“Yo, I did that, Yo, we did that.” For Christian Carmen, what started out as a family suggestion grew into his passion to support others in communities like his. Nursing was the launching point in Christian’s health care journey when he started at the University of Washington but made the switch to Public Health with his mom’s support.
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Why health care? Christian’s family suggested nursing as a means of job security. For historical context, Christian explained, “A lot of us (Filipinos) go into health care because we want to be nurses… The reason why nursing is such a big thing in the Filipino communities is that a lot of the time there are doctors in the Philippines that came over to America, but their degree is seen as less than in the US, so they turn to nursing as a secondary choice.” As a first-generation Filipino, Christian embraced nursing as his dream since its provided job security and paid well; however, he found his true passion in Public Health, which he pursued at the university that lead to his first job at HealthPoint as Clinical Program Coordinator.
HealthPoint’s mission to strengthen communities and provide access to all is what drew him to work for the organization since he also came from an underserved community in South Seattle. Christian’s first position as Clinical Programs Coordinator allowed him to help patients indirectly while helping communities. He was recently promoted to Executive Assistant and when we asked him how he felt in his role, he had this to say, “It’s like an advanced Coordinator because it’s not just about having a body of work, I now have to adapt to the projects that I have to support the VP with or Execs that I’m doing… at times I have to be innovative and proactive not reactive.”
Through his passion for helping others and his perseverance, Christian’s dream is to also create generational wealth for his family, so they won’t have to struggle the way he and generations before him had done. He wants to see his family win and by being passionate about what he offers, it will provide access to all the lives he impacts. A win for one is a win for all.
Check out the video interview of Christian below!