Hope through Healthcare

Shortly after immigrating from Monterrey, Mexico, to the United States with his family in 1998, Jesus Padilla had an experience that planted a seed. At a restaurant in Texas, he attempted to order food for his travel-weary mother and siblings. But he couldn’t read the menu, and a local refused to help translate.

“I made a promise to the Lord,” Jesus says today. “I said, ‘If you help me learn this language, and if people need help, I’ll be more than willing to help them.’”

We have a saying about working from sunrise to sunset, but these guys work from before the sun rises and they stop after the sun sets.

As the outreach coordinator for the Ashe & Allegheny Farmworker Health Program, Jesus is living out that promise. He serves a Hispanic population facing chronic and acute health challenges. Many of the agricultural workers he serves spend part of the year harvesting Western North Carolina’s prized Christmas trees. But when they get hurt or sick, they often turn to him.

He interprets during medical appointments, translates forms and helps with case management to ensure clients receive the best possible health care. But the challenges he faces in his work are profound.

Many of his clients are sick or injured but haven’t sought the care they need because of language or transportation barriers, a lack of after-hours service, or misinformation found on the internet. Many cannot afford expensive medical care. Some are contemplating moving back to their home countries because they are so despondent about their medical conditions.

Through his work, Jesus provides hope. He and a colleague serve 500 to 600 people a year, and they’re seeking to secure more grant funding to bring on another caseworker to serve another 300 clients annually.

“My purpose,” he says, “is to serve other people.”