Nurse Roxana Gonzalez spends her nights caring for babies in our Oakland NICU. She became a nurse after interning with Community Health and Adolescent Mentoring Program for Success (CHAMPS), a three-year internship program that prepares Oakland teens of color for health care careers, helping to diversify the field and contribute to culturally competent care.
Gonzalez herself was a preemie, born shortly after her mother moved from Mexico. She says few nurses at that time spoke Spanish, and the language gap was hard on her mother, who didn't understand why she couldn't take her baby home from the hospital. It's important to Gonzalez, who is fluent in Spanish, that other parents don't experience the same confusion. "Parents know they can call us at any time, and we'll be there to answer in their language while providing their child with the best care," she says.
"When I started, I cared for a baby born at 26 weeks. She weighed less than a kilo, but she was a fighter. I would talk to her in Spanish because her mom talked to her in Spanish, and I think Mom and Dad really appreciated that," she says.
Read more about Roxana Gonzalez and the pioneering care provided in our Oakland NICU ➡️ https://ucsfh.org/4cwKa9e
Senior Director of Nursing, PeriOperative Services and Operations/ CEO Clinical Project Resource/ Speaker / Consultant / CA BRN CE Provider/ Writer / Legal Nurse Consultant / #NotJustANurse
2wLooking forward to being part of the team!!!