Gigi
“My passion – what is in my heart and my soul – is the health of the human being because we are the earth. And, I think the system, religion, social media, everything has programmed people to think that the earth is separate from human. But from generation to generation – doesn’t matter if you’re black, white, purple, green, blue – our ancestors, our lineage from the past is still on this earth because we become the earth.”
Albuquerque’s International District (ID), a 3.9-square-mile neighborhood tucked into the city’s southeast corridor, is home to New Mexico’s most diverse population: 22% of the ID’s residents are foreign born and over 35 languages are spoken. The rich cultural contributions of the ID run parallel, however, to mounting social and economic challenges. As of 2016, 41% of neighborhood residents lived below the federal poverty level; the median household income was $27,207 with unemployment topping 29%. With little green space, and a tree canopy of 3% (national average is 27%), ID residents face a significantly greater risk for respiratory illness and heat-related illnesses.
Despite – or maybe because of – these challenges, the ID community thrives with grassroots organizations, many run and funded by refugees and immigrants themselves, who are committed to providing resources, support and opportunities to those residents most at-risk for chronic homelessness, physical and mental health issues or lack of access to education and employment.
During COVID-19, the ID population, especially those individuals experiencing homelessness, fell particularly susceptible to the virus’ wrath. In the summer, to curb the spread, the City opened its first group of “Wellness Hotels,” safe locations where seniors or older individuals with the highest risk for developing COVID-19 could seek safe shelter. Since then, additional Wellness Hotels have opened, housing over 650 seniors experiencing homelessness every night.
Gigi, a community health worker and Bernalillo County Pathways Navigator for East Central Ministries and the International District Healthy Communities Coalition, was tapped to run the ID’s Wellness Hotel – with the largest and most-at-risk population. Electing to continue her work in-person throughout the pandemic, Gigi has directly ensured seniors have received – and continue to receive – shelter, stimulus benefits, food, healthcare and immigration benefits during this time.
This is Gigi’s story in her own words.
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I’ve been doing this all my life – to make sure everyone has basic needs. I’ve been like this since, I guess, I was five. My mother suffered from schizophrenia and mental illness, and I had to be the grown-up because I was the oldest of four of us. I always was a grown-up child, with a grown mind, and I always knew who I was. From the time I was seven, I knew I was on this earth to do something. No one had to tell me that – it was in me.
My dad taught me that in this country you need to learn the rules. The compliance, the system you’re gonna get into. So, that’s what he instilled in us. He taught all of us that we needed to learn the tax system, the retail system, the real estate system, the insurance system and the education system. He said that’s the only way we’re gonna help our community. So, we learned it. My brother’s in IT and construction, my sister’s in tax, finance and real estate, and I’m in insurance and health. We’re masters in our fields. With all that talent, we’ve been able to change a lot of families. All of our kids, they all have their own businesses and retirement savings; they’re in their 20s. We taught this to our kids, because it’s the future. So, this is what I’ve been doing all my life in my community – teaching systems.
In the community, it’s how I work with clients. I help, but I also try to educate people on how to navigate through systems. Now with the pandemic, we work more closely. It’s funny, when we were face-to-face, no one had time for anybody. But now, there’s nothing to do except go to the parks and the mountains as a family; that wasn’t going on before. We were so lost in the fast world. But now, everyone is getting to see who they really are and trying to find themselves. That had to happen. That’s what COVID has brought to me, in my eyes and what I’m seeing. I tell people, ‘Yeah, we can’t go to the clubs. Yeah, we can’t go to the museums. And, we can’t go to church. But, we’re together. That’s more powerful.’
I came here in 2018 and I came here because of the health of the New Mexican. There is no place in the United States like New Mexico. Period. I’ve been in every 50 states; I’ve lived in 15 or 20 of them. There is no place on the planet like this place. The beauty, the energy and the community – there’s real community here. They might not all communicate with each other – like all work as one – but the ID has their people, South Valley has their people, Nob Hill, Old Town, they’re communities and they take care of each other. You don’t see that in other places. This is supposed to be the poorest area – the ID – but, there’s beauty here.
My job as a certified community health worker and a Pathways Navigator, is to be the voice, the eyes, the ears and the fists for the most vulnerable members of our community. I tell a lot of people, try to be out in the street one night. Just one night. ‘Cause I did it. I did it with my son. And that’s when I learned there’s no way I could say that [homelessness] is normal. When you are victimized, you can’t get out of that victim-mode because that’s what your mind and your soul is only capable of doing, unless another human comes along and wants to help you at the right time when you’re ready for that. Some people don’t have that coming into their lives because people just automatically judge them.
In the summer, the Westside Shelter and the City of Albuquerque took 90 seniors that they had identified were at high risk for COVID and put them in three centers. I took the highest case load and interviewed the men to find out who had a case worker and who didn’t. I sat with them all weekend, but that’s when I earned respect from those men. Right off the bat – I didn’t take a break. I sat in that sun from 9 o’clock in the morning to 7 o’clock at night, sitting there, interviewing those men. I interviewed 28 men, of them I got 15 clients. All the others had a caseworker or already had what they needed. I said I would personally take those 15 clients and take care of their needs and get them ready for housing. Every single one of those clients has been with me through COVID.
I’m proud of, and honored, that I was chosen to be one of the navigators for the Wellness Hotel. East Central Ministries and International District Healthy Communities Coalition told me I had the choice to work face-to-face with people during COVID. I’ve always been around people who have been sick. I’ve been around tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS – I’ve been in those rooms – COVID is no different. So, the same gears and protection that I’ve always used since I was 15 doing this work, is the same that I use today. COVID was not gonna scare me. I’ll wear a mask. My health is in order; my immune system is strong; I don’t have any health issues, no underlying conditions. The only thing I have is aging – and you can’t help that.
The beauty of the project was helping to house people, get wheelchairs for some of them. I got retirement approved for a client, got social security benefits, helped get green cards and ID cards. A lot the men have been told a lot of promises that were never kept. I got them all ready for housing – helping with their documents, but COVID is making the process longer. If people don’t have a birth certificate, social security, ID, Medicaid, SNAP, we need to start from scratch. I’ve got to get all the documents up to date and activated, so that they can start getting letters stating they are residents of New Mexico, so we can start the process of getting them their benefits. Once they get all that, they’re ready for housing.
It is important for me to really be the voice of our community, to show what the real struggle is and hold leaders accountable. Imagine if we could take all of these abandoned buildings and did exactly what we’re doing at the Hotel? That’s all we need to do – just expand it. We have the funds, we have empty buildings, we have a lot of organizations that are willing to help with people who want to do the work. That’s economic development, that’s job creation because we could train peer support workers.
There are so many ideas that we have from this project, and I’m proud of being a part of really filling the gaps. We have all the means, but we’re just not able to communicate and connect. If we can connect coordinated care with housing and community workers and providers, we’re gonna be able to change the health of our county and our people, because we, collectively, will fill in the gaps.
