt. People live off the land more than they do in the United States.”
Food
Mexican food rated high as a favorite aspect of their native culture for our Hispanic staff. Like most of us, they all like tacos, but all tacos are not created equal!
“Our tacos are not like Taco Bell tacos,” said Maria. “Mexican tacos are more like the street tacos that you can get, not Taco Bell. They’ve got the corn tortillas, meat, cilantro, onions and hot sauce. And we don’t put cheese on our tacos.”
“Our tacos – street tacos - have fresher ingredients than typical American tacos,” said Denise. “The meats are less processed, most of the ingredients are organic and grown by local farmers. I can find most of the ingredients here, but the produce isn’t as fresh.” She added, “I like all things meat. So, carne asada and tacos are favorites.”
Julissa likes gorditas. “Fried corn tortillas deep-fried with beans and rice and hot sauce, lettuce and cheese. You can put meat on it – chicken – if you want.”
“My mom’s mole,” said Maggie, “mole sauce with chicken and rice and tortillas. That’s my favorite.
Addy had a long list of favorites: “Arroz con habichuela, con pollo guisado, and a dish that’s kind of like tamales, except the Puerto Rican version is called pasteles. I also love pozole and flautas, which are not like you find in the restaurants here. An authentic flauta the way I cook it – you fry the chicken inside the tortilla, and then I add blended black beans, guacamole, and lettuce, tomatoes, cheese and sour cream with homemade salsa.
“Oh, I love tamales,” said Leslie. “My mom makes them, especially for my birthday, because she knows it’s my favorite. Cornmeal with pork or chicken, cheese and jalopenos, wrapped in a corn husk.”
Joanna shared, “Where I’m originally from we have a dish called corundas. It’s sort of like tamales, made with cornmeal and wrapped in a corn leaf. You can serve it with pork stew. It’s harder to make it here. We would have to ask a farmer to sell us the corn for it.” She added that holidays feature even more variety. “We make pozole, tamales, all kinds of Hispanic desserts and drinks. We make ponche – which is a warm fruit drink.”
Adriana differs from her peers in one crucial area. “I love Taco Bell! One of our co-workers calls me “the non-Mexican Mexican” because I like Taco Bell. But I love their chicken tacos!”
Holidays
Here’s a fund fact: Most Mexicans don’t actually celebrate Cinco de Mayo!
“We actually don’t celebrate Cinco de Mayo in Mexico – that’s an American invention!” said Maria. However, Denise said, “In Veracruz we celebrate Cinco de Mayo, because of the port – that’s how it came about. But it’s mainly for the margaritas and tacos – just like here in the U.S.!”
For those who were born in the U.S. or have lived most of their lives here, Thanksgiving and 4th of July are favorites along with Hispanic holidays. However, there are numerous holidays unique to Mexican or Hispanic culture. Even for holidays celebrated around the world, Hispanics have culturally specific traditions.
“Mexican Independence Day is September 15th,” Maria said. “Also, we celebrate various saints’ days. Catholicism is the predominant religion in Mexico and it honors various saints and has their statues on display in cathedrals and other places. Cities will adopt a saint, and they will take their saint to another city for a feast day and there will be a festival to celebrate the saint’s visit – food, music, dances. It’s lovely.”
Julissa likes quinceaneras. “It’s a girl’s 15th birthday. She’ll wear a crown, the dad will help her exchange her flat slippers for a pair of heels. She’ll get a doll that is made to look like her that represents her last toy/childhood gift. The menu is based on the birthday girl’s preferences. And she gets a big cake. There’s dancing and a feast, and it starts with family, but after a certain hour it’s open to anyone who wants to come and dance and eat and celebrate.”
Reyna described a celebration of January 6th, Dia de los Reyes (Day of the Kings), also known as Epiphany or the Twelfth Day of Christmas. The date commemorates the three magi visiting Jesus, and the celebration Reyna describes sounds a lot like Carnival and Mardi Gras celebrations in other places. “There’s a big ring of bread with a little baby Jesus,” she said. “If you get a baby in your piece of bread, you have to meet up with others who got a baby and you all are responsible for the meal at another celebration in February. Basically an excuse for another cookout!”
El Dia de la Muertos, or Day of the Dead, holds a special significance in Hispanic culture.
“I love El Dia de Los Muertos,” Denise said. “This is a time to remember your past loved ones, and to bring them their favorite foods – for you and for them. It provides a way for them to remain in your family, with you keeping their memory alive, having festivals to remember their legacy, and who they are as individuals – their hobbies, their passions, their little ways, their sayings and mannerisms. It’s a celebration full of love.”
Leslie added, “The first day of the celebration is for pets. The second day is for babies and children, then adults, and then seniors. You have an altar for that person and put out their favorite meal, and you leave it there for the duration of the holiday. Whatever you put out to honor each pet, or human of whatever age, on the appropriate day, then you leave it out for the duration of the holiday.”
Finally, Christmas is a universal favorite.
“I love Christmas in Mexico, said Denise. “It’s celebrated in a different form. The whole town will chip in and every household cooks a different dish, and it’s like a huge block party, city-wide – a giant celebration of family, food and community. There’s humbleness to it. If you don’t have anything to offer except beans or Kool-Aid that’s what you offer, but you offer it to everybody, and everybody offers what they can. It’s a gift to the community. There’s not a gift exchange among families and friends until January 6th, El Dia de Los Reyes, to observe the Magi visiting the Christ child.”
“The holiday I love most is Christmas and how I celebrate it with my kids,” said Maggie. “We get together with my brothers, and we eat and watch movies and just hang out and enjoy being together. Some families do it on January 6th. My mom was a single mom and we didn’t really have Christmas when I was a child. But as a kid you see things you wish you could have, and I decided when I was young that one day when I had kids we would do Christmas like everybody else. So they don’t feel left out. And my brothers like it, too. I’m the oldest so I got my brothers doing it, too.”
Living in the U.S.
But for the Hispanic Americans on HOPE’s staff, the available resources and opportunities, especially for education, and a better life in the U.S. encouraged their families to relocate.
“You can grow here, more,” said Julissa. “You’re very limited in Mexico.
“Education is limited in Mexico,” Reyna added. “And it comes down to money. If you don’t have any you can’t get anything. In the U.S. it’s a lot easier to get education and work and make money than it is in Mexico.”
“The opportunities that we have in the United States are so much greater,” said Maria. “You can find a good job and support your family; you can go to college. It opens doors to so many things that would not be possible in my country.”
Maggie echoed them. “It’s much easier here to get an education for myself and for my children. It’s very difficult to get an education in Mexico,” she said. “My mom only went to 3rd or 4th grade. She didn’t want that for me or for my brothers, and that’s why we came to the United States.”
“From speaking with my mom, I love the opportunity for free education,” said Leslie. “She instilled in me the importance of taking advantage of a good education, and I’m teaching that to my kids, too. Mom told us, ‘If I don’t leave anything in this world, at least when I pass I will know my kids have a good education.’ She wasn’t able to finish school. In Mexico when you reach a certain level you have to start paying. Here you’re required to go. There they don’t push for it; if kids quit coming, they just quit coming. Here you don’t have that option. And that’s a good thing.”
“I love my air conditioning!” said Adriana. “And my peace, and my sense of security.”
“I love a lot of things about life here – the possibilities, the opportunities that we are able to have,” Joanna said. “This is home.”
Working at HOPE
When asked what they like about working at HOPE, the family atmosphere and friendly work environment combined with a sense of helping to fulfill a mission all ranked high.
Addy had good words to say about HOPE’s work environment for employees. “I love the schedule. I love how the company lets us take days off without taking off points – they let us have the time we need to take care of our families and ourselves,” she said. “On the medical side, I like how everyone works together. We complete each other in a way. We all get along well and help each other out. There’s no drama, no selfishness. Other places I’ve worked, there’s none of that. You have to fend for yourself and do other people’s work for them. People at HOPE are understanding and caring.”
For Maria, working at HOPE realizes a childhood dream. “I grew up translating for my mom at every doctor’s visit. Along the way I grew to love how I could help someone else understand and get the care that they needed. And to grow up and actually get paid to do that for people – I love it!”
Adriana likes the sense of family and mission. “I like the ‘home’ feeling, the scheduling flexibility, but mostly knowing I’m helping others. I feel like I’m not just working – I’m part of a mission.”
Joanna agrees. “I like how they make you feel like you’re not just part of a workplace, but part of a family, and the way they care about their patients and their employees.”
“It has a very welcoming environment,” said Julissa. “When I came for my interview I felt very welcomed. It’s good to see people’s faces light up and hear them say thank you. It’s a very fulfilling job.”
“I love the environment, the culture, the mission,” said Denise. “I feel like Jenny is pioneering through undiscovered territory. I love the courage she brings to the HOPE team. We are a great team as a whole. We’re an excellent place to provide hope and loving care; I feel like HOPE executes that mission very well. I hope one day we’ll be able to offer more after-hours care.”
“I like helping the Hispanic community. I love doing that. It’s very satisfying,” said Maggie. “I can see myself sitting in a class not understanding the language and no one being able to help me, so I identify with patients who don’t know what we’re telling them or don’t know how to get help or what to ask."
“For me it’s the sense of being able to help my own community and know I’m making a difference,” Reyna said.
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Photos
Photo 1 (L-R): Joanna Rivas, Maria Ramirez, Maggie Ruiz, Julissa Martinez, Reyna Ruiz, Addy Ruiz, Leslie Barba, Denise Martinez, and Adriana Polanco Vasquez.
Photos 2-10: Adriana, Maria, Maggie, Joanna, Reyna, Leslie, Denise, Julissa, and Addy.
Photos 11-13: Pozole (Photopgraphy by Gayle McLeod, https://themodernproper.com/turkey-pozole-rojo), corunas (https://images.app.goo.gl/pqCUz8MetPNjJT7d9) and ponche. (https://vidabonita.net/mexican-ponche/).
Photo 14: A girl catches a bouquet during her quinceanera. Photography by Ansspyt Titan (https://unsplash.com/photos/a-person-in-a-white-dress-y8e80RvE4fs).
Photo 15: Photo of Dia de los Muertos skull balloons by Brian Egman on Unsplash (https://unsplash.com/photos/yellow-green-and-purple-plastic-balloons-UhE2lwGn-DQ).
Photo 16: Flag for National Hispanic Heritage Month created by St. Louis artist Jose Garza. Credit Elisa Bender, President, Latinx Arts Network (https://www.ksdk.com/article/news/local/st-louis-organization-unveils-hispanic-heritage-flag/63-668d0fce-a09c-4abd-93f3-362a712b830c).
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