The Power of One!
Hortencia Armendariz is my Power of One upstander and for many special reasons.
Mrs. Armendariz is an elected committee officer of the union healthcare organization, SEIU-UHW .
Mrs. Armendariz in many ways is an exceptional representation of an upstander. She is the healthcare justice division director in the union and is the highest ranking Latina in the entire union. Mrs. Armendariz represents patients, students, and working families, so they are able to get accessible, affordable healthcare given by trusted and quality healthcare professionals. These patients include medically underserved families, healthcare workers with a majority being of the female gender, and people of color that tend to be immigrants from around the world. SEIU-UHW has this slogan, "Patients before profits." which showcases exactly what Mrs. Armendariz and her union has been and still is fighting for. Hospitals and healthcare organizations care more about finances than the treatment they are giving, to their own workers and patients, especially right now due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This is why Mrs. Armendariz has dedicated her entire career to fighting for healthcare justice. She has faced and overcome many challenges within her job, but she conquers them by thinking about the people she is fighting for and the people in this world that have it worse than her. I was mesmerized by her words, "This job is not a job, it is a mission, it is a movement." and will always be by what she has accomplished for our community.
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