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Yvette Walker
With 91.9 KVCR News, I'm Yvette Walker. This is IE Latino Voices where we invite representatives from Latino led and Latino serving organizations to share their stories and their impact in our region. Today, we've invited Roldan Aguilar from San Antonio Regional Hospital. Thank you so much for being with us today.
Roldan Aguilar
Thank you for having me.
Yvette Walker
Please just share a little bit about yourself.
Roldan Aguilar
I've been in the area for probably the last 10 or 15 years. I'm gonna let you know, I was born in Los Angeles. My family immigrated here from Honduras. So, both my parents are from Honduras. I'm from a family of five. I'm a twin. I have two older twin brothers and my sister is the oldest. So, she's kind of the matriarch of the family. Actually, she's the one that kind of inspired me to pursue education and stay on top of that. I give her a lot of credit because, you know, I wouldn't be where I am today if it wasn't for her. Actually, you know, she kind of helped my mom out a lot when we were younger. I went to Cal Poly Pomona locally. So, I got to my education right here locally in the community. And ever since then, I've been working in healthcare - for the last 14 years. Today, I'm the Executive Director for Strategic Operations at San Antonio Regional Hospital. In that role, I'm responsible for anything related to physician strategy, physician business development, physician recruitment, and then I also oversee some of our operational activities from an outpatient standpoint. I oversee our urgent cares, and then we just launched our first post discharge follow up clinic and primary care site. So, we're excited for that. I started in community outreach, literally on the ground level, promoting health and wellness. I did that for about three and a half years. And then just shortly after that, I started to make my way into provider relations. From there just kind of kept growing, (and) got an opportunity to do business development. It's just been a lot of doors opening for me, you know, through our leadership there at the at the hospital. That has been fantastic. I've enjoyed every bit of it. Back on my mom's side of the family in Honduras - we have surgeons, pediatricians, OB GYN… I mean, literally everyone is in the healthcare field. And I don't know, maybe it didn't translate to us over here. But it was just something I've always been proud of, you know, and I thought maybe that'd be an area that I wanted to go into. So, I actually thought when I was younger, that I would love to be a physician. And I think I realized at early age, or as I was approaching college that, you know, it would take me a long time to finish that. And I made a decision pretty early on that, you know, I would probably not pursue being a physician. But I would love to work in the healthcare industry. So, I always tell people, we're kind of the behind the scenes folks. We are always working, at our hospital in particular, on anything that might help our frontline employees do a better job. It translates all the way down to even those folks that are your RNs, your clinical bedside folks, folks that work in the lab. And at our hospital, we employ over 2500 people and it's everyone, from the person that walks into the room and empties the trash can. It's a dynamic field!
Yvette Walker
Please talk about a story that stands out most to you.
Roldan Aguilar
I'll kind of revert to a story just recently that the hospital was ranked in the top 50 in the nation for our cardiothoracic surgery capabilities. And we recently had a patient who is the wife of a physician. He used to be a primary care physician, but today he acts as a surgery assistant. And he just noticed that she was having some difficulties with some symptoms. So, he referred her over to a cardiologist in our hospital. And after getting a full workup, the cardiologist thought, “Hey, you know what? I think it might be time for you to go see a CT surgeon. I think you may be having an issue with your valve in your heart.” She shared this at one of our events when we celebrated this top 50 recognition. And it was just amazing to hear her talk about her path, married to a physician, always being on the opposite side. But then when she finally became a patient, that you know what an experience that can be for someone who just compares her life post versus pre. And she says it's been absolutely life changing for her. And so, to hear her talk like that is an inspiration, right? You work with so many different personalities, so many different ethnicities. That's why I enjoy it. I enjoy the team I work with. I really got to tell you that the folks there at the hospital are just fantastic.
Yvette Walker
What I've noticed is a systemic approach to providing resources, programs and education to promote a better quality of life for the communities that San Antonio Regional Hospital serve.
Roldan Aguilar
And I think that starts from the top. You're going to see that in healthcare. There's going to be a lot of change. I think you're starting to see a lot of venture capital, partnered with technology focused companies. And really looking to see how they can make an impact in the continuum of care and health care overall. And we have an executive director that we just hired, Dr. Eileen Dinkjian. I think you're going to see resources deployed by our CEO, and he's fully behind her on that. So, I think you're going to see a lot of impact. If you're looking for a career where you can come in and experience something that's dynamic and ever changing. You're going to love healthcare. It's going to be perfect for you!
Yvette Walker
Thank you so much for taking the time to share your story. Join us again next week for IE Latino Voices. You can find this story and others on our website at kvcrnews.org/ielatinovoices. IE Latino Voices is produced by KVCR Public Media and is funded by generous support from the CIELO Fund at IECF - uplifting and investing in the IE’s Latino community. For KVCR news, I'm Yvette Walker.
En Español
Yvette Walker
Con 91.9 KVCR News, soy Yvette Walker. Este es IE Latino Voices, donde invitamos a representantes de organizaciones dirigidas por latinos y al servicio de latinos a compartir sus historias y su impacto en nuestra región. Hoy hemos invitado a Roldan Aguilar del Hospital Regional de San Antonio. Muchas gracias por estar con nosotros hoy.
Roldán Aguilar
Gracias por tenerme.
Yvette Walker
Por favor, comparte un poco sobre ti.
Roldán Aguilar
He estado en la zona probablemente durante los últimos 10 o 15 años. Te lo voy a contar, nací en Los Ángeles. Mi familia emigró aquí desde Honduras. Entonces, mis padres son de Honduras. Soy de una familia de cinco. soy un gemelo Tengo dos hermanos gemelos mayores y mi hermana es la mayor. Entonces, ella es matriarca de la familia. En realidad, ella es la que me inspiró a buscar educación y estar al tanto de eso. Le doy mucho crédito porque, ya sabes, no estaría donde estoy hoy si no fuera por ella. En realidad, ella ayudó mucho a mi madre cuando éramos más jóvenes. Fui a Cal Poly Pomona localmente. Entonces, llegué a mi educación aquí localmente en la comunidad. Y desde entonces, he estado trabajando en el cuidado de la salud durante los últimos 14 años. Hoy, soy el Director Ejecutivo de Operaciones Estratégicas en el Hospital Regional de San Antonio. En ese puesto, soy responsable de todo lo relacionado con la estrategia médica, el desarrollo de negocios médicos, el reclutamiento de médicos y también superviso algunas de nuestras actividades operativas desde el punto de vista ambulatorio. Superviso nuestros centros medicos de urgencia, y luego acabamos de lanzar nuestra primera clínica de seguimiento posterior al alta y sitio de atención primaria. Entonces, estamos emocionados por eso. Empecé en el alcance comunitario, literalmente en el nivel del suelo, promoviendo la salud y el bienestar. Lo hice durante unos tres años y medio. Y luego, poco después de eso, comencé a abrirme paso en las relaciones con los proveedores. A partir de ahí, siguió creciendo y tuvo la oportunidad de desarrollar negocios. Se me han abierto muchas puertas, ya sabes, a través de nuestro liderazgo allí en el hospital. Eso ha sido fantástico. Lo he disfrutado todo. Volviendo al lado de la familia de mi madre en Honduras, tenemos cirujanos, pediatras, obstetras, ginecólogos... Quiero decir, literalmente, todos están en el campo de la atención médica. Y no sé, tal vez no nos tradujo aquí, pero era algo de lo que siempre me he sentido orgulloso, ya sabes, y pensé que tal vez sería un área en la que quería entrar. Entonces, en realidad pensé cuando era más joven que me encantaría ser médico. Y creo que me di cuenta a una edad temprana, o cuando me acercaba a la universidad, que me llevaría mucho tiempo terminar eso. Y tomé una decisión bastante pronto, ya sabes, probablemente no seguiría siendo médico. Pero me encantaría trabajar en la industria de la salud. Entonces, siempre le digo a la gente, somos una especie de gente detrás de escena. Siempre estamos trabajando, en nuestro hospital en particular, en cualquier cosa que pueda ayudar a nuestros empleados de primera línea a hacer un mejor trabajo. Se traduce incluso en aquellas personas que son sus enfermeras registradas, sus personas de cabecera clínica, personas que trabajan en el laboratorio. Y en nuestro hospital, empleamos a más de 2500 personas y son todos, desde la persona que entra a la habitación y vacía el bote de basura. ¡Es un campo dinámico!
Y creo que eso empieza desde arriba. Vas a ver eso en el cuidado de la salud. Habrá muchos cambios. Creo que está empezando a ver mucho capital de riesgo, asociado con empresas centradas en la tecnología. Y realmente buscando ver cómo pueden tener un impacto en la continuidad de la atención y la atención médica en general. Y tenemos un directora ejecutivo que acabamos de contratar, la Dra. Eileen Dinkjian. Creo que verá recursos desplegados por nuestro CEO, y él la apoya completamente en eso. Entonces, creo que van a ver mucho impacto. Si está buscando una carrera en la que pueda ingresar y experimentar algo dinámico y en constante cambio. Te va a encantar la atención médica. ¡Va a ser perfecto para ti!
Yvette Walker
Muchas gracias por tomarse el tiempo para compartir su historia. Únase a nosotros nuevamente la próxima semana para IE Latino Voices. Puede encontrar esta historia y otras en nuestro sitio web en kvcrnews.org/ielatinovoices. IE Latino Voices es producido por KVCR Public Media y está financiado por el generoso apoyo de CIELO Fund en IECF, lo que eleva e invierte en la comunidad latina de IE. Para las noticias de KVCR, soy Yvette Walker.
