damian trujillo: hello and welcome to "comunidad del valle" i'm damian trujillo. we hope you're enjoying your holiday weekend, today is our holiday special show on your "comunidad del valle." [music] [music]

damian: we begin with one or more of our more important and popular segments of the year. this is the urgent need for more latino doctors. in the entire country, only 6% of medical doctors are latina or latino. so needless to say there is an urgent need. with me on "comunidad del valle" today, are dr. cesar padilla and dr. manny gonzalez. gentlemen, welcome to the show. thank you for being here. dr. manny gonzalez: hi, damian. dr. padilla: thank you. damian: hi, thank you. and dr. gonzalez, we'll start with you. what is it that was your impulse or your impetus? what propelled you to become a medical doctor? dr. gonzalez: for me it was the need to have more doctors that look like me and like doctors that speak my language. i think it's important when physicians speak the language the patients have. they feel a little bit more willing to open up and tell us things that have been going on and oftentimes in my job, primary care, it's important to hear what's going on in the social aspects of their lives, so that we can make sure we're getting them the services and the help that they need.

damian: so you and i did and also dr. padilla, we did an interview for telemundo on the same topic. and your english is just as good as your spanish, how important is that? dr. gonzalez: i think it's very important because if you, you know, we have interpreters that we can use who also speaks spanish, but there's always something lost in translation. and so--even with the best interpreter, and so i think if it's one-on-one conversations with the patients, then much more information could get shared between the two. damian: all right. how about you dr. padilla? what was your input as to become a medical doctor? dr. padilla: well such a great question. i could spend an hour talking about this. for me, i think it was a combination of my upbringing. i would spend my summers in mexico. i was born here in california, my parents came from mexico and experiencing the culture and in mexico, i would just see mexican doctors around. and we knew mexican doctors and i think i loved the field when i was a kid because i'd love to see them walking around

and treating patients. and i came back here and i was like, and after my summer breaks, that's what i wanna do. but unfortunately, there's so few latino physicians here that i didn't really have role models here, but everything that dr. gonzalez is alluding to the evidence backs it up. speaking spanish you know, even a spanish speaking doctor is superior better than having an interpreter. there's studies and evidence showing that's better. but a lot of these things are sort of what we're talking about are things that i walk with me every day, things that are part of me every day in practicing medicine. damian: when i did a news report on this topic, i spoke to a lady and i asked her what she thought about the lack of latina, latino doctors. and she said in spanish 'cause she was monolingual, that she used to communicate using sign language with her doctors. that's scary. talk about how scary that can be for both patient and doctor. dr. padilla. dr. padilla: yeah, absolutely.

i mean, that is something--i saw that growing up. i would go to the doctor's office here in california with my mother and my "abuelita" my grandmother, and they would communicate like that. i probably thought that was normal until i got a little bit older. that is terrible because things could be missed and if things are missed, then that can lead to worse healthcare outcomes. and all the evidence shows that, that when you don't communicate with your patient and when you even having a doctor that has the same cultural, ethnic, racial background as the doctor patient, that makes a difference. but yeah, what you're mentioning is such a terrible example that unfortunately is true. damian: and dr. gonzalez, i mean, you're roaming the halls of your facility there, and do you bump into other doctors whose names are gonzalez, trujillo, padilla, garcia? dr. gonzalez: so, in my primary care clinic though, six of the eight of us speak spanish, i'm the only latino doctor and i think that makes a difference. like my patient panel has filled up very quickly because i am

latino and i speak spanish. so no, i'm the only latino doctor in this clinic. damian: i can imagine the challenges for students, because it all starts in medical school. what are the challenges that people of brown color have and even deciding to choose the medical field? we'll start with you, dr. gonzalez. dr. gonzalez: so, i think there's a couple of issues, right. the lack of mentors, the lack of people that look like us. i didn't start medicine until i was 25 because i was just not even a thought in my head that i could be a doctor. and it wasn't until i went to nicaragua as an interpreter that i realized, "oh yeah, latino doctors exist, obviously. we just need more in the u.s." so i think that's one of the issues that we have. the other is, it is very expensive to become a doctor, right? you are essentially starting into a life of loans. and i think we need more programs that help support all students of color come from lower socioeconomic status to

help them go into these professions where they're very much needed. damian: and dr. padilla, that's one of the biggest challenges, right? is the cost and the unwillingness from medical schools you're saying to change. dr. padilla: absolutely. let's look at the numbers. so in the last 30 years, only 5%, only 5% of medical students have come from the bottom 20th percentile of socioeconomic class. the majority of medical students from the top 40 percentile. that means there is an over representation of wealthy students. that's not right, because unfortunately, most poor people in this country, you're more likely to be a minority latino, african american, native american if you're poor in this country. so you're automatically excluding people who cannot afford that, that's one of the barriers. and i just wanna highlight, national latino physician day was celebrated this past october 1, and these are a lot of the reasons and data that we're bringing up is to highlight

this critical need. you're right, the medical schools have to change in order to make this a more inclusive environment for people of all economic incomes. and even people who, for myself, for example, like myself and dr. gonzalez, who speak spanish, if you speak spanish, that should count as an extra boost to get you into medical school. damian: is anybody listening? i mean, you make a great plea. does anybody listen? will that would let anything change? first of all, beginning with the medical schools. dr. padilla: yes, i think people are listening. this past when we celebrated national latino physician day at stanford, where i work, we had an assembly member show up in person, dr. joaquin garcia, who's a latino, and he works out of fresno. and he said it himself, he said, "we need to be creative in our ways to diversify medicine, increase latino representation." and also, this day went up to the senate, senator alex padilla, and republican senator john corny introduced this day for senate resolution. and if you look at the verbiage behind what is said, it's to

highlight the critical need of more latino physicians. so i think, fortunately, our representatives are listening. i think now it's really up to the medical schools to meet us at the table. damian: all right, well you are a great example of what it is that to become a latino success story. this is an ongoing issue. we do wanna share a website for you national latino physician day that we just had. but there's a lot of valuable information on that website. there it is, but there's a national rate right there on your screen. only 6% of doctors, medical doctors in the entire nation are latino. that's 4% in santa clara county, so things need to change. we'll have more on this topic when we continue here on "comunidad del valle," so please stay with us. [music]

damian: we're talking about this urgent need for more latina and latino medical doctors across the country here on "comunidad del valle." dr. cesar padilla and dr. manny gonzalez are gracious enough to

take time out of there busy schedules to join us here. dr. padilla, you use when you're not wearing your scrubs, you use something to help your patients relate to you, and that's your affiliation to las chiva rayadas de guadalajara. dr. padilla: yeah, so by the way, this is a complete coincidence. i started to wear my soccer jacket 'cause it matches my scrub jacket. and it's the mexican team of guadalajara. so this is the las chivas. las chivas is a team at guadalajara. for those that don't know, it's in the western state of jalisco. they're huge team, they're like the, you know, your yankees of soccer. and what i found is that patients who are latino, 'cause we serve a large latino population here where i work, they're like, oh my god, you're wearing that. and then all of a sudden the anxiety goes away from their eyes and they feel more comfortable. and i started to notice that a lot of these things that are my own lived experience, the authenticity of being latino, is something that puts patients at ease.

and as dr. gonzalez was mentioning earlier, he's the only latino in his group, i'm the only latino who speaks spanish in my group. and that's unfortunate it shouldn't be that way. but that's an example of sort of breaking down those barriers between the patient and the doctor to make patients feel more comfortable. damian: well, and the healing process starts right away. so you're onto something there i think. dr. gonzalez, do you have to enjoy and like biology in high school and chemistry and all of that or not necessarily to get to your level? dr. gonzalez: i think you have to have a little bit of appreciation for biology in that. but it doesn't have to start in high school. like, i didn't start my road to medicine until i was 25. i mean, partly because i didn't think that i could. and so if your love of bio, your love of chem that comes later on, that's okay, but i think there has to be an understanding that this is a long time to study. it's a long, you know, road in the profession and minimum, you're gonna be spending eight years in college, right? eight, four years undergrad, four years medical school, and

then residency is at minimum three years. so we're talking 11 years that you're dedicating to starting this career. so i think it's, you have to like bio a tiny bit. damian: you better. but tell us though, about the pride of putting on that white smock. and i would imagine that your siblings and your dad, if he is still with us, raises his collar a bit and says, mi hijo es médico. "my son is a doctor." dr. gonzales: yeah, they're very proud to say the least. grandma, mom, dad, sister. they, you know, they always are like, "oh, my son's a doctor, my brother's a doctor." and i get family members who always message me and say, "hey, i have this issue." and i'm like, "well, i'm a pediatrician and you're over 18, so i can't help you." but you know, and you see it from the patients too, you know, they, like, they will say, "wow, latino doctor, good, you're doing great for our community." and, you know, it hits the heartstrings. it's awesome and it keeps me going. damian: yeah, and the mentality might be for me it was, i'm gonna be honest with you, dr. padilla, the mentality

was there's no way i can be a medical doctor. i don't have the brains, i don't have the patience, i don't have the time, but you two are living proof dr. padilla that it is possible, sí se puede. and you're doing it. dr. padilla: yes, and as dr. gonzalez pointed out, it could be a long field, but it's worth it. and i mean that from the bottom of my heart, it is completely worth it. the years of sacrifice, i did 15 years total, five years undergrad, and i didn't have the grades to go to a four year right away because my grades were not that good coming from a public high school in the east bay here in the bay area. so i went to community college and it was a total of 15 years between starting college and ending fellowships. but it is worth it, i work in obstetric anesthesia, it's a subspecialty of anesthesia where we keep patients safe as they're delivering their babies. we give patients anesthesia, epidurals. and that to me is, i mean, i wake up every day and i feel so

appreciative of the privilege that i have to work in this environment. damian: i would imagine. i can't imagine the feeling of being able to either help save somebody's life or help them feel better in whatever elements they might have. dr. gonzalez, any final thoughts from you before we let you go? dr. gonzalez: i would say, you know, back to the point about how we support latino and students who are underrepresented, groups to go to medical school. i think it's important to one, get them into medical school, but to make sure that we're supporting them when they are in medical school. oftentimes our grades are not the best, or i had wonderful grades going into college but in medical school you get all this information. and so we need people supporting those physicians or those medical students so that they can come out on top so that they can do well and hopefully go into the professions that we need. like primary care doctors. damian: retention is crucial here. dr. padilla, any final thoughts? dr. padilla: i agree 100%, i was the only mexican american in my medical school class of 104.

this is in new york state. i felt lonely, it felt hard, but thankfully i found other mentors who were able to help me and mentors from all backgrounds, black mentors, jewish mentors, latino mentors, and they were able to help me through. that's a great point that i wanna highlight dr. gonzalez, what he said. we need to--retention and good efforts to mentor these students, thank you. damian: well, you both fill us all with pride. it's an honor for me to have you on the show and to meet you virtually, but meet you nonetheless. thank you so much for the work that you're doing and adelante. dr. padilla: adelante. thank you. damian: all right gracias. again, there's great information on the website. it's nationallatinophysicianday.com. it just happened, but they have it every year. thank you to some great national legislators. there's a number there that bugs me, only 6% of medical doctors in the entire country are latinos. something needs to change. damian: some great doctors there, dr. gonzalez and dr. padilla. up next here on "comunidad del valle," a little bit of "danza"

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this way to health insurance. on this holiday weekend. here are los lupeños de san josé. [music] [music] ♪ violín, violín, violín. ♪ ♪ me iré cruzando los mares para poder olvidar ♪ ♪ tus versos y tus cantares. ♪ ♪ violín, violín, violín. ♪ ♪ canta de noche y de día, mi huasteca potosina ♪ ♪ te amará toda la vida. ♪ [music] [music]

¡eh! [music] [music] [music] [music] ¡eh! ¡eh! [music] [music]

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[music] [music] ♪ ay ay ay -- que pasa maría ♪ ♪ ay ay ay mi tormento no pasa ♪ ♪ -- ay ay ay pronto me lleva a su casa ♪ ♪ para estar -- de día ay ay ay me dice lo que le pasa. ♪ ♪ ay ay ay -- ♪ [music] [music]

damian: if you wanna get ahold of us "comunidad del valle" my handle is @newsdamiantrujillo, and we thank you again. just a reminder, that was also los mestizos de san josé along with los lupeños de san josé and so a little holiday treat for all of us. we thank you for sharing this entire year with us on "comunidad del valle" we're gonna leave you with a little bit of treat by el mariachi sol de méxico de don josé hernández. happy holidays. [music] [music] [music] [music]

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