Maria Loredo Awarded Lifetime Achievement Award By The National Association Of Community Health Centers (Photo) -05/17/22
Denver, CO – In 1978 Maria Loredo walked into a three-car garage in Cornelius, Oregon. A patient of the newly formed Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center, she was working with migrant children in a Head Start program and had brought them there for well-child checks. A few weeks later, she was offered a job at the health center. Starting as a receptionist, Maria dedicated her career and personal experience of working in the fields as a child to develop programs that advocated for youth services, breaking down barriers to equitable health and leading classes at Virginia Garcia that helped employees foster a better understanding of the ramifications of poverty.
When she retired in 2021 she had become a living archive to the growth and history of the organization.
On Monday, May 2nd Maria Loredo, former COO at Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center, was awarded the 2022 Migrant Health Lifetime Achievement Award at the National Association of Community Health Center’s Conference for Agricultural Worker Health in Denver, CO.
The Conference for Agricultural Worker Health is the only annual conference dedicated solely to the health and well-being of America’s migratory and seasonal agricultural workers and their families. The awards this year held special significance as Migrant and Community Health Centers joined in celebrating the 60th Anniversary of the Migrant Health Program.
As the nation marks the 60th anniversary of the Migrant Health Program, this award holds a special significance and serves to highlight Maria’s profound impact and leadership as she has seen the center grow from its humble beginnings in a three-car garage to a growing network of health centers serving over 52,000 patients a year in Washington and Yamhill counties.
“My interest in migrant health was because I was one myself. I got offered the job in 1978 and 45 years later, I am still here. I always remember talking to our new employees. I would tell them, ‘I know you’re here for the job, but one day you’re going to feel the people, and you’re going to want to do more, and you’re going to stay.”, said Maria Loredo.
“Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center exists today because of the work that began 47 years ago by a handful of dedicated and driven community leaders like Maria Loredo, who said, “Si Se Puede!” and believed that everyone, even migrant farmworkers, deserved health care.”, said Gil Muñoz, CEO of Virginia Garcia.
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Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center provides high quality, comprehensive and culturally appropriate primary health care with a special emphasis on those with barriers to receiving health care. Since its founding 47 years ago, Virginia Garcia has grown from a single, grassroots clinic into a full service health care home serving Washington and Yamhill counties. Today, Virginia Garcia employs nearly 600 people and serves more than 52,000 patients at five primary care clinics, six dental clinics, five school-based health centers, a women’s clinic as well as a mobile outreach clinic.
Visit www.virginiagarcia.org for more information on the Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center.
