Hood River native wins Health Equity and Social Justice Award

“We recognize there are inequities and injustice in our communities,” Rivera said. “At OCH, we are proud to serve the communities we do. Even during the most trying times, everyone deserves access to quality healthcare.”

Rivera, who was born and raised in Hood River, began her work with One Community Health in March 2020 — right as the pandemic shuttered schools, businesses and organizations.

“When I started, I hit the ground sprinting,” she said. “Originally my job was to prevent chronic conditions — how to prevent that from happening —but then it was like, ‘Okay, COVID is here, everyone drop what you’re doing. How do we test people? How do we provide access?’ As an organization, early on, our operations shifted, and we were able to operationalize efforts around testing and eventually COVID vaccines. All while providing care for all other healthcare needs.”

Having worked in healthcare for a number of years, Rivera already knew key partners and agencies with which she could connect to maximize efforts. During the beginning of the pandemic, testing was the focus — but it was all primarily done at clinic. No one was going to the people instead.

That is important because transportation can be a barrier to accessing healthcare. So Rivera’s team began visiting in lieu sites, local schools, grocery stores and packing houses.

“Let’s bring the services to people where they feel most comfortable rather than the expectation that they are going to come to us,” she said. “Because we know that there are barriers in their way, preventing them from being able to access the service.”

Insurance, language and legal status are other barriers, and reaching out directly to community members revealed one more: Disseminated information at a high reading level. OCH worked to simplify into plain language so all could understand not only how testing and vaccines work, but how to access those services.

“We’ve been able to work collaboratively with other partners in the area, other agencies, to identify these barriers,” she said. “We have all seen that no one entity can sustain a service, it really takes all of us to be able to do so.”

The work is hard, but rewarding. When they get thanked by families or see that Hood River County has the highest vaccination rate in the state, as it did last week, she sees “that all the work, time and energy is making an impact, and a positive impact,” she said. “That’s what energizes us to continue doing the work because we see it’s effective and it’s working.”

This summer, when forest fires brought smoke to the region, Rivera and her team distributed N95 masks and water bottles, as well as provided information on heat stroke. While she didn’t ask her team to put themselves at risk by going out into the smoke, she had many volunteers.

“We have some folks on the team who have lived experiences, who grew up here and their families are farmworkers, this compels us to continue serving them” was a factor, she said. “It really shifted what our outreach efforts looked like. Shifted how we educate, but we also realized how quickly we can adapt to whatever the issue is, we can educate on that topic. And that it’s standing in solidarity at the same time with your community members — I appreciate you putting food on my table, the least I can do is make sure that you have a mask so that you can breathe.”

Rivera is focused on doing the work better — to provide more equitable access, ensure that all materials are in plain language, continue collaborations with area partners, gather feedback from the community and create a more welcoming and inclusive environment, all of which serves to ensure healthier outcomes.

“She cares deeply about her community, she cares deeply about her team, she cares deeply about the work that we do and it shows, in every conversation,” Griffith said in OCH’s award video (youtu.be/jvifZm9zI4U). “They aren’t always easy conversations because she is so passionate and she is such an advocate for people who need her voice that they can be challenging conversations and I applaud her for that.”

Said Max Janasik, One Community Health CEO, “Gladys is kind of our social justice warrior here at One Community Health and really, from when she immediately joined, she started making an impact ... She’s always looking for opportunities to really create more equity in our communities and she’s always on the lookout and finding ways to help us all serve better.”

Rivera also serves as the first Latinx Hood River City Councilor, and is on the boards of United Way and Mid-Columbia Community Action Council. She has previously served on the Gorge Grown Food Network board and Latinos in Action.

She is inspired to “dabble in all of this” because of her three children, who, like herself, are growing up in the Gorge.

“When I was growing up here it was different. I was treated different,” she said. “I feel like that’s why I’m involved in so many activities, boards or groups, because I don’t want them to have some of the same barriers that I faced growing up here in the Gorge. It was a lot different; I think it’s much more accepting now.”

As for her work at OCH, “I’m just proud to be here as part of this organization because we’re all innovators and we all really care,” Rivera said. “That’s why we try as hard as we do — because we all live here, our families live here, our families are patients within our clinic, and we want our community members to know, regardless of what you look like or how you speak, what your preferences are, that this is a safe place, this is a welcoming and inclusive environment and that we are improving in providing more equitable access.”