By
Ayse Guner
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Speakers reflect on their memories in their communities
Dr. Yvette Roubideaux, a member of the Rosebud Sioux tribe, was 16 years old when she realized she had not seen a single American Indian doctor on her reservation in South Dakota.
Although she was not aware of the reasons then, Roubideaux, a University of Arizona clinical assistant professor in public health and medicine, heard her elderly relatives complaining about the medical care that they had been receiving in their tribal hospital.
It was not common for minorities to enter the medical profession in the 1970s, she said. But she yearned to help her peers with their health issues and treat them well, she said at a conference Saturday at the College of Nursing and Pharmacy.
The F.A.C.E.S. health profession conference was organized by the UA Health Sciences Center office of minority affairs and designed to increase the rate of pre-health professional student population. The conference brings speakers like Roubideaux every year to unite professionals with students.
Throughout her speech, Roubideaux said, "We need you. We need you in the health professions," to about 100 students who are also Fostering and Achieving Cultural Equity and Sensitivity (F.A.C.E.S.) members.
Her early medical aspirations helped Roubideaux get into Harvard University in 1981, where she received her undergraduate and medical degrees. That was something she thought she could not achieve until her mother told her to apply to "one of those big colleges," she said.
"Something you don't think of the possibility unless someone tells you about it," she said. "But if my mom didn't put that idea in my head, I wouldn't end up getting the education I got."
To carry out her dream of helping her community, Roubideaux went to the San Carlos Apache Indian reservation in the early 1990s as a medical director and treated patients.
"They were so relieved to see an American Indian doctor treating them," she said.
Soon after she began her work in the San Carlos Indian Hospital, however, she came to realize that the hospital was under-funded and out-dated. This in turn created health concerns in the community, she said, adding that she shifted her career to study public health in order to help large numbers of people instead of treating one at a time.
"I wanted to have a greater impact in greater areas, looking at the health of the whole community," she said.
Roubideaux now researches, teaches and also develops national programs in the areas of diabetes in American Indians and Indian health policy. One out of two adults have diabetes in some of the American Indian communities, she said.
"It is hard to be healthy as an individual if the community around you is not healthy," she added.
After Roubideaux's speech, attendees met with exhibitors, who came from different universities to attract students into medical professions.
They also attended various workshops with topics ranging from HIV epedimiology to Navajo health philosophy.
The F.A.C.E.S. pre-health club currently has 225 members, including UA and Pima Community College students. The group's mission is to promote minority entry into health professions and to educate non-minorities about the minority perspective, said Jerry Santillan, F.A.C.E.S. president and a UA molecular and cellular biology senior.
By being a member of the organization, "we feel that you develop a cultural sensitivity," Santillan said, adding that every member has the opportunity to do an internship at UMC or Kino Hospital to get hands-on experience.
The experience Santillan got out of his internship made him better understand the conditions of immigrants who come to the United States and may have certain barriers to access to any health care, he said.
Santillan worked as a translator at UMC's Commitment to Underserved People clinic, which offers free health care to the poor and uninsured.
One day, Santillan said, an elderly immigrant man came into the clinic with his three grandchildren that he had been looking after. The man, who suffered from depression, did not speak any English, and Santillan used his language skills to provide a communication between the doctor and the patient, he added.
"The man worked in two different jobs to support his grandchildren," he said. "This man wouldn't take the time out to get help for himself."
"You put yourself in those shoes," he added.
Santillan, who will graduate this semester to go to medical school, said he believes providing any type of health care should be about helping people, regardless of where the individual comes from.
Santillan worked in the U.S. Army for six years, providing emergency medical care, and is considering family practice for his future field.
"It's not about the money or about the position of your work, but about helping people," he said.
