For Immediate Release: April 22, 2020
Contact: Michael Earls: [email protected]
TheDream.US Spotlights Healthcare Graduates: “Lucia,” a DACA Recipient and Lab Technician in Atlanta
“I’m putting my health on the line for a country I’ve lived in my entire life.”
Washington, DC – As the nation struggles with COVID-19 response and containment, TheDream.US offers a special note of gratitude to our Graduates who are working in healthcare and on the front lines of the pandemic response. For the rest of this week, we will highlight former TheDream.US Scholars working in healthcare.
Today, we highlight the story of “Lucia,” a DACA recipient and former TheDream.US Scholar who now works as a lab technician in Atlanta, Georgia:
“I work in a lab that is carrying out/processing COVID-19 testing kits. We’re helping alleviate the pressure that local/state labs deal with after being inundated with samples; therefore reducing the turnaround time greatly. This allows COVID-19 positive patients to be identified quicker, improving the chance of limiting the spread of the virus.
I’m putting my health on the line for a country I’ve lived in my entire life, for citizens of this country that don’t know me and never will, but I’m willing to do so gladly in order for the sake of ensuring that this virus is contained and people get the help they need.
It’s heartbreaking, but it’s a job I wouldn’t give up, and I just hope people keep that in mind when they think of DREAMers fighting on the front lines of this pandemic.”
Earlier, TheDream.US highlighted the stories of Sol and Grace as graduated TheDream.US Scholars who are now working as nurses – two of the 27,000 DACA recipients who work in health care. Watch a 2-minute video of Sol’s story here and read more about Grace here
This week’s focus on additional healthcare graduates’ stories comes after the Supreme Court this week granted a motion on behalf of DACA recipients to accept a supplemental brief that highlights the contributions of the DACAmented workforce in healthcare and other frontline fields. As the supplemental brief notes, “Healthcare providers on the frontlines of our nation’s fight against COVID-19 rely significantly upon DACA recipients to perform essential work. Approximately 27,000 DACA recipients are healthcare workers—including nurses, dentists, pharmacists, physician assistants, home health aides, technicians, and other staff—and nearly 200 are medical students, residents, and physicians.”
The supplemental brief also quotes the following excerpt from an amicus brief filed by Association of American Medical Colleges and 32 allied organizations last fall: “The country [is not] prepared to fill the loss that would result if DACA recipients were excluded from the health care workforce…To ensure health security, the country needs a robust health workforce. Rescinding DACA, however, would deprive the public of domestically educated, well-trained, and otherwise qualified health care professionals.”
About TheDream.US
TheDream.US is the nation’s largest college access and success program for immigrant youth, having provided more than 5,000 college scholarships to DREAMers at more than 70 partner colleges in 16 states and Washington, DC. We believe that all young people, regardless of where they were born, should have the opportunity to obtain a college education, pursue a meaningful career, and fully contribute to the country that they call home.
Read through TheDream.US Scholar story-bank, featuring powerful personal reflections from Scholars about their lives, journeys, and future goals here
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