hispanic heritage
Celebrating Hispanic/Latino Heritage Month 2022
By Minerva Romero Arenas, MD, MPH, FACS In an ongoing partnership between the Association of Women Surgeons and the Latino Surgical Society, we are proud to again bring you a Blog series for Hispanic Heritage Month (HHM). In this piece, I hope to highlight some important points we hope to bring to light during HHM. What is HHM? Every year, the US celebrates the history, culture, and contributions of Americans who immigrated or whose descendants originated from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America. What started as a weeklong celebration in 1968, has now expanded to observation of HHM from September 15 to October 15. This period was chosen due to the significance of many Independence Day celebrations in those countries occurring in mid-September and Día de la Raza (Day of Heritage) being celebrated on October 12th. You can find more information on the National HHM website. How...
There All Along
By Betzaira G Childers, MD My family left all our belongings, extended family, and all we knew to immigrate to the United States when I was a young girl. These were the days before social media and internet, so I grew up knowing only my immediate family with little knowledge of my extended family still in Mexico. As far as I was concerned, it was just us, and we were alone. Effectively, my parents’ only goal was for us to excel and have opportunities they never had. And so, when it came to our new life in the US, we worked hard. All of us. We certainly didn’t stop to smell the roses. My parents worked long days and multiple jobs. We had no extracurricular activities and didn’t celebrate holidays as they simply cost too much. My oldest sister served as our babysitter when we weren’t sitting quietly at a...
Diversity in Strengths and Strength in Diversity
By Marianna Hernandez Brandi When my mom and I moved to Cincinnati, OH in 2005, I was placed in an English as a Second Language (ESL) class. I remember when the teacher would come into my home room and call out for me in front of all my classmates to announce that it was time for our one-on-one session. I was always so annoyed. I did not have much of a background, if any, in speaking English, but I felt that being singled out daily inhibited me from being able to fully immerse myself in the classroom with the other students. It took me less than a month to complain enough to my mom about this situation for her to advocate for me to no longer attend ESL classes. Throughout my life, I never felt that I was particularly gifted at test taking or school. In elementary school and high...
It Takes a Village
By: Ana Sofia Ore, MD MPH My journey away from home started before residency, when I moved to Boston to start my research training. I had fears of how welcoming the city would be to a hispanic woman starting to immerse into surgical research and training. I was fortunate to then match for residency here. It’s been five years since I moved to Boston, and it truly feels like home. But what makes it home? The answer is simple. The community I have here. When I think of #HispanicHeritageMonth, that’s the first thing that comes to my mind. I think of the community that I am now a part of and the importance of having that in my personal and professional life. A major part of this community are my co-residents. I feel incredibly blessed having peers that understand me, in some cases have similar backgrounds as me, share my...
