Episode 41
The Healthcare Activist: How Dr. Helen Arteaga-Landaverde changed the world by fixing one block
Happy New Year, Uplifters!
This big, beautiful, interconnected world of ours can sometimes feel irrevocably broken, and like the problems that most need solving are just too darn messy to tackle. If things are ever going to be better it will be because Uplifters started tiny fires of change that spread throughout communities and moved throughout the world. It’s why Dr. Helen Arteaga-Landaverde’s father told her as a little girl, “You can't fix the world, but you can fix this block.”
Dr. Arteaga-Landaverde is the CEO of NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst, one of the nation’s largest, and most lauded, public hospitals. She's the first woman of color and the first Latina in this role. Under her leadership, it’s become the first public hospital ever named to US News & World Report’s Best Hospitals list. More than that, she’s led a transformation of healthcare outcomes in one of the poorest and most diverse districts in the nation.
But, before becoming its leader, this hospital was the place where she witnessed the death of her beloved father due to their inability to access quality healthcare as recent immigrants, and eventually fought for her own life in the early days of the pandemic.
Please listen to her extraordinary story to hear:
- How a patient experiencing homelessness, mental illness, and addiction ultimately saved three other lives, thanks to the generous care of the uplifting team under Helen’s leadership.
- The challenges and sacrifices that come with being a CEO, mother, and community leader.
- How Helen navigates self-doubt and finds strength in family, community, meditation, and therapy.
- How Helen approaches motherhood, emphasizing that while she may not fit traditional expectations, she prioritizes being present for her children in the ways that matter most to them.
- How Helen and her team navigate cultural differences as healthcare providers in the most diverse district in the US.
- What Helen hopes her children will remember her for.
About Dr. Helen Arteaga-Landaverde
She has served as CEO of NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst, a 545-bed Level 1 Trauma and Academic Medical Center with over a million patient visits a year, since February 2021. She is the first woman of color and the first Latina to lead the hospital’s executive team. Under Helen’s leadership, NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst has been recognized as one of U.S. News and World Report’s “Best Regional Hospitals” and one of the nation’s "High Performing" hospitals in 9 individual service areas, including Heart Failure, Heart Attack, Stroke, Hip Fracture, Kidney Failure, Orthopedics, Pneumonia, and COPD. Helen has also led Elmhurst Hospital’s efforts to improve clinical quality measures and patient satisfaction scores. In September 2023, The Joint Commission recognized Elmhurst as the first hospital in New York State to achieve a Health Equity Gold standard certification, based on the facility’s dedication to reducing disparities in healthcare access, outcomes, and experiences. Helen has also spearheaded the hospital’s efforts to obtain Planetree Silver Level Certification for Excellence in Person-Centered Care and has worked closely with the hospital’s healthcare providers as they reached major milestones such as recognition from the American Heart Association for providing outstanding care to patients with chronic disease conditions and the AACN’s Beacon Awards for excellence in providing nursing care within intensive care units. Before her role at Elmhurst, Helen served as Assistant Vice President, Queens Network and Executive Initiatives at Urban Health Plan, a network of NYC-based community health centers. In partnership with Paloma Hernandez, the President and CEO of Urban Health Plan, she founded Plaza del Sol Family Health Center in June of 2009.
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Transcript
Welcome to the Uplifters podcast, where we celebrate the Uplifters among us. The women who do so much to make their worlds a little bit better through their daily choices. Today's guest is a shining example of this. Today we're hearing from Dr. Helen Arreaga-Landaverde. She's the CEO of NYC Health and Hospitals Elmhurst, which
cares for over a million patients every year. She's the first woman of color and the first Latina to lead the hospital. And under her leadership, the hospital has received incredible recognition, including being named to US News and World Report's Best Regional Hospitals list. And Helen has been recognized so much for her work as one of the top Latinas in business, as one of the best Latinas in business,
Helen Arteaga (:I'm going to go to bed.
Aransas Savas (:one of the top executives in New York. And we are just so honored to have you here, not just as a leader, as a big boss lady, Helen, but as a human with a really beautiful story
Aransas Savas (:Where does your story begin, Alan?
Helen Arteaga (:So, you know, I think it always begins with my dad. You know, my dad was, you know, he came from Ecuador and my dad was not a community activist. He didn't even know what the word meant. He truly believed in helping thy neighbor. Like, my dad would get into these messes where, people were like, oh, can you help me fix a roof? And I'm like, sure. And then I'm like, dad, you don't even know, like how to use a hammer. He was like, we'll figure it out. And...
Aransas Savas (:Hmm.
Helen Arteaga (:So of course, being a good teenager, I wanted to do everything but be him. And I wanted to come into the world of chemistry where back in the days in the 80s, a lot of our community, especially in the Latino community, a lot of people would go back home or, they passed away because they had cancer, but it was really HIV and AIDS. So for me, I saw that huge disparity in care, that huge disparity in...
Aransas Savas (:Hmm.
Helen Arteaga (:access to care and medication. So I went into the world of chemistry because I wanted to find the cure for HIV and AIDS for my community. Because I did not want to be a community activist. And unfortunately, my dad got sick. My dad was a natural healer. He didn't really believe in doctors, which was even funnier now that I'm in healthcare. And he got sick and we actually came here to Elmer's hospital to their emergency room. And they were like, where's your insurance card? And we're like, what is that? Because in Ecuador, we have universal healthcare.
Aransas Savas (:Hmm.
And we didn't know we had to apply for insurance. And back in the day, there was no Google, there was no internet. So we had to do everything the old school way, which was by paper. And of course my parents didn't know English. I was the main interpreter. And unfortunately that day, my dad got diagnosed with leukemia stage four. So he got diagnosed in November, he died that February.
Aransas Savas (:Yeah.
Helen Arteaga (:all within Elmer. So in my saddest moment of my life, one, I was very mad at the world because they took my dad away, because he was my best friend. a lot of people say, oh, you know, you became a feminist, so you believe in woman power because of your mom, because my mom is a very strong woman. And yeah, she helped me become a strong woman. But the really the person who put the seed of who I could become was my dad.
Aransas Savas (:Mm.
Aransas Savas (:Mm.
Helen Arteaga (:He literally taught me like as a woman, I can do anything better than a man. You know, this coming from an old school man. And when he died, I felt like someone took that away from me, that superpower that I had. He was my biggest cheerleader. And I saw the injustice of the world. Cause my dad died without having a Medicaid card. He died in pain cause we didn't have money to get the medication. I remember taking my dad to a doctor's office in my community, in my own community and said,
Aransas Savas (:Mm-hmm.
Helen Arteaga (:we can't see you. Or if you don't have the $50 for the medication that we had to get my dad, we can't give it to you. So a lot of him, a lot of his, you know, he died in pain and I was so pissed off. I remember Peter Velez was the CEO here at Elmer's. And I remember I board-cotted like Elmer's. I didn't get arrested by some miracle of God because I'm so mad. So in that moment of sadness, you know, our local priest was like, you know,
Aransas Savas (:Mm-hmm.
Helen Arteaga (:have to be stuck being so mad at the world. And then I was like, what can an immigrant girl do? And he was like, well, your dad used to say, you can't fix the world, Helen, but you can fix this block. So how do you fix this block? And I was like, well, I would build a health center where anybody would go through its doors and would speak their language, regardless where they came from, and I would help them get access to healthcare, whatever that meant. And my priest was like, all right, so go do it. And then I was like, okay.
Aransas Savas (:Hmm.
Aransas Savas (:Go do it.
Helen Arteaga (:And I was like, oh, what do I need to do? And I was like, I need to go to med school or become a doctor or whatever it is that I need to get done. And hence how I landed at Columbia. And I got my master's in epidemiology, learned how to get grants. And in 2009, I built Plaza de Sol Family Health Center. And we opened with a team of 12 providers. We just call ourselves the Apostle 12s and 38 patients. And one of them was my mom, so maybe 37. And...
Helen Arteaga (:15 years later, with the support of community partners and Urban Health Plan and Paloma Hernandez, like I left Plaza del Sol with 39,000 patients they take care of, and we changed the clinical indicators of Corona. We were the highest rates of TB. When I left, we weren't. We had the highest rate of maternal mortality, we weren't. All of our pregnancies went to full term. We had a 90% and higher.
in our health indicators. We were one of the top 25 percentiles of federally qualified health centers in the nation. And we were the biggest FQAC in Corona. And that was huge. And that's what my dad's death did. So out of something so sad, we literally fixed the block. We fixed the block because of my dad. And now I'm in a bigger block. I know, I get teary-eyed always around the holidays too.
Aransas Savas (:Your dad. Yeah. I'm sitting over here crying.
Helen Arteaga (:Um, so it's very, it's very interesting to see how something so sad really was the fire that really kicked it into. And even Elmer's, you know, how I came to Elmer's like Elmer's has always been my home since I was a teenager. It's where I came to get care where my dad passed away. But when I got COVID, you know, I was a community provider.
Aransas Savas (:Yeah.
Helen Arteaga (:And I remember the CEO here at Elmhurst Hospital was like, Helen, we're going to be the last people open. I'm like, no, the community is going to stay strong. Truly, everybody closed. And it was literally just blessed us all, and Elmhurst Hospital opened. Our lines were out of control. And when I got sick because I was helping the community out, I remember being in the emergency room in the worst pain possible. First wave of COVID was so painful. It was horrible. And of course, we were the epicenter of the epicenter here.
Aransas Savas (:Mm-hmm.
Aransas Savas (:Mm-hmm.
Helen Arteaga (:And I remember being in the emergency room and thinking like, fudge, I'm going to die in the same place. My dad died. And I just remember thinking like, okay, God, if you help me in this one, I'll come back and give back to Elmer's. Cause I always had like this love eight relationship with the hospital. I was like, I'll come back and I'll support Elmer's. I'll figure out like, just like, just give me a chance and let me come back., and of course the amazing team here in Elmer's hospital, like,
Aransas Savas (:Ugh.
Aransas Savas (:Mm-hmm.
Helen Arteaga (:they brought me back to life. Six days later, I was discharged back home and it changed my life. And I was like, okay, I was like, I'm gonna come back. When I thought I was coming to give back, I was like, I'm gonna help fundraise and support the hospital. But the position of CEO, cause at that time Isigo Rocha became like the hero with Every Right. And then was asked to help the next epicenter of the United States, which was Chicago.
Aransas Savas (:Hmm.
Helen Arteaga (:He went to Chicago and the opportunity came up to be here, the next CEO. And I remember thinking like, what fool, que loco, is going to apply for that job? You know, it's way, we're still in the first wave. We don't have the vaccine yet. I remember I was still very sick from, I was a long hauler. And I was just like, no, this is not going to happen. And then I remembered my dad.
Aransas Savas (:Hmm.
Helen Arteaga (:thinking like, Helen, you can't fix the world, but you can fix this block. And my community needed me when I didn't wanna be there anymore. And I was like, okay, what's the worst thing that could happen? They've hired me. And 21 interviews later, I was offered the position to be the CEO of Elmer's Hospital. Cause I was like, we're also in the midst of the pandemic. I was like, who's gonna hire, you know, again, first generation immigrant. I don't speak English, it's not my first language.
I've been out of the hospital world for like 15 years. Remember I was in Plaza de Sol. I was like, it's the pandemic, they probably want some more experience. But again, all that self doubt and all that like, I'm not meant to be in that chair for some odd reason, where like always in my head. But the voice that was even louder was my dad's. That the community needed me. That the community needed one of their own. And because I am from the community, I am a patient.
I think that changed a lot of how we manage the pandemic here at Elmhurst. And I think that's part also one of the small seeds of our success, because when I would say something, during the pandemic, whether it's like, come get your vaccine, wear your mask, this is what we need to get done, our community listened because I was one of them. I am, I'm still one of them. I still live like 10 blocks away from the hospital, which my family does not like, because I'm always here.
Aransas Savas (:Mm-hmm.
Aransas Savas (:I'm sorry.
Helen Arteaga (:But I think, again, it all started from my dad, basically me not being my dad, and then ending up being my dad at the end of the day.
Aransas Savas (:Mm-hmm. I know there's so much about this story that is full circle, certainly with your father's journey, your journey, and also the pandemics on both ends of the circle, right? So starting with HIV and AIDS and ending with the coronavirus pandemic. It is an example of so much of what we've talked about on this show, too, that really the reason I started
Helen Arteaga (:Yeah.
Aransas Savas (:the research about the influence of our environments. And if you read about environmental influences, what you understand very quickly is that the voices in our heads have a tremendous influence on our sense of self-belief and our choices. And so I had this image that if we could just get uplifters' voices into uplifters' heads, we would all be stronger and more courageous. And we would all keep having...
bigger neighborhoods that we could inspire.
Helen Arteaga (:I totally agree with you. I think that's why I meditate so much. I think I do a lot of guided meditation. When I talk to a lot of students and they're like, oh, Helen, again, cause I'm trying to be that uplifter of like, you're not defined by whatever this little box tells you, or what this database or what AI tells you now. And you know, a lot of the new generation, they take all these tests like,
Aransas Savas (:They're BuzzFeed quizzes.
Helen Arteaga (:Yeah, I'm an Intragram 7 and you know, I'm an introvert, extrovert. I'm like, yeah, what's your love language or whatever? And I think that's all good data points, but it doesn't define you. You know, I think when I look at my career, I've been a little bit of everything. You know, I've been a scientist, I've been a mom, I've been a community activist, you know, I'm an executive now. But it doesn't stop me from
Aransas Savas (:And my love language is this. Yeah.
Aransas Savas (:Yeah.
Helen Arteaga (:you know, going to a Buddhist temple and meditating for two hours. It doesn't stop me from also going to a bar down the block and doing karaoke for two hours. And, and I wish, you know, we could hear more of those voices. And I think that's why I love your podcast, cause you have so many different voices. And I think the more, especially women, I think the more we hear different voices, I think the more we're going to feel empowered to get out of that little box people are trying to put.
Aransas Savas (:Mm-hmm.
Aransas Savas (:Yes, yes, and just be a human. Because I think that's what you're describing, is a human is not a single facet or an idea. A human is richly complex. And especially if we are gifted enough to live a nice long life, we get to have lots of different experiences that define who we become.
Helen Arteaga (:Yeah.
Helen Arteaga (:No, I totally, the New York Times came out with an article, the neuroscientists have found that we actually have eight senses versus just the five, which I thought it was like, I was like, how great is that?
Helen Arteaga (:Of course, the scientific world is like, no, we have to stay with five. I'm like, no, I think maybe we have even more. We just haven't discovered it. And I think that's what it has to do with also the uplifting. I think the more we hear different voices that uplift us from these thoughts that we might have, I'm so lucky and I'm so grateful to have so many people that love me and support me.
Aransas Savas (:Right.
Aransas Savas (:Mm.
Helen Arteaga (:and help me negate those voices in my head. You know, even when I do this job today, I'm happy I got to listen to a podcast this morning that said, hey, the full moon is out today. It's a big deal, because the last full moon of the year is about morning. And it's not morning like in a sad way, it's morning of like, look at everything you've accomplished.
Aransas Savas (:Mmm.
Helen Arteaga (:And now you have to let it go because now you have to start fresh again. So this morning as it's a Monday at a hospital in flu season, so it's very, very busy here. And I'm just like, no, I'm going to enjoy this moment of craziness at the hospital. I'm like, I literally for lunch, I had chocolate cake. I was like, why not? Why not have chocolate cake?
Aransas Savas (:Thanks for watching!
Aransas Savas (:Wonderful.
Aransas Savas (:And there is no reason why not, really, if that's what you want.
Helen Arteaga (:Yeah maybe my doctor might not like it but a little bit chocolate cake is not going to kill everybody.
Aransas Savas (:. And underneath everything in your story is the notion of trust. That your community has trusted you to help them move through chronic health issues, through disease, through loss. And they've trusted you in large part.
I think because you have been honest about who you are as a person and that you are a human being who eats chocolate cake and not some mysterious entity who comes from a far away place and only eats kale.
Helen Arteaga (:Have a lunch!
Helen Arteaga (:Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, and I think that trust is super important. And I think it's a trust that you have to earn. So for me,, if I say I'm gonna do something, I'm gonna do it. Because I also know, I know the responsibility of doing it or not doing it. And especially my role here as the CEO of Elmer's, when I say something, I know it has such an impact.
Aransas Savas (:Mm-hmm.
Helen Arteaga (:we're a high volume hospital, we're the biggest hospital here in Queens. My team is 6,000 individuals. So that's 6,000 paychecks, 6,000 families that I know that if I make a simple decision, it will affect those 6,000 people. So sometimes it is a heavy load, but it makes it lighter to know that they trust me that I'm doing the right thing for them., so I always say I'm like, I'm a mama bear of 6,000.
n't get to eat lunch. There's: Aransas Savas (:Mm-hmm.
Helen Arteaga (:I might not be in the exam room with you, I might not be in the unit with you, I might not understand that fight you had with the doctor, with the resident or the other nurse or the PA or the family that just said that you were the worst thing ever created. But I saw, I saw the value in you. And I think when we're talking about uplifting individuals, I think it's just taking that moment just to see another individual.
Aransas Savas (:Hmm
Aransas Savas (:Yeah, I mean, especially now our health care system is in crisis. Our providers have the lowest level of work satisfaction in history. the burnout rates, especially for women, are at the highest rates of all time. And so arguably the greatest service you could do for your community right now is to care for the caregivers.
and to help them feel appreciated and supported.
Helen Arteaga (:sometimes simple is better for me, like a simple thank you Because sometimes our community members are tough. We deal with the most vulnerable community, a community sometimes that others don't want to deal with. But I always say, you never know when this is gonna change someone.
Aransas Savas (:Mm-hmm.
Helen Arteaga (:We had a patient. This always makes me cry a little bit. He was an alcoholic, homeless. the majority of his time. And he was in and out of our emergency room. I've been CEO three years. I've been knowing about this man for three years. He's changed his name, but we all know who he was. And of course, sometimes he would come very high, very aggressive, because he would...
Aransas Savas (:Mm-hmm.
Helen Arteaga (:be alcohol mixed with some certain drugs, but we always took care of him. And of course,, his body was overused. He didn't get the right help. So he was in his end of life situation and he asked to speak to me. Right. And he was like, Oh, I heard the CEOs from the neighborhood. I was like, I'm from the neighborhood. I was like, all right. I was like, okay, I'm going to come down and.
talk to him and then he asked me like, oh, if you're really from the neighborhood, where's the pizza? Like where you get the best tacos? Like what part of Fleshy Meadow Park are you not supposed to climb up on? all in Spanish. And so I met with him and he was like, look, I know I'm dying. The hospital has meant so much for me because it's been my one constant thing that I knew when the world was ending, I could come. And I was like, I'm like, well, thank you so much. That means a lot to me.
He was like, I want to give back, but I just don't know how, because I have nothing. I was like, your thank you is enough. And he was like, he literally was like, if there are any organs that I have that you can use, I would like to donate them. I was in the shock of my life because here's an alcoholic homeless rejected by the world. And here was on his deathbed saying, hey, I know I'm not perfect, but if there's anything you can use for me, please do it.
And of course he passed away and we were able to take three of his organs, donations to support three people. So at the end of the day, like, you know, all that aggressiveness, all that evilness that people saw at the end of the day, he was able to help three people stay alive, three, and he was a severe, you know, so that just gives me when people are like, Oh, this patient has no hope. And I was like, you just never know. You just never know.
Aransas Savas (:it's so easy to discount people who are challenging or who make an already difficult situation more difficult. But in this story, I think what we hear is this incredible reminder that every interaction we have to serve one another as human beings has the potential to have extraordinary ripple effects.
Helen Arteaga (:Mm-hmm.
Helen Arteaga (: Aransas Savas (:And so the love that was shown to that man, despite his situation, despite the fact that he was challenging, it's ultimately saved the lives of three people. And who knows what the ripple effects were from those three lives.
Helen Arteaga (:Yeah. And I'm hoping one of those three lives might be our president.
Aransas Savas (:There you go!
Aransas Savas (:So when you tell your story, you make it all sound so easy, Helen. I decided I was going to change my neighborhood. I went to Columbia. I got my degree. I learned how to write grants. And voila, we were serving thousands of lives. And I know it wasn't that easy.
Helen Arteaga (:Oh
Aransas Savas (:So you talked about your dad being your biggest cheerleader and hearing his voice in your head over and over again.
What keeps you going day in, day out? You are walking into rooms where maybe there are people with more education or more power or more louder voices. How do you speak up in those rooms?
Helen Arteaga (:Yeah, I get the man. Yeah, man. Yeah.
Helen Arteaga (:You know, I think one, my path has not been easy, you know, being first generation immigrant has not been easy one. There's been so much self doubt in myself and a lot of healing that I had to deal with as well. Everyone should see a therapist. Everyone should do the hard work. I'm like a hundred percent read a book, meditate, speak to your priest, speak to the universe, whoever it is, but definitely talk to someone.
Aransas Savas (:Agree.
Helen Arteaga (:I think my path took me a long one. It wasn't easy. I am not the best wife. I am not the best mom, which is sometimes hard for other women to hear because they're like, oh my God, I can't believe you just say you're not the best mom. I'm like, no, my kids know I am not. I'm not gonna bake you anything. I'm like, I'm sorry. But you need me there to be at some game or you need me to help you figure out the math.
I am there. I will leave all my phones, I'll leave the hospital, and I'm like, okay, we're gonna figure out third grade math. We're gonna do it together and I will be present. But will I be doing your pigtails and go to your play? Probably not. But my kids know that, and hence that might not be the best definition of motherhood. But for me and for my kids, that's enough. To the world, am I not? Making that decision was not an easy one.
It was not an easy one for me. It was an easy one for my husband. Culturally, it wasn't easy either. So when people see like, oh, this weight, I'm very honored for all of my awards and all this amazing job I have. It does come with sacrifice. I wanna stay at make them breakfast. I do not. I have a lot of support. My mom and my aunts are amazing.
Aransas Savas (:Mm-hmm.
Aransas Savas (:Mm-hmm.
Helen Arteaga (:There's other parts of me that they fulfilled. because this work is very demanding. So this work and this path that I've been on does come with sacrifices. And sometimes it does get lonely. And when the hard days kick in hard.
because there's some hard days at the hospital and hard days as a community leader. On those hard days, I come to my faith and in my faith is my dad. I'm like, okay, I'm not solving the world. I just need to fix this one little situation. And what is step number one?
Aransas Savas (:Mm-hmm.
Helen Arteaga (:And then when I do that, it's my own version of meditation, being present in my own thoughts, while sometimes it can be very scary. I mean, you don't have to be a CEO to be afraid of your thoughts. You could be Yoshmo running the corner store or the food truck and sitting down with your thoughts can be very scary. But if you have the courage to sit down with your thoughts, you'll see that you have the solutions for most of the stuff that you need to solve. Your gut will never lead you the wrong path. That's what I've come to terms with. So while my path hasn't been easy and the sacrifices have been big, I would not trade it for anything in the world. I like, I tell my kids that my kids might not be perfect. You know, some of them might be like not combed there. But I'm raising good human beings with good faith and-
believe in giving back to their community. And I love to see my community flourish. I've seen the ripple effects of what I've done. And I love when I see my staff all excited about a project that we did something really well. right now, we just got, the hospital got ranked. We're the first public hospital to get ranked by U.S. News and World Report. First public hospital.
Aransas Savas (:Oh my gosh.
Helen Arteaga (:And that just not, we're number 26. We made it the list with Sinai and NYU and Cornell, and we're not even half their budget. it takes a village to get these numbers and these titles in, I gave out 6,000 donuts. I don't wanna see a donut for a very long time, by the way.
Aransas Savas (:It's amazing.
Helen Arteaga (:The smell just makes me want to not puke. But to see the staff so excited that they couldn't believe Elmwood's hospital got ranked as a hospital, along with the NYUs and Mount Sinai, the pride they felt. It was my biggest high. That refreshes my soul in an instant.
Aransas Savas (:We all need those moments to celebrate. And you already know this, but I would be remiss if I didn't say that you sound like an amazing mother. And maybe it is culturally non-traditional, your approach, but any mom who's raising a kid who knows how to find support with their homework, who knows how to make their own breakfast, who has a strong sense of community activism, who...
Helen Arteaga (:Good luck.
Helen Arteaga (:Oh, hi.
Aransas Savas (:knows that every one of us has the potential to change the world, that is a child who has been well reared.
Helen Arteaga (:Aw, you're gonna make me cry.
Aransas Savas (:that is evidenced once more that you were doing things right. But I get it. It's hard to make those sacrifices. And to me, it sounds like the way you've done it is to prioritize what matters most. And the fact that you've been open with your kids about where they really need you and where, frankly, so many of us as parents show up because we feel like we should. And our kids don't really care.
Helen Arteaga (:Yeah.
Helen Arteaga (:No, no, and it's so funny. I remember I asked with the Louise, my eldest, I was like, look, I can't do this PTA thing. I was like, do you want me involved? Do you want me in these meetings? It was like, no, mom. I was like, I just need homework out. I'm like, you got it. I will be there for homework. And right now he plays football. He's American football, And I was like, look, honey, I can't go to these games. I'm like a mama bear seeing another kid twice your size, like jump on you, or like, I can't, it gives me palpitations.
I cannot go to your games, because I want to beat up the other kid. He was like, mom, I don't need you to go. He was like, if we make it to the championship, then I want you there. all he wants is for me to take him to school at 6.30 in the morning, He was like, I just want the mornings with you, mom. That's it. And I was like, you got it.
Aransas Savas (:I think that's where the balance lies, Helen. It's in getting really clear about what truly matters and not just what we feel like ought to matter and making a strong, clear commitment to those things. And when we have to not follow through on those, Right, there are moments, no doubt, when somebody says, but Dr. Helen, we need you.
Helen Arteaga (:Yeah.
Aransas Savas (:at 6.30 on this one day. The foundation that has been set by showing up for all those other days that you can make those trade-offs when you need to.
Helen Arteaga (:Yeah, no, and my kids know, like they like, oh, I was like, oh, it's a, you know, they're like, Elmer's needs her. Victoria's an eight year old, she's the only girl that I have. And so of course, we went to get our nails done. And we went to a new nail salon, because again, I'm trying to support local, we're very community-based.
Aransas Savas (:Hehehe
Helen Arteaga (:We're trying to support local businesses. So we went to get to this new nail salon, which is owned by two women, which we were very excited. So we went to support and the two women start talking about like that they actually went to Plaza de Sol for their care. it's a mom and daughter, the daughter gave birth to her son at Elmer's.
Aransas Savas (:Yay.
Aransas Savas (:Oh my gosh!
Helen Arteaga (:And my daughter is like, oh, my mommy works at Elmhurst.
to see these two women thriving, you know, was huge for me. And then when I tell, you know, when they're like, oh, what do you do at Elmhurst? I'm like, oh, I'm the CEO and Blas de la Sol was my, I founded Blas de la Sol. They're like, oh my God, we love the health centers, it's changed our lives..
I was really curious at the start of this conversation what your center was because you are being pulled in so many different directions. And so how would you describe that? What are you coming back to?
Helen Arteaga (:Yeah.
Helen Arteaga (:I think I'm always coming back down to community. If it doesn't feel right for my community, I won't do it.
Aransas Savas (:Uh huh.
Aransas Savas (:There you go.
Helen Arteaga (:Yeah, because my community is the 6,000 staff that I have, the communities that I serve. You know, Elmer's Hospital, I'm very lucky. We get to sit in the most diverse district, not only of New York City, not only of the state, but the US nationally. Our district speaks over 200 different languages and Elmer speaks 125. So that brings so much flavor to our hospital. Delicious food, by the way.
Aransas Savas (:my guys.
Helen Arteaga (:but with that gift comes a lot of barriers, a lot of cultural, like current, I went to see the Buddhist temples near us because the Buddhists don't believe in having any foreign liquids in their bodies and mammograms. Sometimes we have an abnormal mammograms with iodine to get an MRI of the breast. So going to the Buddhist and saying, hey, you know, I...
Aransas Savas (:Mm-hmm.
Helen Arteaga (:understand why you don't want these liquids or this synthetic iodine in your body. I totally agree, but let me tell you how it helps you, how it helps you get in, you know, and if you don't want it, that's fine, but no, it's gonna like delay some of our treatment and just finding that connection, right? Because them understanding.
Helen Arteaga (:like why we need, it's not just because we want to, it's not a procedure for us, it's gonna make us diagnose you better and attack the cancer in your breast better. there's a lot of barriers of education, culturally, and just additional practices that we have to make sure we get our patients to the right treatment at the right time., it just keeps coming back to trust and really nurturing that trust through mutual understanding. So I have to imagine that when you were sick with COVID in a time when there was no treatment yet,, I would run to Coney Island on my run and the freezer trucks were lined up with potties
Helen Arteaga (:Yeah.
Helen Arteaga (:Thank you.
Helen Arteaga (:Oh my god, no.
Aransas Savas (:no one knew how to take care of these people. And so I imagine it had to have been a very scary time for you having seen all of that and then being in the center of it.
Aransas Savas (:What in that moment did you hope your kids would hear you saying in their heads for the rest of their lives if you didn't make it?
Helen Arteaga (:Probably the same thing,.
You can't fix the world, but you can fix this block. And I say that often to my kids and I'm like, okay, I understand the drama of high school, I'm like, okay, you can't fix it all. But if you could fix one thing, what would be step one? You know, and with my kids, I'm like, okay, you know, we can't fix the world, we can't make the world green, but how do we fix this one block, you know? And so we keep our street clean, we help our neighbors, we walk.
Aransas Savas (:Mm.
Helen Arteaga (:We go to a salon, we support local businesses, I refuse to leave our neighborhood because I want our neighborhood to see that it is possible. So we are walking examples that we don't leave our neighborhoods just because now we make good money. We stay in and invest in our neighborhood.
Aransas Savas (:Hmm
Aransas Savas (:Mm-hmm.
Aransas Savas (:Yeah. for any of us who get overwhelmed by the size and scale of the problems that we face. And I always come back to that old phrase, how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.It's just taking these
Helen Arteaga (:Uh huh.
Helen Arteaga (:Oh, yeah.
Helen Arteaga (:It out. Eh.
Aransas Savas (:great big problems and acknowledging that just because they're big doesn't mean they can't be addressed. It just means that we have to start with a single step, a single bite, that one thing.
I just love the idea that out there in the world right now, there are people listening to this episode. And
Helen Arteaga (:I don't know.
Helen Arteaga (:Thank you.
Aransas Savas (:They'll hear it and they'll hear you saying, just take one step. You don't have to save the world. Just focus on your neighborhood.
Helen Arteaga (:Mm-hmm.
Helen Arteaga (:Yeah, just one block.
Aransas Savas (:Just one block. Yeah. Thank you, Helman.
Helen Arteaga (:Oh, no, thank you. Thank you so much for inviting me. Again, I really appreciate the work that you do for this. And it's important for us to hear the voices that we can do this work.
Aransas Savas (:Thank you.
Helen Arteaga (:Thank you.
Aransas Savas (:Uplifters, head on over to theuplifterspodcast.com for more from Helen and from all of our wonderful guests.
