Today is Cesar Chevaz and this year San Diego State University has awarded a Cesar Chevaz lifetime service award to a woman who began her job picking crops in Calexico . Irma Cota caught the bug during the United farm workers strike. She is an alum of SDSU. She oversees a network of 11 community clinics. I met her in her office recently to find out more about her. I often tell the story that we grew up with a single mother who worked in the fields. And so as soon as we were old enough to work in the fields, we started helping our mother on the weekends and in the summer. In the field, depending on the season, we did carrots, broccoli two onions, garlic and tomatoes and then beginning June we would go to primarily takes drivers. I believe you had to take care of your mother when she got can't, right? Yes. That play a role? Absolutely. But I would like to share before we realize my mother had cancer. That is the summer between my sophomore year and junior year I was sent off to Salinas to work side-by-side with my aunt in the fields. Within weeks of my working, the United farm workers went on strike and that cut defaulted -- catapulted me into a leadership role because I was the only one in the crew that spoke English. So I was the leader of that crew that every morning showed up at the union hall and we got directed to where we would be picketing. During that experience I found out the farm workers had a free clinic. And they needed interpreters. So in the afternoons and once I got back to work after the strike ended I would volunteer two nights a week at the free clinic. And so at the end of the summer I came back to school. In late October or early November my mother had a medical crisis. She was rushed to the hospital and the doctor did a biopsy. Three days later we got the news that she had terminal cancer. We knew she had something that we thought it would pass but apparently she had the symptoms for quite a long time. So the nurse came over to my house and told me how to give my mother her shot. She was diagnosed in early November and died in May. So the first six months I helped her take her to El Centro. I almost try to walk on her shoes in terms of having the pain to walk the distance we had to in order to get her treatment in the El Centro hospital. So the experience of my mother having this sudden health crisis together with my experience with the farm workers clinic initially, is what I feel gave me my career. So I feel fortunate, actually, having come out of those crisis in a way that I can have a future in health care. So back then what did your future look like? Did you ever dream you be the CEO of a multimillion dollar company? No. I was in a Catholic school however I was not on the college track. That was not something we could afford. However I did begin to recognize some frustration in myself. And a little bit of depression about what am I going to do with my life afterwards? I was lost and I didn't know what I was going to do. Then one Angel appeared. I had gone to school with my sister who wanted to know she could live with us while going to and -- Imperial Valley college. She asked me what was going on and I told her I was frustrated because I only had secretarial work training. I wasn't looking for that. And she told me about Imperial Valley college. I told her I didn't have money or transportation. She said she could beat my transportation. And after that I met enough people for two years I was able to get a ride to school. I don't remember missing school because of lack of rights. Then I was about to quit because I was tired of bombing a ride and living on $5 a week for food. And when Mr. Lopez heard noticed I had not applied he decided he would pay for my application. So he convinced me not to drop out and go on to what ever was next three. When I got accepted to San Diego state I transferred. When you look at what you have accomplished here at North County health services, what is the thing that gives you the most satisfaction in terms of have you seen a change, we've been able to contribute? I have always believed that healthcare is a right and not a privilege. When I first got here might management staff and my young group of clinical leaders, we decided we wanted to be known not only for access but for quality. That has been our driving force and that has not changed. That has made a successful because people recognize what they get when they come to North County health services. I think that his health is not just grow but retain our patients. And has the affordable health care act made a difference to the health of your community? Definitely. Many of those individuals who used to make a decision between buying food or coming to see a doctor don't have to make that difficult decision because they now have health insurance. And we do see they're coming more often and keeping their appointment. Your budget has what tripled or quadrupled since then? Yes when I got here the budget was $12 million and now it is 68 the budget was $12 million and now it is $68 million. When I started we had 200 employees and we have now covers 700 employees. We are seeing thousands more patience than we did when I started. I get a lot of pleasure out of seeing the entire hard work of the 700 employees of North County health services. Irma Cota is CEO of North County health services. She will be honored with the SDSU's Cesar Chavez Lifetime Service Award on April 8 at Montezuma Hall.
San Diego State University alum Irma Cota caught the leadership bug when she was a schoolgirl translating for her fellow crop pickers during the United Farm Workers strike in Salinas in 1970.
Cota, now president and chief executive officer of North County Health Services, will receive SDSU's Cesar Chavez Lifetime Service Award.
Growing up in Calexico
When she was a schoolgirl in Calexico helping her mother pick carrots and tomatoes in the fields, Cota never dreamed that she would one day lead a multimillion-dollar nonprofit corporation.
Cota is a warm, engaging woman with a touch of gray in her dark hair and an easy laugh. Sitting in her small corner office at North County Health Services headquarters in San Marcos, she talked about her childhood and the events that shaped her life.
During the school year, Cota and her sister and mother earned their living in the fields around Calexico.
“In Calexico, the winter season was carrots and broccolini, which I never ate until I became a professional and went to fancy restaurants,” she said. "In the spring, we (picked) the onions and the garlic and tomatoes.”
In the summers, Cota traveled to Salinas with her sister, mother and aunt for the strawberry harvest. In the season before her junior year of high school, the United Farm Workers went on strike in Salinas. Because she spoke the best English, Cota found herself thrust into a leadership role, translating for her group of workers.
That was when she learned about the free clinics run by the United Farm Workers union. Twice a week in the evenings, she would volunteer as a translator.
When she returned home to Calexico for her junior year, her mother had a health crisis and was taken to the hospital. She had terminal cancer.
“She was diagnosed in November and she died in May,” Cota said. “For six months I was the one that helped take her to El Centro on the Greyhound bus — we didn’t have cars. I can almost try to walk in her shoes, in terms of the pain, to walk to get her treatment in the El Centro hospital. I was her interpreter and her support system, as well as giving her her painkillers."
"The experience and this sudden health crisis that our family faced, as well as my experience with the farmworkers clinic, is what I feel gave me my career," Cota said.
Getting to college
Though she attended a Catholic girls' school where some of the other students were going on to college, Cota said college was not in her sights.
“That was not something we could afford," Cota said. "I did actually travel to work in the fields the summer I graduated from high school. There was a little bit of depression: 'What am I going to do with my life?'
"I was lost. I didn’t know what I was going to do. Then, one angel appeared," she said.
Her sister's friend, who was going to Imperial Valley College, came to stay with them and encouraged Cota to carpool with her to take classes. Cota thrived. She took part in the student assembly and became one of only two women to join the men's tennis team. But after two years of college, she was tired.
“I was about to quit because I was tired of bumming rides, living on $5 a week for food. When the dean and the counselor, Mr. Lopez, found out that I had not applied for a transfer, Mr. Lopez decided he was going to pay for my application. He convinced me not to drop out," she said.
Cota was accepted at SDSU. In the fall of 1974, she moved to San Diego and began taking courses in social work and subsequently transferred to health sciences.
She eventually earned a master’s degree in public health from San Diego State and has four certificates in health administration leadership from various institutions.
Running North County Health Services
Cota has built North County Health Services from an organization, which was in trouble in 1997, into a thriving network of 10 clinics that cover 1,000 square miles of San Diego’s North County. Cota calls the clinics the “medical home” for their clients, now 62,000 people.
“When I got here, the budget was $12 million. And now this year the budget is $68 million,” she said. “The staff was 200, and now we have more than 700.”
Some of the patients still work in the fields, Cota said. But the causes of health problems have changed since she worked in agriculture.
Pesticide poisoning is much less of a problem today. And patients are older now.
“We don’t see children 7, 8 and 10 working in the fields,” Cota said. “Because of labor laws, we don’t see that anymore.”
A lack of affordable housing is creating the latest health issues, she said.
“What we do see, because of lack of low-cost housing, you see multiple families living in a crowded condition or in a barn that has been converted to living quarters, so you do see more asthma among children and adults," she said.
But the Affordable Care Act has made a difference.
“Many of those individuals who used to make a decision between buying food or coming to see a doctor don’t have to make that difficult decision because they now have health insurance,” Cota said.
She looks back at her early experiences as sowing the seeds of her passion for making high-quality health care accessible to all. “I feel fortunate, actually, having come out of those crises in a way that I could have a future in health care,” Cota said.
Though she plans to retire in two years, Cota is still working to expand the network of North County Health Service clinics to improve access to care beyond San Diego’s North County.
“Riverside and Imperial counties still have some of the worst access to care in the state,” she said.
A new clinic opened recently in the Riverside County city of Perris.
For her work and achievements, Cota was chosen this year’s recipient of SDSU’s Cesar Chavez Lifetime Service Award.
She will be honored at SDSU’s 14th annual Cesar E. Chavez Commemorative Luncheon on April 8 at Montezuma Hall.
