Two professors in Wynnefield Heights hope to diversify the medical subject forward of Nationwide Latino Doctor Day
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — CBS Information Philadelphia is celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month. A medical faculty in Wynnefield Heights is hoping to diversify the following era of medical professionals.
With an eye fixed to the long run, Dr. Arturo Bravo-Nuevo and Dr. Leslie Fernandez are hoping to deliver extra Hispanic illustration into the medical subject beginning on campus at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine.
“Medicine has to integrate all different cultures and all different places,” Dr. Bravo-Nuevo mentioned.
Locations like Spain, which is the place Bravo-Nuevo is from, and Puerto Rico the place Dr. Fernandez’s household calls residence. Each say their backgrounds and struggles all through their profession spotlight the necessity for extra inclusive environments together with on the physician’s workplace.
“Maybe we don’t use the proper terminology, that doesn’t mean we don’t have the knowledge,” Fernandez mentioned. “If anything, we’re just as bright being bilingual.”
“When you have an accent, when you’re a foreigner you suffer microaggressions all the time,” Bravo-Nuevo mentioned. “Small things like ‘Sorry I don’t understand you, what are you saying?'”
CBS Information Philadelphia
Breaking down cultural and language obstacles led Dr. Bravo-Nuevo to create PCOM’s medical Spanish course to assist all college students talk with sufferers.
“It’s always nice to have someone who can welcome you in your own language,” Bravo Nuevo mentioned.
Apart from language, Dr. Fernandez hopes to encourage aspiring Hispanic medical professionals to take a leap of religion whereas balancing their household values.
“You don’t have to leave your family behind,” Fernandez mentioned. “I’m just as close to my family as I was when I was growing up. That will never ever change.”
What they do hope to vary is the variety of Hispanics selecting a profession in medication by highlighting their group’s achievements on October 1 for Nationwide Latino Doctor Day.
“Although Hispanics are a large part of the population, they represent only 6% of the clinicians that there are,” Bravo-Nuevo mentioned. “So, it’s a reminder that work still needs to be done.”
“We need more of us in the community out here helping patients because there just isn’t enough of us,” Fernandez mentioned.
