A Mexican immigrant family in the East Bay sacrificed their dream home to support their daughter's dream of going to medical school. This week, that sacrifice paid off in ways they never imagined.
As of Friday, Bianca Silva started her medical residency at a place she considers her second home, Kaiser Permanente, the same medical provider where her parents have worked for decades.
“My mom started off working at the pharmacy,” she said.
Bianca Silva said her father, Martin Silva has been the gardener at Kaiser's Richmond Medical Center since the 1990s. He joined about seven years after mom Leticia began her working in the pharmacy. She's now a Kaiser administrative assistant.
“I feel proud. I feel happy,” Martin Silva said.
That happiness came at an unimaginable cost.
“We had to give up our dream home when she was accepted into the medical school. So we knew that one way we can help her financially is by selling the house and moving into a smaller home,” Leticia Silva said.
“I am forever grateful for that,” said Bianca Silva. “Honestly, I think I could never really repay them for that.”
Bianca went pre-med at UC Irvine and went to medical school at Pacific Northwest University in Washington. During her third-year medical rotations, working in clinics in Washington and California, she often translated for patients who only spoke Spanish.
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“That's when I realized, I tell myself, 'Bianca, you could be a physician, but you could be a major asset also to serving this particular community,'” she said.
California has the largest Latino population in the country, which is 40%. But Latinos make up just 6% of all California physicians, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges.
“It’s a big gap to fill,” Bianca said.
Bianca will be working close by to mom and dad, at Kaiser's Vallejo Medical Center, where she received medical care as a child. The field of medicine she's pursuing, family medicine.
“My grandfather Raul. He would always say, ‘Échale ganas,’ which in English would mean, ‘Do your best,’” she said.
Last weekend, Bianca brought her medical school diploma to his grave.
“At his grave, I said 'Le eche,' which in Spanish means ‘I did it,’” she said.
