CommunityHealth shines the Volunteer Spotlight on Priscilla Molina as our July Volunteer of the Month!
Over the past year, Priscilla has contributed an incredible 40 hours to CH. Throughout the year she was with us, her dedication did not go unnoticed. Always trying to find ways to improve clinic flow, Priscilla was a great role model for other volunteers.
Priscilla is the proud daughter of parents who emigrated from Guatemala to Los Angeles in the 80s. Growing up in a mixed status family and being heavily involved in her community has shaped her passion and hope in medicine.
During the 2024 Volunteer of the Year Awards, Priscilla won the award for Medical Student of the Year. You can watch the awards ceremony through the link below.
CommunityHealth sat down with Priscilla to learn more about what quality health care for all means to her…
In a few sentences, tell us more about yourself and your background.
My name is Priscilla Stephanie Molina (she/her/ella) & I am the proud daughter of my wise & caring parents, both who immigrated from Guatemala in the ‘80s and ‘90s to Los Angeles, CA, where I was born and raised. Growing up in a mixed-status family alongside my two older brothers (one who immigrated to the U.S in his late teens), my parents (both of whom have worked 40+ hours a week in blue-collar jobs to make ends meet), and my Spanish-speaking, Latine church community (a vibrant multi-generational community whose roots lie all over Latin America), has defined who I am and what I hope to bring into medicine. I am passionate about people and learning from everyone I meet as I navigate my life. I love mentoring others and have arrived at my place here in medical school because of the mentors who believed in me and saw that I could bring good into this space. I am grateful to be the first in my family to attend & graduate from college and the first to enter the field of medicine.
Why and how did you begin volunteering with CommunityHealth?
I first heard about Community Health when applying to medical schools in Chicago. I was excited by the idea of being able to integrate myself in a space that valued patients regardless of their documentation status and ability to pay for their healthcare, something my family struggled with finding growing up. Upon beginning my time at UChicago for medical school, I learned more about how much life this space was bringing our classmates who were actively volunteering. When chosen to become one of the UChicago co-coordinators at Community Health alongside my friend Sam, whose leadership I looked up to and whose roots were so interconnected with this community as well, I began my beautiful journey at this clinic that has taught me so much.
What has kept you volunteering all this time?
When Sam and I came in, we were bubbling with ideas for ways we could strengthen the cohort of med students who were entering as volunteers for the year. It brought me a lot of joy knowing that by putting in the work early on to set clear visions and goals with our cohort of volunteers, we were setting ourselves up for a time where we could focus on each patient’s individual needs and become confident on how to best support them. Even as school got busier and different challenges arose to successfully integrate ourselves into the clinic, the fact that as students we could have such a large impact on providing quality care to each patient and work together with an excellent staff to make it all possible, really kept me coming to Community Health with a lot of excitement and joy in my heart.
What is something you have learned from volunteering?
One of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned from Community Health has come from working with the beautiful team of training coordinators, clinic coordinators, front desk workers, pharmacists, interpreters, and all the other team members who came together so smoothly to make sure our patients were getting the best care possible. I enjoyed being able to walk with patients through their time in the clinic with confidence in the positive interactions we would have with any interfacing department. I learned that to serve a historically disinvested community well, a united front from a diverse group of community members is pivotal. I am especially grateful for our consistent physician volunteers who would come rushing from their day jobs to both teach us students and ensure each patient got all their questions answered and gained clarity on the next steps of their health. I am also especially grateful to Malon and Rubi, two superstar staff members who provided Sam and me space for our ideas and helped us grow as healthcare leaders with their intentional guidance.
What has been your biggest takeaway from CommunityHealth, and how does this impact your other life or career goals?
Before CommunityHealth, I hadn’t really considered or witnessed the impact that free clinics could make in the local community. Over my time with CommunityHealth, I have come to appreciate the positive effect that a small number of dedicated people can have on not just patient communities but future healthcare professionals as well. As interpreters, we listen to and vocalize some of the most difficult experiences our patients have had to go through. Because interpreting in the first person is the standard within healthcare interpreting, it becomes a much more personal experience. However, CH interpreters also have the rare opportunity of working with our outstanding CommunityHealth providers in providing language concordant, culturally competent care. Because I was interpreting for doctors in the first person (i.e. speaking to patients in Spanish from the perspective of the doctor), I was able to imagine a future self helping Latino patients as their doctor. This experience gave me the confidence to switch careers and attend medical school to make this vision a reality.
What advice would you give to a new volunteer with CommunityHealth?
I would advise new volunteers to get to know folks in all the different departments to get exposed to all facets that make healthcare function well. Outside of our med student responsibilities, I was able to do this through getting trained as a vaccinator. I was able to support at vaccinating events where I got to learn from many newly arrived patients as well as at in-house appointments where I got to meet student and community volunteers from different walks of life and who were exposed to different aspects of Community Health. There are amazing people in this space so whenever possible, my advice would be to branch out and hear out the perspectives of the volunteer leaders who serve in different departments!
What is your favorite holiday and how do you like to celebrate?
Holidays have always been complex for my family as they are reminded of their home country and the community-centered ways they would celebrate in their youth. I’ve enjoyed making new traditions with my family, especially during Christmas time, which includes going on hikes in the lovely LA hills, watching Spanish-dubbed family movies cozied up at home, eating my mom’s yummy Guatemalan chile rellenos, and ending the day sharing stories from long-ago, stories of love, sacrifice, family drama & if we got lucky, the recounting of my parent’s migration to this country. I deeply cherish these moments and thank my family for all their sacrifice to allow us to come together on special days like these.
