The Venture recently reported about the opening of Prickly Pear Family Medicine in Houston, Texas. With over 2.7 million Latinos in Houston, the need for bilingual physicians is great. Dr. Cindy Cedillo-Ruiz is addressing this issue. Dr. Cindy grew up in Houston and can personally relate to the struggle of finding affordable, quality healthcare for Latino families.
As a kid, I saw firsthand how families struggled accessing healthcare and finding a bilingual doctor. I founded Prickly Pear Family Medicine because healthcare shouldn’t be a privilege and everyone should have a doctor in the family.
When Dr. Cindy planned her clinic, she gave a lot of thought to its location. Google Maps shows the most DPC clinics in the Houston area are located in the suburbs and target a different audience. Prickly Pear Family Medicine is instead located in the heart of the city, close to freeways and accessible by bus.
Most of Dr. Cindy’s patients are skeptical at first because they have never hear of Direct Primary Care and don’t know how it works. Patient are put at ease though when Dr. Cindy answers the phone and suggests they come in for a meet and greet. The fact the she is not only bilingual but also bicultural help Latino families to feel at ease right away. I suggest you read Dr. Cindy’s posting “Spanish Speaking Doctors: Houston’s Medical Unicorns.” It is very a insightful and heartfelt. She sums it up best when she says:
I opened my bilingual clinic in Houston because I wanted it to be a hub for everything related to Latinos and healthcare. Prickly Pear Family Medicine is not only open to families in need of medical services, but a place for future doctors from our community to learn and get mentored.
Bilingual doctors shouldn’t be medical unicorns. I look forward to working with patients and partners to create a healthier community and a pipeline into medical school.
DPC News is excited to hear updates from Prickly Pear Medicine in the future. It is so exciting to how Direct Primary Care can be tailored to fit the needs of individual communities across the country.