Women Voices From Chicago: Women Fighting For Social Justice in Healthcare
As we continue to celebrate Women’s History Month, we are thrilled to share stories about women from the Chicagoland area who have been committed to empowering and changing their communities for quite some time. Although NIOT Daniel Island is founded to support inclusion, equity, and equality in Daniel Island, South Carolina, we also support and encourage our community to engage and learn from our neighboring American communities across the States. This pandemic has taught us how to connect despite space and time, as well as appreciate the hard work of all healthcare workers. In this blog post, we share and celebrate the story of Ana Saavedra, a pediatric nurse practitioner from Little Village in Chicago.
Ana Laura Saavedra
Ana’s mother crossed the Rio Grande at the United States border while she was pregnant with Ana. This is a common narrative among many Mexican-American families who came to this country illegally. However, the truths that hold these stories together offer more perspective than we realize. Many mothers who made this dangerous decision, whether they were carrying children in their womb or in their arms, did so courageously like many Mexican immigrants. More than likely, immigrants from Mexico chose the journey to escape poverty with little to no education or access to a better life in their home country. Many also do not know the English language and have little to no family in the States. Despite the dangers, separation, and discrimination, immigrants make this difficult decision for work and a better life for their families. Nonetheless, Ana’s parents worked hard to ensure they were able to stay in this country legally and give her and her brother a happy and fulfilling life in Little Village, a historically Mexican-American community in Chicago.
Ana Breaks Barriers
Ana grew up cherishing her fun-filled family parties and Mexican traditions. As a US citizen, she also had the privilege to visit her family in Mexico every year during Christmas, a luxury many undocumented people don’t have. In high school, however, she became very aware she lived in a low-income community. She witnessed the disparities in her own community’s access to quality healthcare and education but was even more concerned about its youth, troubled with gang violence and teen pregnancy. Although her parents were not able to assist her with her schoolwork and college application process, they worked diligently to ensure she would attend the private bilingual college preparatory, Cristo Rey Jesuit High School, the first school founded in Pilsen to create the largest national network with 37 Cristo Rey schools across 24 states exclusively serving low-income students.
While attending Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. as the first in her family to pursue higher education, Ana grew more concerned about disparities and inequity in communities similar to hers, especially the limited access to a safe environment, fresh produce, and quality education and healthcare. She graduated in 2014 and became a neonatal ICU registered nurse at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. She witnessed how low literacy and language barriers prevented many people from cooperating with their healthcare providers and vise versa. She also noticed limited access to transportation and insurance coverage prevented people from seeking healthcare and resulted in worsening health conditions. After three years at Rush, Ana continued to break barriers in her family by pursuing a doctorate degree at Johns Hopkins School of Nursing to practice as a pediatric primary care nurse practitioner and graduated during a global pandemic in May 2020.
Overcoming the Challenges
Ana honors the challenges she has faced because of the hard work, perseverance, and courage her parents demonstrated to build a life here in a foreign country away from their loved ones. “Despite the challenges, obstacles, and disappointments I have faced, I learned to be resilient because of my parents and where I grew up. My upbringing became my foundation,” says Ana. Most first-generation Mexican-Americans lack the capital to succeed in college and beyond because of the financial burden, inequity in primary and secondary education, and the American culture shock they experience in higher education. Ana had to work diligently to be able to afford both degrees at prestigious universities and excel in her studies despite gaps in her education, as well as lack of mentorship and guidance at home. She was awarded grants and scholarships to pay for her undergraduate degree and a small portion of her graduate degree. Although Ana has student loans, she plans on continuing to live her passion by working in underserved communities in exchange to have her loans forgiven through the loan repayment program. She has been committed to serving low-income communities throughout her volunteer work, career, and education. She worked in Guatemala for a week as part of Johns Hopkins School of Nursing Global Health Trip.
Lessons Learned From A Community Leader
Ana is currently working as a nurse practitioner in a Chicago suburb providing parents and children anticipatory guidance while addressing concerns and connecting patients with appropriate specialists. She sees pediatric patients, from newborn to 21-year-olds, but mostly works with teenagers battling mental illnesses. She states mental health issues among teens have increased in recent years, including depression, anxiety, and thoughts of suicide. Ana states, “This has been challenging and stressful but I also feel like I chose the right profession because I truly do care about helping my pediatric patients to make better decisions, and help them towards a better mental state. I have seen children who have been neglected and abused. I learn the trauma they have gone through and it breaks my heart, especially how our system continues to fail our future generation.” Ana is also excited to announce she will begin her Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN) Fellowship through Erie Family Health Center this Summer where she will be working with underserved communities across Chicago.
Although community leadership roles can be very challenging and strenuous, Ana has improved her services for her patients and families by first and foremost working on being kind to herself including being mindful of her reactions and responses to her patients. Rather than internalizing mistakes, she focuses on developing the patience and poise to better connect with the community she is working for by cultivating a better relationship with each patient. She has noticed the willingness of her patients to disclose sensitive and important information that will enable medical staff to offer the best health care plan, treatment, and outcomes. Ana recommends all aspiring leaders for community change to learn patience. “I have come to accept that change requires time and patience, and I have been working on becoming more patient with my work and myself. I know it’s going to take time to see a change in these communities, to address racial injustices and health inequities. I know I can’t do this alone, but I have patience,” says Ana.
Share Your Story
We are proud of American women like Ana who patiently persevere against the challenges and hard work to continue to assist our communities across the United States. If you are a leader in the community working towards inclusive and equitable change for our American society, share your story with us. We are very grateful for Ana, who took the time to share her inspiring story in hopes we inspire more people to continue on our fight for justice. Ana states, “I think we need to learn from each other, try to understand our different viewpoints, recognize our biases, be more empathetic, and be more aware of other peoples’ struggles and the way they live. We can’t assume or come to conclusions without understanding how others live their day-to-day life. We need to use our voices and advocate for others who are facing racial, social, economic, and health injustices.”
Originally posted on the NIOT Daniel Island’s VOICES blog.
