Panic struck my body, as my older brother, Guillermo, broke down in front of me. Unable to speak, he muttered the words, “Call mom.” My hands trembled as I reached for my brother's phone, waiting as it rang against my ear. Time felt slowed as if to mock my sense of urgency, but after my mother answered, a sense of relief overcame me. I told her he was having a seizure; it wasn’t the first or last time this happened, but it was the first time it was happening while we were alone. Lonely waiting rooms were always filled with gloom and anxiety, while my mother remained alongside my brother. They would give him medicine, but I could see the distraught look on my mother’s face. I grew to understand why her joy was limited. She couldn’t afford the hospital bills, his medicine, nor his visits to his neurologist, and years later, I found out she stopped buying her diabetes medicine so that my brother could have all of his. She would go to the ends of the earth for her children at the expense of her well being, she was selfless in that way. It was heartbreaking to see, over time, that this reality was not just my own. Many other low income undocumented families in my community were dealing with similar issues. I became aware of the systemic barrier when it came to primary care through their testimonies, and it fueled me to seek ways to destigmatize the deep-seated fear surrounding healthcare. Growing up in Camden and witnessing the disparities myself has made me want to advocate for those without a voice. Through leadership opportunities in my community, like the Teen Prevention Education Program, I taught incoming freshmen important life lessons about prioritizing and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. However, it always resonated with me, when mentoring other young people, that financial insecurity could lead to a neglect in health. Other marginalized, low-income groups were navigating through the same battles, in silence, with no ability to reach out and ask for help whether it was due to the lack of citizenship or just not knowing where to go and who to speak to. I often grappled with the irony of emphasizing health as a priority while knowing from my own experiences how that’s not always a reasonable or idealistic goal. Being able to communicate with others about their hardships made me realize that it doesn’t just impact me. Hundreds, if not thousands, of people are falling through the cracks and being unable to get the help they deserve because of something as fleeting as money. After recognizing the issue, it has become imperative that I now do everything I can to become a part of the solution. My experience with mentorship and interest in science serve as the leading forces for wanting to enter the medical field. Being able to give others the support they need and insure their voices aren’t neglected. My passion for medicine and its ability to help others in unimaginable ways, brings me to reflect on my brother and mother’s health drastically improving after getting the help they needed from programs at Cooper Hospital dedicated to helping undocumented immigrants. Whether it be to pay hospital bills or just give them resources for food banks in the area that were willing to help. All of my experiences and the stories I've heard along the way have all shaped me into a compassionate, practical, and understanding person. I know I would do anything in order to ensure that everyone has access to affordable healthcare.

I’ve lived my entire life in one city, Camden. While I love the environment, its location and more importantly its people. There’s always been a part of me that wishes there was more of an emphasis on education. Being first generation it became my number one priority for me to attend and finish college. I don’t see myself elsewhere anymore. However I look around and don’t see the same drive and passion for education in other people.I recall one time when one of my coworkers told me he was not planning on going to college after high school. I was completely shocked, he was a mexican american US citizen. He could easily get into a good college and further his education. He went on to talk about the financial issues his family was having and how it wasn’t in his cards to go. Here was a young teenager with so much potential for greatness being withheld because of money. So many of the high school graduates in this town simply can’t afford to go to college so they resort to low paying jobs that’ll get them by. withholding them from reaching greater heights, creating this cycle of poverty. I hope to inspire other undocumented students in my area to apply themselves to their education. I crave to be able to come back and help future graduates break those generation curses.