Through my studies and career, I aim to break down language barriers, racism, and ableism in healthcare. I have been interpreting Spanish and American Sign Language for medical exams for more than two years. I’ve decided to go back to school to become a radiologic technologist, so I can better assist patients in their care. I’m going to obtain my associate’s degree in World Languages with a focus on Spanish to strengthen my language skills, then attend a radiology technology program. I’ve interpreted for many patients and exams in the past two years. And during this time, I’ve noticed many barriers to healthcare centered on ableism, racism, and language barriers. I have had patients come in with incorrect orders because their doctors couldn’t fully understand their problems and concerns. I have had patients arrive for their exams without preparing because they couldn’t understand the instructions, further delaying their care. I’ve had patients who were just anxious and scared and even had been putting off getting care because it would have been too stressful. In each of these situations, I have had to advocate for the patients by getting corrected orders from offices, providing accessible instructions, and simply making their visits as easy as possible. However many of these situations could have been prevented with better access to interpretation and translation services. As a child of immigrants and sibling of a Deaf adult, I’ve seen many of these problems happen to my own family. I have also noticed offices neglecting patients who require these translation services, as well as providing subpar translations that need many improvements when it is available. Printed instructions are provided in English because they’re unavailable in other languages, and are incorrect or missing information when they are translated. Staff may decline interpretation when caring for a patient with a language barrier because they believe they can manage, even when the patient would be more comfortable with an interpreter. Digital translations sometimes don’t even work, leaving the patient uninformed. I advocate for better access to translations and interpretation services, such as reviewing errors and pushing for corrections and updates, but it’s still a struggle. These improvements are not made immediately, or even at all sometimes, and there are too many issues in too many areas of healthcare. I want to become a radiologic technologist to improve the care I can provide. Instead of only advocating for change, I want to be able to make the changes myself. I want to be able to not only interpret but also better manage my patients’ care, so I can ensure they receive the best possible. By improving my knowledge of healthcare, I hope to provide more accurate translations and better address questions and concerns. With a degree in Spanish, I can improve as an interpreter and showcase my language skills, allowing me more opportunities to support patients. I hope I can combat these social issues and improve lives, making the world a better place.

My best friend lost her life to suicide nearly two years ago, and I don’t feel like I’ve recovered even a bit ever since. I can’t say I even had the chance to heal. I couldn’t attend her funeral. I couldn’t take time off work to grieve. I had nobody to support me through this, my family wasn’t there for me and my friends didn’t know her, nor could I bring myself to tell them what happened. Even as I write this, I want to fall apart. I want to scream and cry. Writing about her in the past tense pains me beyond words. They say that time heals all wounds. I don’t know if I’ll ever believe those words ever again. Sometimes, it feels like the more time goes on, the more everything hurts. Time alone isn’t enough to heal a wound when it’s infected. How am I supposed to celebrate my accomplishments when she won’t be there to congratulate me? How am I supposed to attend events when she won’t be able to experience them with me? How do I experience joy when she’s not here to be happy with me? My world ended when I lost her, so how does everyone else’s go on? The knowledge that she’s gone haunts me most days. This pain is something I never want anyone else to experience. So, despite every ounce of it, I push myself to become a better person. I want to make the world a better place, one where nobody will ever become a victim of suicide. And so nobody will ever have to know the loss of a loved one to such a tragedy. Even if my actions will only help one person, I want to do everything I can. Many things caused her suicide. One of those reasons was the lack of assistance and accommodations for her chronic illnesses and disabilities. I can’t fix all the problems in the world. I wish I could, but I can’t. So the least I can do is make healthcare a better place, so more people can get assistance for their disabilities and illnesses. I want to earn my degree in foreign languages and go on to become a radiology technologist. This way, I can strengthen my interpretation and translation skills to also break language barriers. Healthcare should be accessible to all, and I hope to make the world a better place to do so. The death of my friend both haunts me and pushes me to become a better person. I hope that I can somehow turn the pain of losing her into positive change, so I can at least say she didn’t die in vain.