COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Mauro Cruz has worked in construction framing houses for the past 25 years, but took a break on a Monday to get his routine check-up.
Not only for his health, but to continue providing for his family.
“Every day I wake up and go to work," Cruz said.
"I do what’s expected of me — the bills don’t wait.”
A visit to the doctor can be a challenge for Cruz because he only speaks Spanish — often needing a translator to help him understand.
“It’s a lot of help when it comes to the language barrier," Cruz said.
"It’s good to have someone here helping me so the doctors can understand me as a patient, and I’ll be able to understand everything they tell me.”
Aggie students like Rita Castillo are helping in those efforts.
Castillo is in the Latino Medical Student Association at Texas A&M University. She translates for patients at the clinic, having experienced the situation firsthand.
“I’ve actually gone through a lot of healthcare problems with my grandpa, so I have been on the other side and know how it feels to have that language barrier keeping us from communicating well," Castillo said.
"That’s why I have set time aside to do this.”
Elizabeth Dickey is the Executive Director of Health for All in Bryan.
She told 15ABC that nearly a quarter of their patients are Spanish speakers, so the student organization’s help is much needed.
“We have about 24 percent of our population that identifies as Latino, but there is a percentage that has to have those translated for them," Dickey said.
"The students have done a lot of hard work in building this program, and we hope our patients take full advantage.”
Castillo hopes to be a bilingual doctor one day, so she can better communicate with Spanish-speaking patients.
“It’s a dream that I have, to hopefully accomplish, so I can hopefully close that barrier.”