November 2006
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Destination: Children's
At Children's Hospital Boston, we're proud of our culture of collaboration, in which people with different cultural backgrounds work side-by-side to pursue a common goal. To celebrate this, Children's News introduces a series of profiles to showcase our many multicultural employees who have a major impact on the hospital, its patients and our community every day.
Olga Rodriguez
Women's Health
Nurse Practitioner, Martha Eliot Health Center (MEHC)Country
Dominican RepublicPrior to moving to the United States in 1991 from the Dominican Republic, Olga Rodriguez was a general practice physician with a specialty in obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN).
Because of the differences in the health care systems in the two countries, she could not practice medicine without totally re-earning her medical degree when she moved to Boston with her two children.
"I felt frustrated because although I was skilled in medicine in my country, I did not speak English very well, so this presented a challenge."
Armed with the support of her family and boundless confidence, Rodriguez decided to meet these challenges head on by enrolling in English as a Second Language courses at Roxbury Community College. After a year and a half of studying English, and with the support of her professors, she enrolled in the college's nursing program. Three years later, in 1995, she received her associate degree in Nursing and soon after joined the MEHC as a nurse staff.
Rodriguez took advantage of available resources and became certified by the American Nurses Credentialing Center in 1998. Two years later, she decided to continue her studies in OB/GYN and gynecology and is now a Women's Health Nurse Practitioner at MEHC.
"Effective communication plays such an important role in healthcare," says Rodriguez. "Here at Martha Eliot, I communicate with my patients in their own language, which makes them feel comfortable when speaking with me. I can understand what they are feeling and at the same time, I can explain to them about the necessary medicines and treatments."
Rodriguez's work is so exemplary, she was recently nominated for Children's Latino Achiever of the Year award. Proud of her Hispanic heritage, she says, "We have contributed so much to the advancement of this great nation, from education to economic development to health care."
