I see a reflection of my father when I look into the eyes of migrant farm workers. I see the long hours of hard labor in unforgiving conditions, the pride in a job well done even though the pay is intolerably unfair, the hospitality of a migrant farm worker family sharing what little they have with friend and stranger alike. 

 I see a reflection of my father when I look into the eyes of migrant farm workers. I see the long hours of hard labor in unforgiving conditions, the pride in a job well done even though the pay is intolerably unfair, the hospitality of a migrant farm worker family sharing what little they have with friend and stranger alike. As the first male nurse to graduate from a local university, I have enjoyed many opportunities…the most important being called to volunteer in a migrant clinic early in my career. Seeing what these families had to endure urged me to ensure that migrant farm workers get the best health care possible as they try to make their living.

Seeing the needs of the less fortunate in many communities, I decided to make it my life’s mission to provide the best health care possible for all underserved people. This has become my life’s passion and the force behind my story of faith, survival, and vision over the past four decades. Like so many others that enter a healing profession, I have found my calling in working to heal the minds, bodies, and souls of my brothers and sisters here on earth.

This essay and portrait is part of a community-art and leadership project called “wdydwyd?” Tony Deifell (KNLP-16) invited his colleagues in the Kellogg Fellowship to reflect on what motivates them to follow their personal and professional paths by answering the question, “Why do you do what you do?”


“wdydwyd?” has reached over 1.5 million people worldwide and it has been used for team-building at Google, Twitter, many colleges and universities, nonprofits and K-12 classrooms. And, according to Wired Magazine, “In Silicon Valley, that question has been the hottest team-building meme since Outward Bound – and it’s spreading.” For more information: http://wdydwyd.com/leadership.


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