Who do you think should be on the next cover of Para Todos magazine? Every issue we bring you exclusive photos and interviews with your favorite latino celebrities. We would love to hear your suggestions of who you would like to see on the cover of Para Todos magazine! Leave your ideas as a comment.

Outstanding Person- Ramin Tayani. M.D.FAAO, FAACS

Doctor Ramin Tayani, one of the most highly trained vision and facial aesthetics specialists in the world, is an ophthalmologist and orbital-facial plastic surgeon graduated from UCI, UCLA, MCW, Yale, and Harvard. He is dedicated to care for the health and esthetics of his community in Southern California.

Doctor Ramin Tayani was brought up under ambitious levels of self improvement and responsibility, values he has embraced on every one of his life’s missions. Dr. Ramin Tayani bases his practice on surgical excellence and traditional family values. His vast training and  studies include an internship at Yale University with Dr. Ali Khodadoust, a leading Iranian ophthalmologist known throughout the world; a residency at The Eye Institute Medical College of Wisconsin, place that used to be the mecca of retinal surgery in the world and his ascending career of constant improvement is completed when he performed a fellowship at Harvard University, in Ophthalmic Plastic and reconstructive Surgery, Ocular Oncology and Ophthalmic Pathology.

In addition to his impeccable medical trajectory, he is a brilliant businessman, his company, Tayani Eye Institute Med-Aesthetics, today has seven centers with advanced technology dedicated to vision care and aesthetic surgery. An exemplary man dedicated to his family and community, transmits his admiration and gratitude to the land he adopted, remarking that California is the most beautiful place on earth.

Dr. Tayani was born in Tehran, Iran, during one of the most difficult times of its history, reason being why his family moved to Holland when he was one year old. They believed the best place in the world to raise their children was the United States. So they pack up once again and arrive in Boston, Dr. Tayani was now two. At three they moved to Los Angeles. Dr. Tayani has a brother younger only by 11 months, but their age difference is sufficient for him to become his jealous guardian when he was 13 and they were sent far from their parents to Ohio.

The family with their two children finally establish themselves in Los Angeles. His father, with seemingly inexhaustible energy, works hard to support them and begins to study engineering at night school for four years, earning his degree at USC. Ramin grows up with these ambitious levels of self improvement and responsibility, values he has kept throughout his life’s missions.

Four years passed, his mother was exclusively dedicated to the care and attention of her family and as the children grew and started to go to school, she spent long hours alone and started missing her life in Iran. She came from a large and very united family; she had six sisters and two brothers  and yearned to return. The family returned to Iran. The family’s joy was indescribable, their mother again felt well, the children play all day with their cousins- 37 of them. This reunion and interaction among family members was what their mother had missed so much in the United States.

“I was seven when we returned to Iran, we lived there for six unforgettable years. My mother was delighted with all of her family, we went to school, I studied second through seventh grades, we knew everybody, we played all the time with friends and family,” says the doctor.

But in 1978 the revolution in Iran began and everything changed, schools started closing and insecurity was everywhere. His father was very worried about his children’s future and their education. The family had no political ties but he felt compelled to get them out immediately. He sends them with their mother to an uncle’s home who was living in the States in a small town in Ohio, for a short time, until they found a boarding school where they could live and study. Their father stayed in Iran because he had work and had to support them.

The only school relatively near to his uncle’s and which would take students in the middle of the school year was Culver Military Academy, so their mother enrolled them there and there they would live full time. Their mother returned to Iran and Ramin and his younger brother are separated from that large, united family they left in Iran. Now they were at a new place, unknown to them, in an enormous school with not too many students. The school was located on 1800 acres of land, it had its own lake, its own airport, it was unbelievable! Their father paid $15,000 for each of them that year, an enormous sacrifice for the family. Ramin was 13 and his brother 12 and he had to watch out for his brother.

Did you meet a professor or someone to lean on during those lonely times?

No, but we spoke with our parents on the phone all the time. We also visited our uncle a couple of times. His home was three and a half hours away on bus, they also visited us a couple of times. But fortunately our father got a job at Fluor in Irvine, California, and six months later he moved there. A couple of months later my mother came back from Iran to join our father.

When the school year at the Academy was over, Ramin and his brother took the bus from Culver, a small town, to arrive in Chicago and then continue by plane to Irvine. “Our father always inculcated responsibility within us; know how to get along, be financially and emotionally responsible and many more values that we kept within us. I worked with my uncle in Ohio, during that month and a half when our mother and we stayed at their home. My uncle had a business and the instant I started to help him he said, ‘While Ramin is in charge of the business I can leave knowing everything will be fine.’” I was only 13, says the doctor. He still has that first check and tells us that when he moved to Irvine he started working at Del Taco to make money for his personal expenses.

At the Academy in Ohio they enrolled him in two higher courses because education in Iran was more advanced. The following year, when his parents were established in Irvine, he continued his studies at University High in Irvine and three years later he got his degree, at 16. During the last year he took courses at Saddleback College so when he entered UCI he already had a full year of credits.

The doctor liked working at elegant restaurants, so at 16 and with a high school degree, he manages to pass as someone older, he was very self-assured, and continued in that work until he turned 18. He shares that where the Holiday Inn is located in Laguna Beach today, there used to be a very special hotel, furnished with antiques, each room was decorated according to the art of a particular painter and its very sophisticated restaurant was called Gauguin. He worked there. At 16 after having saved $5,000, “I called my father and told him I was going to buy a house but when I told him how much money I had he said it wasn’t enough, so I proposed he add another $5,000 and we bought a condo together. We bought a condo in Irvine at $110,000,” he says proudly.

“My father had taught me to be financially independent so I took care of all of my personal expenses, tuition, insurance, clothes. But he wanted to pay my university tuition so I had to make a deal: he would only pay for the subjects on which I made a 3.5, those below I would pay for,” he says proudly. And when he is asked which parent he resembles the most, he answers, “I got the best of both.”

Why did you choose ophthalmology?

In the sixth grade at my school in Iran they taught us about the senses in our biology class: hearing, vision, touch, taste, and smell. I was very curious about the eyes and ears, I drew them all the time, I decided to study more about them.

While I was in high school, I worked as a volunteer at a clinic in the afternoons because I wanted to be a doctor. “I loved to help people and saw that doctors have a good life and helped their community,” says the doctor.

So he decided to study medicine and enrolled at UCI, during his first year he volunteered at the clinic. “At first they gave me office work but I told them I preferred working with the doctors and their patients. I had a very good relationship with them and they appreciated my help so they put me to work as a technical assistant. I saw how the patients arrived with deplorable vision, they couldn’t read, they couldn’t drive, they were operated on and, boom! The following day they could see perfectly. I saw how the patients hugged the doctor, so appreciative, I loved their gratitude. I was convinced I too wanted to be a doctor.

What did you do then?

I worked hard to get into med school; it wasn’t easy. There were no doctors in the family to guide me, I had to work three or four jobs and go to school at the same time. I always expected the best of myself. I wanted to go to the best medical school but the one in Chicago, number eight in the nation, was $18,000 a year so room, board and books would cost me about $30,000 a year. UCI was the third most accessible school; it cost $1,347 a year, so I compared $18.000 a year to $1,347 and decided on UCI. It was really hard to get in for the same reason, because it was so convenient. But I did it, and lived with my parents for a year and a half while I paid this small amount for my studies. Besides I met Kathy there who would become my wife.

Was she in school also?

She was finishing her studies as a physical therapist at UCI, I was new there.

With mischievous eyes the doctor says, “We actually met when we were 16, when I finished high school. Kathy has an older brother and a cousin. One day I was visiting one of my best friends at her apartment, her roommate was Kathy’s cousin, and she was also visiting. I noticed that beautiful young girl at once, we spoke and I asked her for her phone number. But I soon got the message that I could no longer call her, her father had just arrived from Iran and did not permit her to get calls, so our conversations ended there…but being connected with the Persian community we saw each other occasionally at get-togethers, there was no relationship between us, only a ‘hi and bye’. Eight years later, at a Persian function we talked for a long while, she asked me for my phone and she called me the following day saying now I could call her if I wished. We dated for a year and a half and married. This December we will celebrate 20 years of marriage,” says the doctor proudly.

Soon after their marriage the doctor decided to take a year off in medical school to do research and spend more time with Kathy. Medical school was very stressful and he knew he was very young and could take a year off, and do better in the future in addition to getting to know his wife better. So they moved to lovely San Francisco, she worked and he did research, harmony reigned. He still had three months to go. They didn’t have children yet, no great responsibility and Kathy could get work in a minute because her profession was in great demand, so they chose New Orleans. They had a great time together; they ate at good restaurants, walked and played together and even took a vacation and spent five weeks in Europe. They loved exploring, finding new places and meeting new people. The doctor felt fulfilled for having chosen a career which permitted them such freedom and to practice as a medical internist wherever he desired. He enrolled in six programs in Boston, Rhode Island and Connecticut, at Yale University.

“I wanted to start my practice with two doctors: a specialist in infectious diseases living in New York and Dr. Ali Khodadoust, a world-wide recognized ophthalmologist at Yale. I got to know them well and had a wonderful relationship with both. So I spent three more months on the ICU, this is a lot more difficult than a regular medical practice, I had to negotiate this with my program doctor who accepted my proposal and I was able to work with those specialists for a longer time. It was a fantastic medical experience and also personal. I had to travel five hours a day by train, two and a half hours each section, form Connecticut to New York. I thought it would be a marvelous opportunity and that I would read the paper, complete work, sleep, but as it turned out I always slept the five hours! After a couple of weeks I considered that all of this was really crazy, I couldn’t understand how people spent so much of their time coming and going from work. Fortunately mine wouldn’t last that long and was a great professional opportunity. After that Kathy and I went to Wisconsin, I performed my medical residency; I discovered that Wisconsin’s medical school tended to be the Mecca of retina surgery and also where the best ophthalmology plastic surgeons operated. Kathy and I were very happy there. I built our home; we had Arya, our first son, and I decided to become an ophthalmology plastic surgeon so I applied at Harvard,” says the doctor.

The nurses and assistants with whom he works often complain that to work with him is too stressful; that nothing they do is perfect; that he is very demanding. The doctor assures them he isn’t only that demanding with them, that he is even more so with himself and explains it is the only way to excel in what they do- to reach higher levels of perfection. When he was in high school he wanted to go to UCI and he had to study a lot to do so; at UCI he decided to become a doctor and he found it pretty hard to get into med school, he then wanted to become an ophthalmologist then an ophthalmic plastic and reconstructive surgeon. The year he was at Harvard he performed 879 surgeries, in other words, three a day, but since weekends were off he calculates he performed 10 to 15 surgeries a day.

His wife always asks him, “How can you do so much? What are you doing at 3 in the morning? The previous night he had only slept a couple of hours. His routine includes a complete day of work, he gets home at 9 PM, they eat dinner together, he talks with his children and puts them to bed; he talks with his wife, they watch TV a while; he rests on the couch a while. He awakens at 11:30 or midnight, she goes to bed and he goes to his office to work on his computer a while. “I love what I do, that makes me work more, I know I have a lot of energy but I really love what I am doing so the time I spend with patients or on my computer are very gratifying and I love doing it.” says the doctor.

Do you have hobbies?

Work and more work! I like tennis, but right now I don’t have time for it. I like my friends’ company, I like people and I don’t like being alone and I love to go to restaurants. I really enjoy Persian, Mexican and Italian food. I like sushi too. My wife and I love to travel; we like Mexico a lot! We visited Acapulco, Cancun and other places. Four years ago we were in Marbella in Spain. The place fascinated me, but we here also live in the most beautiful place in the world. We spent our tenth anniversary in Manzanillo and when one of the surgeons found out he said, “Oh my God, you’re traveling to the most beautiful place in the world, where the movie ‘10’ was filmed.” We had a great time there, it was unique, the landscape a dream. How different is that from this?

Do you find time to play with your children?

In high school I played volleyball, now I only do it with them. We take walks together and time in the open air especially when we travel. Besides, my office in Big Bear came from my desire to be with them and also have patients.

Dr. Tayani inaugurated Tayani Eye Institute in a small office in San Clemente ten years ago, three years later he doubled the space and soon employed a second surgeon, Peter Joson, a specialist in glaucoma and cataracts. In a short while his company added his practice and he opened another office in Mission Viejo, very ample- 5,000 square feet. Seven years later he opened a satellite office in Irvine and another in Big Bear and Arrowhead. “We go there twice a month. At first I did it with the idea that the whole family would accompany me and we would have a great time together while I worked a few hours. When I get to Big Bear I see 10 to 15 patients a day, and in spite of having a lot of work here, my heart is there; if it weren’t for my practice there are those who would not leave the mountains in order to take care of their eyes. I have seen the worst cataract cases there in Arrowhead and that’s only a couple of hours away. I establish a good relationship with people and then I feel obligated to treat them, I can’t abandon them. I already told my wife that this February we have to go as a family, because we haven’t done so the last few months,” he says with determination.

“Our objective is to help people. Persian people can be difficult but when they like a doctor they are very loyal. I believe the same happens with Latinos, although they are not difficult. Latinos’ loyalty is well known. For the time being Fabiola, our office administrator, as well as Alexandra are from Mexico and are ready to wait on Latino patients. I also speak a little Spanish; I took a semester in college and working at restaurants and during med school one meets a lot of Latinos.” He says happily. The doctor speaks three languages: Farsi, English and Spanish.

Today Tayani Eye Institute Med-Aesthetics has seven centers: San Clemente, Mission Viejo and satellites in Irvine, Costa Mesa, Big Bear and Arrowhead. Last year he inaugurated DermaBare, a cosmetic center for facial hair removal also in Mission Viejo.

The doctor lives with his family In Aliso Viejo. He has one son, Arya who is 12, and two daughters, Nadia 11 and Sara 9, and with his inseparable Kathy, they are the doctor’s most valuable treasure.

Dr. Ramin Tayani completed his medical degree at UCI and did two years of eye research at UC San Francisco; he got his Masters’ degree in health policy and management from the school of Public Health from UCLA and chose to pursue an Internship at Yale University with Dr. Ali Khodadoust; he continued on to Milwaukee, Medical College of Wisconsin to pursue his ophthalmology training. He completed his last year in Milwaukee as the Chief resident. Dr.Tayani’s almost 18 year post high school educational path was completed with fellowship training at the Harvard University, in Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.

Dr. Ramin Tayani is the Chief of Opthamology at the San Clemente Hospital and part of the personnel at Mission Memorial, South Coast Medical Center, Saddleback Memorial, UCI Medical Center, and St. Jude Medical Center; he practices surgery in all these locations and in others besides.

Dr. Ramin Tayani is a member of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, of the American Medical Association, of the California Medical Association, and of the Orange County Medical Association. Some of his honors include Chief Resident, Dept of Ophthalomolgy at The Eye Institute, Medical College of Wisconsin and President, Alpha Epsilon Delta National Premed Honor Society, Irvine chapter.

Message from the Editor- Silvia Ichar

Interpreted by Peggy Edwards

With renewed energy and hope for a more stable future, we prepare to enjoy the more pleasant coming months. And, as if adding to the celebration of the 15 year anniversary of our magazine, PARA TODOS, the Getty Villa allowed us to have a photo session for this edition, in the magnificent gardens of the outstanding museum in Malibu.

Beautiful Genesis Rodriguez and charming Christian Meier, two recognized soup-operas actors, felt much complimented at being the first Latino couple to pose at the Getty Villa for our cover. Besides, this is the first museum which because of the bicentennial celebration of Mexico’s Independence, will exhibit valuable pieces from The Aztec Pantheon and the Art of the Empire, from March 24 until July 5. This is a unique opportunity you cannot let go by.  

There are some signs that the economy is awakening. Don’t forget to be moderate in your expenses. Saving some will make you feel more secure. And if the noose is choking you, if the recession took your job, try to figure things out calmly and find sensible solutions; accept whatever job you are offered until better opportunities come your way. There are always options. Find yours. This is why it is so important that you fill in your 2010 Census form in March. How can we get better labor, health and other benefits for the Latino community if our numbers are not known?

Cheer you up and join us at the Swallows Parade in San Juan Capistrano on March 20 from 11 AM to 2 PM. I have been announcing at the Festival in Spanish for many years and I’m asking our advertisers to donate gifts to raffle among the audience. Share the fun with us and win a prize!

As PARA TODOS feels great pride at being granted the first cover with a Latino couple at the Getty Villa, as Latinos we should witness the treasures this center offers- they exhibit unique pieces, some of them never before seen publicly, for our personal enrichment.* Our quest is to look for those things that render us more knowledgeable because by being well informed and educated we can achieve the life we have always wanted for ourselves and for our children.

*Visiting the Getty Villa

The Getty Villa is open Wednesday through Monday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. It is closed Tuesday and major holidays. Admission to the Getty Villa is always free.  A ticket is required for admission.  Tickets can be ordered in advance, or on the day of your visit, at www.getty.edu/visit or at (310) 440-7300.   Parking is $15 per car, but free after 5pm for evening events. Groups of 15 or more must make reservations by phone.  For more information, call 310-440-7300 (English or Spanish); 310-440-7305 (TTY line for the deaf or hearing impaired).  The Getty Villa is at 17985 Pacific Coast Highway, Pacific Palisades, California.

She was a young pop icon in the 80′s and queen of Soap Operas in Spanish in the 90′s. Thalía returns this summer with a brand new album called Lunada, which is her first full spanish album in 8 years. The first single of the album, “Ten Paciencia” is already a hit. Visit your local music store and purchase Thalía’s new album today!

How her life has changed with a new baby:

“You see life with a new perspective, from a new aspect. You begin to understand situations that people go through, and you start to see how people really are.”

Life with Tommy Mottola:

“We have always been very united. At this moment, we are a lot more together than before.”

How do you ignore negative press, or celebrity gossip, especially when it’s related to you?

“I don’t really get into it, in my home you wont find one entertainment magazine, not one. We jump the entertainment sections in newspapers, we don’t watch any of those programs on TV. For me, personally, it’s like venom. We don’t want to be around it.”

On starting young in the industry:

“It wasn’t work for me, it was having a good time. I was more mischievous than anything. I would take any chance I had at causing mischief.”

The first Latina to become Secretary of Labor of the U.S.A. is a tireless defender of workers’ rights, this appointment is the culmination of a life of action and constant work to bring justice and well being to those who need it the most.

Hilda Solis was born and raised in Los Angeles, of immigrant parents, who are models of a thirst for justice, work ethic, and pride in their Latino roots, virtues she represents in her transparent, fruitful political career. Hilda Solis has been making history since 1994, when she became the first Latina woman to be a member of the State Senate of California; the first Latina woman to represent the San Gabriel Valley and the youngest on the Senate. Today, having Hilda Solis as Secretary of Labor is a transcendent act for the country, being the first Latina woman to have served in this position.

President Obama named Hilda Solis as Secretary of Labor on January 20, 2009. The Senate confirmed her position on February 24, with 80 votes in favor and only 17 against.

She began her political career during Jimmy Carter’s administration in the Office of Hispanic Affairs at the White House, as executive editor of an informative bulletin, and later in the administration of Ronald Reagan, she ascended to Management Analyst in the Division of Civil Rights. Her first public job was in 1985 when she was elected to the board of the Rio Hondo Community College. She continued her political career offering her services to the State Assembly for the 57th Congressional District of California. In 1984 Solis became a member of the California State Senate, the first Latina to represent the San Gabriel Valley and the youngest; she was re-elected with a surprising number of votes. In 1996, as president of the Committee of Industrial Relations of the State of California, she headed up a battle to raise the minimum wage in California; she generated a record quantity of state law projects (17!), meant to combat domestic violence. She was a member of the State Senate for the 24th Congressional District and member of the House of Representatives for the 32nd Congressional District until she took the position of Secretary of Labor in February, at a very critical time with enormous challenges, but the entire country believes in her skill, and knowledge to find lasting solutions.

Hilda Solis was born of a very humble but hard-working family. Her father, Raul Solis, immigrated from Mexico and lived in the San Gabriel Valley working at the Quemetco factory where batteries were recycled. In Mexico Raul was the head of the Teamsters union, whose primary objective was the well being of its members, and to generate, through the union, an open dialogue between employee and employer. Her mother, Juana Sequeira was from Nicaragua, after immigrating she met her future husband at a citizenship class, they married and raised a lovely family of seven children in La Puente. Hilda is the third of four sisters and two brothers, they were educated and raised in this city.

Their father also got involved in the union in the valley, fighting to get health improvements for the workers. When her children were all enrolled in school, their mother began to work for Mattel; she did so for twenty years and she was a member of the United Rubber Workers. She was emphatic about the importance of a good education. She was a fervent Catholic.

As a child, Hilda would help her mother take care of her younger siblings. Hilda graduated from La Puente High School and felt let down due to the lack of support from the school for continuing with a college education. She, in her intent to inculcate a desire to learn more in her siblings, always took them to the library and gave them attractive books to read and asked them to follow her example. Hilda was the first of her family to attend the Polytechnic University of California in Pomona and she was able to do so thanks to a program that helped students with low financial resources and those who were the first in their family to enroll at a university. She paid for her education with Federal scholarships and with the scarce resources of a part-time job. She received her degree in Political Science in 1979. Two years later, in 1981, she got a Masters in Public Administration from USC.

She began her political career during the administration of Jimmy Carter at the Office of Hispanic Affairs in the White House where she was executive editor of an informative bulletin which was a part of her academic program. At the beginning of the Ronald Reagan administration, she was raised to the position of Management Analyst in the Administration and Budget, in the Division of Civil Rights, because of a difference in politics, she left the position that same year. “Our father always told us it was important to defend our rights, regardless of who we were or where we came from, that we should hold our head up high, with dignity and respect,” said Hilda to the California Journal in 2001.

She met Sam H. Sayyad, her future husband in Washington D.C. Today her husband has a mechanic shop in Irwindale, California. The couple lives in a modest home in El Monte, not far from where she was raised.

Upon returning to California she was a director for a program designed to help young people with low resources prepare for the university. In 1985 she was elected by the Administrative Council to the Rio Hondo Community College Board and re-elected in 1989. During this period as a counselor, she fought to improve professional preparation and she sought to increase the number of positions held by minorities and women. She became involved in several chambers of commerce in California and several women and Latina organizations. She was awarded in 1991 when she was named to the Insurance Commission of Los Angeles by the county’s supervisor, Gloria Molina, her political mentor. Besides she was chief of Art Torres’ Senate office.

She ran for the State Assembly election. She had the support of Gloria Molina and Congress Woman Barbara Boxer and during her campaign she concentrated on visiting citizens of her district at their homes; her mother offered the campaign volunteers burritos. She won among three democratic candidates in the general election for the state assembly. She was one of the seven Latinos who won office in the assembly, one of the most liberal and diverse.

During her mandate as state representative, she played an important role in the debate over illegal immigration in the country, approving a law permitting illegal immigrants to enroll in California’s universities as long as they were residents of the state. She supported workers and was against the tobacco industry, in support of a law that prohibited employees from smoking at the work site. She was a member of several committees dealing with education, including a new committee regarding water pollution and trash.

When Art Torres, left his position in the state Senate and the 24th district of California, Hilda took his place, becoming the first Latina woman to be a member of the state assembly, the first woman to represent the San Gabriel Valley and the youngest senate member. She was re-elected in 1998 by 74% of the vote. “She will be a national star. Solis is one of the most stable people I know,” said Art Torres, President of the Democratic Party of California.

She wrote 17 law proposals, regarding domestic violence during her term at the state senate and she dealt with topics of health, work and education. She defined herself as being party to the power of government, if the projects were good, and improve the quality of life.” In 1995 she proposed a law to increase the minimum wage from $4.25 to $5.75 per hour. Business organizations and the restaurant industry opposed the new law. When the governor, Pete Wilson vetoed it, Solis organized a successful campaign to transform the proposal into a popular initiative the following year, spending $50,000 of her own electoral funds and recruiting support from the unions. The proposition’s success gave her an invincible reputation and other states followed with the similar propositions. She took charge of the labor committee and she established herself as loyal to the interests of workers, but she also made sure to have a good relationship with the Republicans on the committee. She arranged public meetings with great visibility regarding the application of labor laws after a roundup at a factory that exploited 70 laborers from Thailand. She called several textile factories to ask for an explanation and she supported a harsh application of laws who exploit laborers.
Ray Hanes, Republican State Senator said: “Solis was a committed liberal and she put the labor union in her pocket,” Roy Hurtt, leader of the Republican Party in the state senate said, “Regardless of not seeing things the same way, she is very respected. I give her a lot of credit. She’s well informed and knows her subjects well.”

The Congresswoman has spent the majority of two decades defending workers’ rights, she submitted the Employee Free Choice Act through which employees could form unions that helped them negotiate with their employers. “Workers who have a union receive good salaries, that money stays in the community, and helps create a vibrant economy, it helps the worker send his children to college as my parents did… and eventually, they may even get an outstanding job with the government,” said Hilda Solis to the Washington Post in December 2008.

Some of Hilda Solis’ accomplishments are:
-Maintain the environment: she was the first woman to receive the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award in 2000 for her pioneering work in environmental justice. Her environmental legislation in California passed in 1999, was the first of its kind in the nation to become law.

-Promote clean energy: she created Green Jobs and granted funds for summer training for the unemployed, youth at risk and those who found themselves below the poverty level.

-Give more people access to health care; protect the environment; improve the quality of life for workers.

Some of her awards:
-She was named in 2007 to the Helsinki Commission and also the Mexico-U.S.A. interparliamentary Group

-She was elected Vice President of the General Committee of the Helsinki Commission on Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Issues. Hilda Solis was the only official elected from the nation to be part of that committee and she received many other recognitions.

“The confirmation of Hilda Solis is an immense victory: finally Americans will have a Secretary of Labor who represents workers and not presidents of lucrative companies,” said John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO.

“Men and women workers you now have a secretary on whom you can count on and know that she will fight for you because she understands personally the challenges faced by the workers of a global economy,” says Andy Severo, director of the SEIU.

America Bracho

Interpretation by peggyedwards4@yahoo.com

America Bracho, comes to Orange County recognized for her efficient system of healing urgent health condition that afflicted Michigan. She brought with her a vast amount of knowledge regarding her experience as a rural doctor in her town in Venezuela, lessons she treasured and put in practice, with an unquestionable determination to support human dignity, offering the right to health and well-being. In 1993 America Bracho founded the organization Latino Health Access (LHA), to assist in the multiple health needs of the Latino community of Orange County, a community without health insurance; she, hoping to improve the health and quality of life through quality, educational preventive services, emphasizing total personal participation regarding personal health decisions. Fighting against AIDS, diabetes, domestic violence and others, America Bracho today conquered a seven-year battle: Inaugurate a place in Santa Ana to build a park where families and their children can run, play and stay healthy in a safe place. But as in life’s great undertakings, America now more than ever needs your help and that of other agencies, to continue to build a healthier and more prosperous county.

Recently a PBS news reporter asked her if she was a community organizer. America answered, “I am only a person who believes, who militates in the hope of creating healthy communities through education, through radio, television, organizing the community, voting, teaching, creating a park, making tamales.” http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/10162009/watch2.html

Seven years ago, Irma, a mother who was already working with LHA, watched in horror as a boy was hit by a car, one of many children playing in a parking lot in Santa Ana, he was in search of a ball that had rolled into the street. After many meetings, Irma, LHA, and the then Mexican Consul, Luis Miguel Ortiz Haro, addressed city officials asking for one of many vacant lots, in order to build a park where children can meet and play safely. They said no, those lots were designated to develop an empowerment zone. The consul then replied, “but the money can’t be for leaving lots empty for ten years. It seems to me it would be as illegal to use it for another purpose as to not use it at all.”

The mothers and LHA wouldn’t quit ringing doorbells to make the park succeed. Then the city told them there was another lot located in front of Northgate Market, on 4th Street. After a few years they decided to sign the contract, Wells Fargo donated some money; Saint Joseph offered attorneys, architects and engineers to draw plans, permits and other documents, and another woman from Corona del Mar donated $100,000 dollars! “She became the park’s angel,” says America joyfully. “The community continues to sell tamales, carne asada, corn on the cob, to have garage sales, a group of counselors continues to raise funds, but they will need a lot more to complete the dream of the Community Park,” says America.

America Bracho continues seeding, raising leadership, and that leader who didn’t know she was a leader (because she is the mother who sells tamales, who cleans houses and who is paying for her children’s education,) but took courses at LHA and ended up getting involved, getting interested and obtaining a mechanism to participate and transform her community. These are the leaders LHA recruits.

America Bracho was born in Cumana, Venezuela, a city located on the east, her parents were docents and she has a sister two years older. They were raised in Caracas and her parents were very active in the community, professors of the old guard, who knew you can’t be an educator of a student and not care about them. Her father said he couldn’t teach biology and talk about sea creatures to students who had never been to the sea. So he would take the children to the sea to teach about it, several times a year. “From the time I was born, my home always breathed community and community service,” says America. America is crazy about her parents, she realizes their influence on her is huge, and she plans to spend Christmas with them and her sister on Margarita Island where they live.

Tell us about your childhood memories.

When I was in first grade, someone came to our school and spoke about polio and children who are paralyzed. She told us that the fight against polio, the immunization and the educational campaigns of the organization, Faith and Joy- an organization that still exists, were very costly. She gave us raffle tickets to sell, that story moved me so much that I sold raffle tickets every year. I remember telling people with sincere emotion, “Madam these children are becoming paralyzed and you aren’t buying a raffle ticket while they don’t have the resources to get help.”

America was 11 years old when she saw a child tied to a tree, he had Down’s syndrome and his mother said if her were not tied he would escape. Horrified she ran home to ask her mother how she could free him. America could not accept that reality. “Now we have created in LHA a program with children promoters, I have a great deal of faith in children and their ability to change their communities,” she says moved.

Tell us about your high school memories.

I loved it. At the end I became an activist, a community worker and a part of the student movement in Venezuela. But at 14 my parents decided to get a masters at Florida Atlantic University and I attended the 10th grade in Boca Raton. These were the years of racial integration; they would transport black children to white towns and visa versa, in order to force racial integration. Many Afro-Americans came to Boca Raton from other towns and fights happened, even with knives; I was scared. I couldn’t understand this racism. I knew about it in Venezuela, racist words and attitudes, but nothing this brutal, it was exasperating. My paternal grandparents were black, my father is more black than white, my maternal grandfather is blond and blue eyed and my maternal grandmother is indigenous, a good mixture as the Venezuelan song says, “ we all came out with peacock feathers.” That’s why I can’t conceive of criticism, condemnation or limiting the participation of someone for something out of his or her control. These are the things you can’t change nor should change because diversity enriches. It was a traumatic lesson for me. At the time the only thing I wanted was to return to Venezuela.

How long were you in Florida?

Only a year, I became 15 there. When my mother asked what I wanted for my birthday, I answered, “I want you to make me hallacas” these are Venezuelan tamales and they are also called banana leave tamale.” My mother laughed because this meant she had to find banana leaves and in those days there were no Latino markets, but when I got home from school I ate hallacas.” Her mother had searched at all the Florida haciendas asking for banana leaves.

Bracho finished high school and went on to medical school.

Why medicine?

I saw in medicine an opportunity to help people and saw suffering as related to human dignity; the right to health. The suffering caused by disease robs people of their dignity. And the protection of that dignity is the obligation of the heath worker. Sickness is so intrinsic to human dignity that health has to be a human right. I militate in the idea that health is a human right. I graduated form med school in Caracas and went on to work in my town. Besides, my mother always said her dream was to return home as a doctor, but the University of Venezuela was closed at the time, so she was forced to study something else.

“Studying medicine in Venezuela was marvelous because from the first year I saw patients in the hospitals; there they allow you to assist, and you don’t get a diploma until you perform community service after graduation. I made my mother’s dream a reality by working in our town. I stayed because I fell in love with the rural life and that’s where my two children were born. I had met my husband when I was in med school, we graduated together and he worked in the next-door town. My town is on the coast; in front of my home there is a gulf and you can see the mountains with tiny houses on the other side. Behind are more mountains covered by farms. I took care of fishers, the farmers on the other side; I would take off in a boat full of vaccines or in a jeep, or on a donkey wherever I had to go. That’s where I met the promoters of heath,” says America proudly.

Bracho started to practice in her town with the valuable help of Carmen, her nurse assistant, the equivalency of a health promoter. Carmen was from that town, everyone knew her, they respected her and the work she did. There was a nurse assistant in every town. Carmen received her with everything organized and telling her what she had to do. All the town’s children were vaccinated and it was the result of the close interaction between her assistant nurse and her community, where human relations have no substitute, that relationship is full of love and obligation.

Bracho admired the capacity of her nurse assistant to resolve medical problems without being a doctor. “That showed me that medicine is not a mystery, that people can be trained regarding fundamental principles as to how sickness occurs, is healed and how to prevent it, it’s a formula for success,” assures Bracho.

I also admire how the town responds and resolves problems presented with minimum resources. I don’t believe you need billions to do things right, but then I don’t know how to work without promoters,” says Bracho.

“Some high school students took a survey to determine the health of the entire district; we founded an examination lab because poor people had to go to the city, spend on transportation and food only to take a ten-minute test. That lab is still operating, a lab abiding by all regulations, started very rustic and nobody thought it would succeed but I went to Caracas, to my university and asked the professors to help us and the dean said: ‘America, in the basement we store all the old equipment from hospitals, get what you can use.’ A man with a truck transferred that treasure and with that the lab was founded. Very early in life I realized that the solutions are not in the hands of any one political party, but rather in building a conscience and compassion and that is the same with the fisherman, with the politician, with the teacher, with the priest, with those who conceive solutions, when we forget what makes us different we remember what makes us the same.

I saw a lot of people with tropical illnesses, but they were illnesses of poverty, parasites, diarrhea, TB, malaria. That’s where another level of conscience took over, when I asked myself if I wanted to keep seeing patients every day or learn to transform those systems, which must be done if one wants potable water, trash collection, etc. I was very young, I graduated at 25, but I was determined to someday learn how to change all of that,” she says convinced.

She knew that in Caracas they offered a course on Public Health that included Health Education and that professors who were teaching that went on to graduate school in the United States. So in spite of her bad experience in Florida, her husband and she asked for a scholarship, and departed for Michigan where they were accepted. They finished their masters but disillusioned they discover Venezuela had no work at the time. Michigan was already in the forefront of an AIDS program for Latinos, the epidemic had just begun and Bracho started to work there waiting for an opportunity in Caracas. She worked in the poorest neighborhoods of Detroit, with infected people, ex-addicts, ex-prostitutes, and she recruits them as her health promoters and creates a great team. An excellent program was created that became Midwest Hispanic Aid Coalition that included the entire country. This was a rough time, with attacks on homosexuals. She created a national net with Latinos so that the message would become more relevant, and that’s how she met people from California. One day they offered her the leadership of a health program for the first Spanish radio station operating 24 hours a day in Orange County. She comes and finds an enormous Latino community with no help, as if it didn’t exist. She met Alberto Gedissman and Ana Nogales, who already had a program, “Here, between us (Aquí, entre nos)” A first study was done which demonstrated that there were no services or a health agency in the county, but a year later the radio station was sold and the group that realized that study founded LHA.

In 1993 LHA was born to help the multiple health needs of the Latino community, and to improve their quality of life through preventive, educational and quality programs.

What programs does LHA offer?

Our first program in Santa Ana was regarding diabetes because it was urgent, but we knew there were also a lot of other problems, and that we should pursue them and transform our community. But this would not be resolved with a traditional program. If Bracho would attend one patient a day, she could never get far enough considering the infinite number of problems the community faced. Only by training promoters could she multitask. So she started recruiting health promoters.

A very dramatic experience marked the organization soon when one of the diabetes students became blind. When she asked her students if they would undergo surgery to prevent blindness, someone answered, “I would have the operation even if I had to sell tamales,” an answer that led them to their slogan: “A healthier community even though we may have to sell tamales.” Since then LHA sells tamales and the money is used to pay for diabetes operations.

Where are the programs held?

In the neighborhoods where they are most needed; where promoters are also recruited. Programs are held in homes, in patios, in garages, people bring their chairs; the classes are organized by the person who is truly interested in transforming the community by making it healthier and more prosperous. LHA is an institute for community participation, we believe that without participation change is impossible. And we know the communities can’t do it alone, that everyone needs to participate, doctors, teachers, and business owners, to realize a benefit for all. LHA creates mechanisms of participation for everyone. LHA has children promoters, six-years-old who are already transforming their communities and people 75 who are doing likewise.

Then we added a program dealing with violence, with children between 12 and 13, and we created a group of 12 juvenile leaders who have all graduated today and five of them are working with LHA as adults, they are our evaluation assistants. Then we created an obesity group, to build a park, to organize the Latino vote as part of our health strategy. LHA works throughout the county, from Buena Park to San Clemente.

How does LHA contact the community?

We reach about 40,000 persons a year. We knock on doors, talk to them at stores, fairs, schools, and churches and the streets, etc. The first year we knocked on 11,000 doors to get 1500 adults, the following year 6000 more and then 7000, then 8000 and on and on.

How many people work for LHA?

Presently we have 57, 32 of whom are community promoters with salaries and benefits, they are the eyes and ears of this community. We have 180 youths and children promoters and the youngest is six. The children come daily after school to train as promoters. The oldest is 75, and has been working for us for ten years, the program is called Latino Seniors (Personas Mayores,) he goes out to his community, as the rest of them do, to find more people; he also teaches. Thanks to this program we found out that Latino seniors didn’t get the services richer people got. These are assistance programs that exist for all and that they deserve.

We have women leading the program on domestic violence who entered as victims and now teach; people with diabetes, who teach about diabetes, besides we offer programs for prevention of accidents, poisons and healthy weight, for mental health, depression, programs to strengthen the family where we go to the homes and work with the mother in childhood development.

How would you describe LHA?

A program that responds with relevance, in a timely fashion, to actual situations. For example in the diabetes program, a woman as well as her daughter, were suffering from domestic violence. Her daughter wanted us to help her, but we had no domestic violence program, although several of our promoters were victims. When we tried to do so, she had already been killed, that created a crisis at LHA because besides the pain of her death, many saw themselves in the same situation as that young girl. That very day we decided to implement a domestic violence program that would include men and we started with the project: “Project Honor.” Each time we are presented with an emergency situation, we create a program and we begin to raise federal funds to pay our promoters.

LHA is an institute of participation, you tell us what you need and if it makes sense and agrees with our philosophy, we ask for the funds and start the program. Dr. Federico Vaca, a Panamanian from UCI came to us one day saying, “America I get so many dead kids from this area, caused by accidents like not using a car seat for different reasons. I’m very depressed because these kids get to us dead or paralyzed for life. I went to the hospital to find out what could be done and I was sent to you. I told him that if this program passes it is because you helped us, because LHA doesn’t do anything for anyone that shouldn’t be involved.” So we started to raise funds. This happened about eight years ago and we created the first program for car seats in Spanish in the county called “Buckle Me Up.” We started educating the community and replaced broken car seats with working car seats for free; we’ve given away thousands.

Besides, LHA has achieved valuable associations with different groups such as Kaiser of Santa Ana. Today LHA has a space in a community clinic where Kaiser operates and this is a mandatory program for family practice at Kaiser. LHA gives its members classes and receives remuneration. Our diabetes program has been replicated in San Diego and Los Angeles. Promoters have been trained in Rochester, Australia, South Africa and Oaxaca because people finally see the value in having promoters and community leadership as LHA has been demonstrating for 16 years. In actuality LHA is writing a book about the organization.

Bracho has received an infinite number of recognitions, she participates in numerous boards of directors and she continues to perfect herself professionally. She believes each of us is a valuable piece in the jigsaw puzzle that makes our community healthy, prosperous and secure, a community for all of us. “If you understand that there must be actions, that’s when you change from inaction to action, then you tell yourself you have to do something, be it to give ideas, time to teach children how to read, to help with something, your time or your money even though it may be those $10 you were going to spend on something not so healthy to eat. Donate it! Urges Bracho.

America Bracho founded Latino Health Access to assist in the multiple health needs of the Latino community of Orange County, to improve the health and quality of life through quality, educational preventive services. Today her work, through her health promoters and other valuable collaborators, has crossed borders but to continue to build well-being and socio-emotional security, she needs your participation.

For more information call Gabriela Gonzalez: (714) 542-7792

Interpretation by peggyedwards4@yahoo.com

Christmas has come and gone and soon after comes the ending of a very difficult year. 2010 brings us a new decade throughout which we must think positively about our health and our finances.

I invite you to reflect about Christmas and its real meaning. I hope that your Christmas was spent with family and friends; that it was warm and pleasant and full of giving. Love and kindness don’t come in small, expensive boxes. This year our gifts should be patience, understanding, kindness and a smile for whoever needs it. Let us trust that the New Year will be better and beneficial. Everything that happens to us in life starts with a thought of ours- let these thoughts be only good and full of promises.

If ultimately everything seems to work differently from the way we are used to, and we have to adjust to a new rhythm, an education continues to be the essential ingredient for success today and always. With correct information one can choose better, buy better, and relate to others better. Regardless of the cuts suffered by some educational programs, there are an infinite number of schools and agencies that continue to offer courses in every type of profession so you may benefit and grow. Any goal can be reached with discipline and a well done plan.

I invite you to read about America Bracho and her contagious, inexhaustible energy. If you haven’t yet met her you must do so! Because if you have no direction in life, you will find it immediately. You will become a part of the innumerable collaborators assisting her in taking care of our well-being and health in the county. Also, meet Anahi who is young and talented, take her seriously and you too may become a singer or famous artist if you hone the talents you have.

You will receive a Census 2010 survey in March and you will be responsible for answering it- only 10 brief questions. This form will also be available in our next issue and in public offices, such as the post office, schools and others. It is extremely important for you to fill it out, and there are no risks taken if you happen to be a non-resident, because what the census needs to know is how many people reside in the country and where.

These statistics will be used by the government for your representation; and community leaders will advocate for us to get us the benefits we deserve, as well as the health, hospital, school and other services. How can we fight for immigration reform without knowing how many of us need it?

I hope you were careful with Christmas gifts, it’s far better to have a fun party, delicious food and small gifts filled with love, rather than go into debt and end up depressed, without energy and the positivism we need to light up the New Year. Happy Holidays and a wonderful and Prosperous year 2010!