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I’ve been working in healthcare for 7 years, I am the first generation, first born child and first grandchild. I listened to stories of how my grandpa had decided to take my grandma and their 6 children to immigrate to the United States. They left their home country Cambodia for a place unknown in order to live the American dream. I also am the first in my family to work in healthcare. I watched my aunts and uncles go to school to work in business. I tried to take that same route but I didn’t find any passion in crunching numbers. I decided to take a leap of faith after working in retail for so long. I wanted to help people but didn’t know where to start until I found a medical assistant program. I did my externship in women's health and ever since I have fallen in love with patient care.
Growing up Asian American and seeing that I looked different, my food was different, I spoke differently. I can remember being put in ESL classes because I knew the word plate in Cambodian instead of responding in English, this confused me. I had to explain how I did not grow up speaking English until I started Kindergarten. That’s when I learned not everyone is bilingual. There are many cultures here in America. It is important to see diversity when walking into a healthcare facility. There have been countless times when I was the only minority in a room and my colleagues were white. There have been times when I’ve roomed Asian American patients and can see how at ease they become when they see that I look like them too. When covid-19 first happened and the stop Asian hate movement started it affected me in a way that I had to realize although I was born in America and I still get asked, “where are you from?” I molded myself to be able to speak English perfectly because I didn’t want to be judged or not be given an opportunity because of how I look or spoke.
The older I get the more I hold my culture close and practice traditions with my family. My grandpa passed away when I was 10 and I often think will he be proud in the route that I took? In Cambodian culture it's important to put your family first and take care of each other. I can only imagine how scary it was for my family to immigrate here but they’ve built a life here in America and in return we work very hard to make our ancestors proud. I’ve learned so much from working in health care, and I continue to learn every day in my field. My hope is that people do not judge someone before you get to know them. America is a melting pot of people who come from different countries to live a better life.
