GRANADA HILLS, Calif. — As a child Ana Ruiz Peña remembers going to the doctor's office with her dad, whose first language was Spanish. He had been diagnosed with lung cancer and she remembers she would often have to be her dad's translator when he needed help.
He died when Ruiz Peña was 13 years old, but his death inspired her to go into the medical field.
“He didn’t have bad care but he didn’t know how to access it, and make sure that he got to where he needed to be," said Ruiz Peña. "So I think maybe if things would have been different, maybe he would still be here.”
Ruiz Peña's father was part of the inspiration behind Vida Mobile Clinic, a nonprofit she started with fellow physician assistant, Karla Rugamas.
The women bonded over their similar backgrounds and experiences.
“Both of my parents are from El Salvador. They worked two or three jobs growing up, and so we grew up with no insurance. We had to attend a lot of free clinics. So I knew I wanted to be a change in whatever community where I would settle as an adult,” said Rugamas.
Vida Mobile Clinic is a nonprofit with two locations, an office in Granada Hills, and a mobile clinic in San Fernando that offers medical care to underserved and uninsured individuals at no cost.
Both Ruiz Peña and Rugamas still hold down full-time jobs and work at the mobile clinic on their days off, donating their time and paying for the office they rent out of their own money. The majority of their patients are Latino and Spanish speaking, some are undocumented and scared to go to other clinics. Others simply can’t afford health insurance.
“One thing that I always keep in the back of my head when I see these patients, I do think about my mom and dad because I think to myself, every patient is like a family member,” said Rugamas.
Both women say they want their clinic to be a place where people feel safe asking questions and seeking medical help without fear. As a reminder of why they started they hung a painting in one of the exam rooms, a piece of art painted by Ruiz Peña’s father.
“It always reminds me when I’m in here with a patient that he’s kind of still around with me,” said Ruiz Peña.
“It’s her dad helping us on this path that we’re walking through as we create Vida Mobile Clinic,” added Rugamas.