Daysi Bedolla Sotelo is a Master of Public Health, Health Management and Policy graduate student at the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health. Born in Mexico and immigrating to the United States at the age of eleven, Sotelo’s journey is one of breaking barriers and forging new paths. As a DACA recipient, she is dedicated to advocating for the rights of undocumented students, farmworkers, and other marginalized groups. As the eldest child in her family, she has not only been a role model for her younger siblings but has also taken on the unique role of being the first in her family to pursue higher education. This milestone is significant in a landscape where the presence of undocumented students in higher education remains few and far between.
What inspired you to pursue public health?
When I was 12, language access was not the best. I remember I had to go in with my parents to an emergency appointment and try to interpret for my parents. Yes, I could read, but I was a 12-year-old who had just started to learn English. I knew something was wrong [with the lack of a language interpreter in the ER], and now I know that a medical interpreter should have appeared at that appointment. With this experience, I was seeing the healthcare system’s injustices regarding who has access to care. When I got my first job, I had full insurance coverage, and feeling so grateful for it will never go away. I want everyone who grew up interpreting without access to care to feel the way I felt. I am inspired that everyone one day will have access to the care they need at every level.
Did you face any challenges at any point during your academic journey?
As a first-generation student seeking higher education, one always faces challenges. The first came when I had to go through SOPHAS to apply and pay for the application, to a limited number of scholarships available, and not to have any professor who looked like me or understood what my community taught me about public health. Also, sometimes, I was the only person of color in my background and had to navigate higher education alone because no one in my family warned me that this journey would be more than just academic. I was surprised to find out how stressed I would be throughout this journey and how demanding it would be to work a full-time job simultaneously. However, I found a community of peers named BREATHE, with whom I could make great connections, and classmates who checked in to see how everything was going. The community I created for myself and the support I seek from others was how to be here at the end of my master’s program.
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Who served as an inspiration during your academic journey?
Being the first one in my family to go and get a master’s degree has been a huge inspiration, as have my parents. My parents have encouraged me every step of the way with their acts of service and telling me “exhale ganas,” “si se puede,” and “ya mero,” and we are proud of you. The other inspiration is knowing that those who came before me have created a path for me to follow in the public health world. Especially in health policy, more people with my experience are needed, which has inspired me to keep going.
Who has been supportive of you?
My family, mentors, friends, peers, and the staff at the School of Public Health have been responsive and supportive.
What kind of impact do you hope to make in Public Health?
I would like to have a personal impact on public health by supporting and creating health policies that address the gaps in access to health care at all levels. I want to be in spaces and seats where my community needs to be seen, and I want to bring my voice, experience, and whole self to health policy work. I hope that when creating health policy, I can address not only social determinants of health but also inequalities, injustices, racism, and other -isms that continue to affect all of our communities. I hope that one day, I can look back and say I advocated and created a policy that will better the lives of Oregonians. Most importantly, it highlights Black, Indigenous, and People of Color in the state who are often forgotten.