PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — Here in the Bay Area, a veteran is using shared history to help groups who have lived long enough experience some of the struggles of past generations.
He is reminding them of how leadership in the Hispanic community is helping shape the future during Hispanic Heritage Month.
Carlos Rodriguez said he is using creative ways to show how important Hispanic culture is.
One of the tools he uses is laughing yoga with elderly participants in assisted living facilities.
It’s not exactly what he said he thought he would be doing after moving from Colombia 35 years ago, becoming a citizen and joining the military after 9/11.
Rodriguez said after retiring he wanted to do more, so he followed in his mother’s footsteps. First, he said he was looking to volunteer, but he eventually joined the Empath Health team, working in some of the same places his mother volunteered.
“She was a volunteer before she became a patient, and that inspired me to continue that legacy,” he said. “She was always ready to serve somebody in need, and what a better way to help someone through their passing.”
He said his father was a social worker and that both of his parents were devoted to helping others. It’s the kind of service he said is at the heart of what Hispanic Heritage Month is all about. He went from serving as a hero in uniform to a hero in small meaningful ways in the community — something he says is always a commonality no matter age or background.
“Being a Hispanic, I am very proud that we contribute to the mesh of our beautiful nation. Not only through culture but through our service, through the nation, we get to live the American dream,” he said.
If you ask him, making the world better whether he’s in uniform, spending time with veterans in a coffee shop or laughing yoga is just part of what makes his work so great. Rodriguez said some of the main things he helps veterans and seniors with are benefits, quality of care at the end of life and any language barriers that prevent them from getting the services they deserve.
“I have the perspective not only as a veteran but as a Hispanic, and if anyone needs help in Spanish, English, I speak German because I also lived there. I’m not only an ambassador for my culture, I’m an ambassador for the United States wherever I go,” he said.
“Talking to people, getting to get their trust so when those questions about quality of care and end of life, those hard conversations about your family, your loved one arise, I am able to answer the questions with the relationship we built, answer their questions and come to their aide.”