Cancer Scientist Cherishes her Service in Austin, Minnesota

Memy’s most memorable moment from her service started with something simple: a smile. 

“Just looking at people and smiling, one person actually told me, ‘You helped me so much because you came here, and you were smiling at me. I was so down, and you started talking to me.’ Then she started telling me all the things that she's going through,” Memy explains. 

As a Public Health Project Coordinator in southern Minnesota, Memy supports a variety of projects that help to reach and engage more people from different cultural communities. She met this grateful community member while tabling at a food drive event. Every month, she and community health workers visit the Hormel meat-packing plant in Austin, Minnesota, the Canasta Familiar food drive, and other Mower County events to promote community services and resources. 

“When you're talking to someone and you ask them, ‘What do you think? How can we serve you best?’ some are wary, but suddenly when they know you and start talking, you feel how the people get empowered,” she says. “I love listening to people. That's the main thing for me, knowing that I gave them information they didn't have, and they will use it.” 

At the beginning of their service, Public Health Corps members complete training to prepare them for their projects. On top of being a Public Health Project Coordinator, Memy is a cancer scientist and studies how to use viruses to attack cancer cells in a way similar to radiation or chemotherapy. She joined Public Health Corps because she wanted to do even more for her community. Even with her scientific education and experience, she found her training inspiring and very useful. 

“I loved those weeks,” she says. “I was in a completely different world, and I loved it. I think I’ve used all of that, and it helped me a lot to start my service. I was impressed and I told people, ‘Wow, this is amazing!’ I did my training very quickly because I wanted to know about it. I enjoyed that so much.” 

Memy moved to Minnesota from Venezuela 25 years ago to work at Mayo Clinic. Her first language is Spanish, which has come in handy while communicating with some people in the Austin community. As part of her service, she also creates and translates resources so they are more easily accessible for Spanish speakers. One of the largest resources she created was a guide about HIV – in both English and Spanish – that included information about transmission, prevention, and where to find services in her community.  

Memy also helped promote health and wellness at the City of Austin’s Taste of Nations event, a celebration of the many cultures in their community. She coordinated partnerships with multiple organizations who provided blood pressure and glucose measurements as well as HIV testing. Memy’s organization’s booth, Mower County Public Health, provided information about nutrition programs and healthy cooking among others. 

“It started with people bringing food from all kinds of different places,” Memy says. “Now there are vendors from different places, there’s dancing, a show with performances from different places. Different organizations have tables there, but this was the first year there that there was a health and wellness section, and my supervisor was very, very proud of that.” 

This year, in addition to regular visits to the Hormel plant and supporting public events, Memy has also given wellness presentations at the local community college.  

“Public health involves many different things. It’s not only that your body is healthy, but you are emotionally stable, you have access to food, you have a good transportation, you and your family have education, you have places where you can relax and exercise, you have enough money to pay for your rent, you have stable housing. I explained all that and all the resources that you can if you need any help.” 

We are so grateful for Memy’s service! If you or someone you know is interested in supporting a public health organization in your community, join Memy as a Public Health Corps member. Visit ampact.us/public-health to learn more and apply now!