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Profile:FINAL 11/20/08 11:07 PM Page 14 Making Her Own Luck Once an uninsured single mom, mic h e l l e guti e rrez-vo beat great odds to become a registered nurse and has grown into a fiery and unabashed advocate for patients. by luc ia hwang H ow does it feel to be a young, single mom to a newborn, with a minimum-wage job flipping burgers and zero health insurance? What goes through the mind of a struggling college student who prays she doesn't get sick because she can't afford her school-sponsored insurance, let alone gas money to commute to classes? Can you imagine the worry and frustration of a working mother who has to cut her maternity leave short because if she doesn't return to work right away, her entire family will lose their insurance? Michelle Gutierrez-Vo knows exactly what it feels like to be each of these women because she actually lived these scenarios at different stages of her life. "I feel for the single moms, for the young kids who feel like they have to choose to either go to school or get a job, because I've been there," said Gutierrez-Vo, now an RN at one of Kaiser Permanente Fremont's outpatient clinics and a member of the CNA/NNOC Board of Directors. Gutierrez-Vo's real-life struggles and journey to become a registered nurse give her a unique and needed perspective to offer CNA/ NNOC. A self-declared "troublemaker," she is outspoken about her passion: defending and improving patient care in the outpatient setting, and in motivating her RN peers to get involved, too. She claimed no expertise on policy or politics when she joined the board in 2006, but it's clear that Gutierrez-Vo has the energy, passion, and fearlessness being a leader requires—and that she's a quick study. "I learned a lot from [the board]," she said. "They're a bunch of bad asses and I felt like I was home." The eldest of five children, Gutierrez-Vo immigrated to the United States with her family when she was a teenager. Her single mother struggled to support them, and they went without healthcare, as did most of their relatives. Before she graduated high school, Gutierrez-Vo also became a young, single mom, worried half to death about how she was going to pay the thousands of dollars in medical bills she racked up during her son's delivery. At the time, she had been working at a fast food restaurant and carried no insurance. "I got bad credit before I could even start credit!" she jokes now about her situation. Though it was a stressful time, one good result came of the experience: she decided to become a registered nurse. When Gutierrez-Vo was in the hospital giving birth, she said that the nurses treated her with condescension for being a teenage mom, compounding the fear she already felt. "I was so scared," she said. "I was at a vulnerable point, and you should be surrounded by people to provide you that dignity. I 14 REGISTERED NURSE deserved better. I thought, If I were that nurse, I would do better." That's how Gutierrez-Vo turned a potentially spirit-crushing experience into one that launched her career. Now, with the goal of becoming an RN and wanting to give her son a secure future, she returned to school and got her high school diploma. She enrolled in prerequisite nursing courses at Chabot College and scored good grades, but had little idea what she should do next. Fortunately, a counselor named Dr. Wilson saw her potential and pushed her to aim high, picking out prestigious nursing schools where she wanted Gutierrez-Vo to apply. "I thought she was crazy," said Gutierrez-Vo. "The tuition at these places was like $20,000 a year and I didn't even have bus money then." No matter, advised Dr. Wilson. First get in, then they would work to figure out how to pay. So Gutierrez-Vo applied and was accepted to an intercollegiate bachelor's program at Samuel Merritt College School of Nursing and Saint Mary's College of California. Dr. Wilson was right; Gutierrez-Vo managed W W W. C A L N U R S E S . O R G NOVEMBER 2008