Jenny Rosales is a woman of many names. Among them: "the nurse serving the barrios," "Mama Rose," "Tia," "Nurse Jenny."
To the residents of the low-income housing project in Pacoima where she has been a parish and school volunteer for the past five years, this retired registered nurse is the human face of God's love and compassion.
Now add one more to her list of names: 2006 Mother Joseph Award winner. On Dec. 1, the Sisters of Providence Leadership Team presented the award to Rosales at receptions at Guardian Angel Church in Pacoima and at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills. The award, presented on behalf of all of the sisters of Mother Joseph Province, is named in honor of the first provincial superior of the Sisters of Providence in the West.
Rosales has been instrumental in linking institutions like UCLA and the Alzheimer's Association with East Valley residents, many of whom have no health insurance, have limited incomes and speak only Spanish. Through Rosales' efforts, they have access to everything from diabetic screening and treatment, glaucoma testing and free mammograms to dementia testing and education and free medical care.
"People in the housing project trust her and know that Jenny will got to bat for them to find a piece of medical equipment, get them linked with a physician, or connect them with a community resource," says her nominator for the award, Ronald Sorenson, director of community outreach at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center, Burbank. "People see the love and compassion of Jesus in the face of Jenny Rosales, and because of her dedicated work, there is healing and positive outcomes developing within the underserved community she serves."
Born and raised in a family with four children in the tiny town of Zapata, Texas, Rosales has 58 first cousins in Zapata, where the closest hospital was in Laredo, 50 miles away. Her father raised cattle, then did construction work, and her mother was a seamstress and homemaker. Her father's arthritis led the family to move to California, and Jenny found herself living a block and a half away from Guardian Angel Church.
Rosales attended Los Angeles Valley College in Van Nuys and became an LPN and then an RN while working as a medical assistant for two doctors in Pacoima. She worked at Pacoima Memorial Hospital from 1974 until it closed in 1984, receiving some operating room training that she would put to use later. She followed that with 18 years working at Olive View Medical Center, in Sylmar, which is associated with UCLA Medical Center. She spent three years teaching and handling medical walk-ins, then another 15 years in the cardiology cath lab.
Two years ago Rosales retired at the age of 63, but her career as a volunteer had already begun. "Even before that, I wanted to get my hands on it," she says.
She received parish nurse certification from Azusa Pacific University, "where I learned what it's all about, how to deal with the spiritual body and soul of the patient. I was going to help farm workers in need, but I learned there was more need in the inner city than I could imagine."
"I loved my work, but this was something I always wanted to do. Nursing is not all the mechanicals things you do; it is loving the people you serve and the work that you do."
Rosales began her volunteering by helping the school nurse at Guardian Angel. The collaborations began when she saw flyers for a UCLA program seeking Latinos for research on the ethnic group's high rates of diabetes and heart disease. Her mother and her in-laws were diabetics and she was interested in the link to coronary heart disease. Jenny went to a meeting to find out more and wound up showing the researchers the way to meet their objectives.
"Give me a site in Pacoima and I will find the people," she told them. The work began with testing for glucose, cholesterol and complete physicals. Then came exercise classes and eye exams. "The first focus was on the elderly, then we added kids and people with vision problems."
Rosales kept asking questions and bringing in patients. "I wanted to know why Latino people were getting Alzheimer's at 35 and at 40," she recalls. A seminar she put together at Guardian Angel, one of many on several health care topics, led to referrals of more than 70 patents for CT scans and MRIs. "That gave the researchers information and gave the patients information to take to their doctors," she explains.
Besides being a trusted individual who connects people to resources, Rosales has instituted classes and planned health fairs and screening events. Identifying diabetes as a health care epidemic and obesity as a major health issue, she began a diabetes class at the church and implemented and exercise class: teaching 100 enrollees how to manage their disease.
She arranged collaboration efforts with UCLA (diabetic screening and treatment), Jules Stein Institute (glaucoma testing), Alzheimer's Association (dementia testing and education), Elizabeth Center (free mammograms for low-income), Project ALTO (diabetes screening and education), and Access to Care Collaborative (free medical care). She also connected residents with the Senior Outreach Program at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center, where trained senior volunteers and senior peer counselors deal with depression and provide in-home services.
For five years, this busy volunteer has been teaching people about health care and giving them access to it. Her motivation?
"I have always loved to help," Rosales says. "When there was a flood and they needed social workers, I helped with CCD and with charity. That has been my drive. I thank God that He has given me the knowledge and the strength to continue working and my desire to help. When I can give of my time to help and the people say thanks, that is my gratification."
Rosales estimates that she puts in 20 to 26 hours a week as a volunteer, including telephone work and events. "I don't do it alone," she insists. "There are about 20 volunteers who help me." But it is Jenny who got the ball rolling, asking people she sees at the parish church on Sundays to join her. On a recent Sunday, they blanketed six Masses, signing up 264 people for flu vaccines, "and I told them to get ready for more," she says.
Seniors, many of whom have no Social Security and no insurance, love Rosales, who is always on the lookout for canes, walkers and wheelchairs, including one she found for a family that had been pushing a loved one around in a shopping cart. To date, Rosales has come up with 34 walkers, including one she gave to a 96-year-old who took a fall. When the elderly woman mended enough to graduate to a cane, she brought Rosales the walker back so she could pass it on to someone else.
She savors her meetings with the nurses of 24 parishes of various denominations who are part of the Providence health ministry. "Our demographics are different, but we all have needs that must be met," she says. "When we come together, we are one."
Her fan club includes her husband, Daniel Rosales Sr., a retired construction worker who was born in Burbank and went to schools in Pacoima, and their three sons, Daniel Jr., a real estate broker; Xavier, a supervisor for children's services in Los Angeles County; and Ricardo, a middle school assistant principal. An older brother who retired from a career as an Air Force commander after 22 years still lives in Zapata. "He does what I do but with veterans," Rosales says proudly.
Learning that she was to be a recipient of the Mother Joseph Award was Rosales' first real introduction to the pioneering Sister of Providence, she says. "I thought, 'I don't deserve this; I do it for love,' but my sons said, 'It is beautiful that they are acknowledging you.'"
Sorenson sees the link between Rosales and Mother Joseph. Like Mother Joseph, Rosales works in an area limited health care resources, and is a leader and visionary, bringing health care services by establishing relationships with providers, he explains. "Jenny treats all with love and respect, bringing the loving presence of God to those she encounters. She brings a sign of hope to a suffering community." |