The Ultimate "Pay It Forward"

Navigating the health care system during Covid has been particularly challenging for everyone. Now consider the extra worries if you are a person living in poverty, or an immigrant in the US with limited resources.Today we hear from Dr. Margarita Loeza, the daughter of immigrant parents, who suffered from a painful hip condition as a child. Learn how Venice Family Clinic, a nonprofit community health center, changed Dr. Loeza’s life—and how she returned the favor. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to this episode of Here's Something Good, a production
of the Seneca Women Podcast Network and I Heart Radio.
Each day we aspire to bring you the good news,
the silver lining, the glass half full, because there is
good happening in the world everywhere, every day, we just
need to look for and share it. Here's something Good

(00:27):
for today. The pandemic has been tough on everyone, and
navigating the health care system at this time has been
particularly challenging. We wonder if we can get the proper tests,
if we should enter waiting rooms, if there'll be enough
medical staff. Now, consider the extra worries if you're a
person living in poverty or an immigrant with limited access

(00:48):
to resources. That's why local community health centers that treat
underserved communities are real lifelines, particularly during the COVID crisis.
Million people in the US use them. Clients are predominantly
low income people and people of color groups the pandemic
has hit especially hard. One of the most impressive of
these centers is in the Los Angeles area, the Venice

(01:10):
Family Clinic. It has twelve facilities in different locations and
serves almost twenty eight thousand low income men, women, and children. Now,
there are probably a million stories you could tell about
the Venice Clinic. It's dedicated doctors and medical teams, it's
clients and supporters. One of the most remarkable is a
story that gives new meaning to the term pay it forward.

(01:33):
Today we're speaking with doctor Margharita Louisa. The daughter of
hard working immigrant parents. She grew up in a household
that never had much money. As a child, she lived
in tremendous pain due to a congenital hip condition, but
the Venice Family Clinic treated her, helped her walk and
opened the door to an active life as a child,
Margarita vowed to give back, and that's exactly what she did.

(01:56):
Here's what she had to say. Thanks so much for
joining me today. Thank you for having me. So tell
us a little bit about the Venice Family Clinic, the
people it serves, and what you do there. So. I'm
a family medicine doctor at the Venice Family Clinic. I
have been working there since two thousand one, but prior
to that, I was a patient with along with my

(02:17):
two brothers and two sisters and my mom and dad
and um. I've been I've pretty much have grown up
at the clinic. I've either been a patient there with
my last physical exam right before college, or a volunteer
during college during my pre medical years, or you know,
after residency. I went to volunteer and then I was hired.

(02:37):
But I've been working there since two thousand and one
and I'm a family medicine doctor and I see patients.
I do primary care. I also go to Santa Monica
High School and I have a school based team clinic. Wow,
and so did the clinic inspire you in your decision
to become a doctor. The clinic was always the ideal

(02:58):
for me. I didn't inspire me. I remember when I
would go for my well child exams or to see
the doctor. I remember being fascinated and excited and I
wanted to learn more. And they would ask me what
I wanted to be when I would grow up, and
I would tell them I want to be a doctor,
and they would get so excited. It was a really
I remember we have a holiday movie every year where

(03:21):
we give kids, um, we take them to the movies
and we give them toys. And I remember going to
a holiday movie and I remember getting a Barbie doll.
I mean, I have really good memories of the clinic
growing up. That's incredible. And now you're there, UM and
you're working I understand very hard, especially in this moment.
What are you focused on right now and how is
everyone reacting to COVID. I'm one of many people that

(03:42):
are working really hard at the clinic, and there's a
lot of really great doctors, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and
we're working. I'm working specifically on telemedicine and telehealth and
how to bring it to UM people who live in poverty,
and how to do telephone visits and video visits with
patients and how to take what we used to do

(04:04):
in a face to face visit and kind of, you know,
do it virtually. How we took our classrooms from face
to face to a zoom meeting. And so we're trying
to kind of expand the clinic and we don't need
to physically be in the building to provide medical care.
So I'm trying to see how we can leverage the phone,

(04:27):
our video visits and how we can do to reach
out to more patients and you know, still continue to
give care during this time. Well, it's clearly a very
difficult time and I'm sure you're kind of handling incredible
amounce of stress and and and seeing very difficult circumstances.
How are you how are you finding working in this environment?

(04:48):
It's challenging. Every day there's a new challenge. And I
have the deepest respect for the people that work at
the clinic because I know every day they come they
might be a little bit afraid or apprehensive. Uh. I
think that it's always heartwarming here about people. Restaurants will
send us food or send people will mail us handmade masks,

(05:11):
people will donate ppe um, and people will thank us
for firstee over the phone. So it's just all that
and watching everybody show up to work and keeping the
clinic open has been very inspiring for me. And what
should listeners know, um about how they can support the clinic.
I think that a way to support the clinic if

(05:33):
you have a chance, you know, we can always use donations.
We were gonna have a big donation campaign this year
because it's our fiftieth anniversary, celebrating fifty years, and we
had a lot of things planned, but you know, those
things are not happening anymore, and we need to keep
our doors open because we take care of the most
vulnerable patients. And those vulnerable patients are serving you food,

(05:56):
working in the grocery store, um, deliver ring your food,
and you know, cleaning the restaurants and clinics and hospitals
you attend. And so by giving to us and us
trying to keep essential workers healthy healthy, it keeps us
all healthy. So our clinic is really important to many
many lives. And our patients are people's nannies, people's restaurant workers,

(06:22):
UM janitors. They're doing really um jobs that can't be
done from home, and they're suffering a lot because they
don't have you know, they can't do tele a work,
they don't have sick days, they may not have workers comps.
So it's um really important to keep us open. Well,
we are so grateful for everything you do every day, UM,

(06:45):
and and for the clinic, um, and thank you so
much for joining us on the show. Thank you. Dr
Louise's story is so inspiring and it shows how one
good act can inspire many more positive deeds, creating a
ripple of good that can of us all forward. So
here's something good for today. Dr Luis and the Venice

(07:05):
Family Clinic are reminder of how much we owe the
essential workers who have kept our society going during the pandemic.
They're often unsung, often low income, but they need and
deserve medical care too, and Dr Lwaite's story shows how
one life moved by a sense of purpose can affect
so many more. And if you want to support the

(07:26):
Venice Family Clinic, go to Venice Family Clinic dot org.
Have a great Day, Thank you for listening, and please
share Today's Something Good with others in your life. This

(07:46):
is Kim Azzarelli, co author of Fast Forward and co
founder of Seneca Women. To learn more about Seneca Women,
go to Seneca Women dot com or download the Seneca
Women app free in the app store. Here's Something Good
is a production of the Seneca Women podcast network and
I Heart Radio. Have a Great Day. For more podcasts

(08:10):
from I Heart Radio, check out the I Heart Radio app,
Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.