Check out the full article in the March 17, 2010 edition of the El Paso Times.

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Join us for a great lunch and movie. Your support helps us fundraise for the upcoming Cesar Chavez Celebration.

Film Schedule

• March 9: The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
• March 10: Bread and Roses
• March 11: The Milagro Beanfield War
• March 12: La Misma Luna

Snacks

• Hamburger $3.00
• Hot Dog $1.25
• Nachos $2.50
• Pickles $.50
• Chips $.75
• Sodas $1.00
• Bottle Water $.75

She’s the one who will be sporting cowboy boots emblazoned with glittery calaveras and bright red flowers.

She’s also the one who may administer the test that saves your life.

Vargas is a family nurse practitioner for Centro de Salud Familiar La Fe at its Women’s Health and Family Planning Center in Central El Paso.

“It feels like I’ve been here forever,” Vargas said. “But I’m going on four years now, and I really enjoy it here. I’ve noticed a lot of cultural behaviors that sometimes prevent women from getting checked.”

She is passionate about her work and wants to increase the number of women who take their health seriously.

“She’s a role model for our other staff — for our nurses and for our doctors as well,” said Estela Reyes, a spokeswoman for the center. “She’s somebody who, the minute you walk in the door — whether you’re a new patient or you’ve been coming back year after year — she makes you feel like familia.”

For Vargas, this is more than work. Caring for the community’s women is personal. She decided to focus her education on the care of women after she received an abnormal Pap test result from her doctor several years ago.

“I started crying and said, ‘I’m going to die,’ ” she said.  ”He said it in such a scary way.”

But a nurse came in and explained what the test results meant and calmed her fears.

Caring for the low-income women of Segundo Barrio and the rest of El Paso is also meaningful. She recalled finding out that an acquaintance who worked in a Downtown store died of cervical cancer because she was afraid to seek care and had a low income. “It’s very personal for me,” she said.

Vargas said Hispanic women often are hesitant to visit clinics because they fear learning that something could be seriously wrong with them. Others fear being turned over to immigration officials if their undocumented status is discovered.

She has dedicated her energy to educating Central El Paso women about the need to have regular preventive cancer screenings and medical checkups.

“We give a lot of education here about it being OK to find something ‘bad,’ because we can cure it and it’s actually better to find it now,” she said.

Vargas said the Central El Paso population, like much of the rest of the city’s population, is modest and culturally sensitive. Many women become nervous when they are asked to wear only the thin exam gown provided by the center.

“I give the exams the way I like to get them,” she said. “You’re not just some specimen on the table in front of me. It’s about being gentle, because we want these ladies to come back.”

Her unique Rocketbuster boots, which she wears most days, often become an icebreaker with patients who check out their details.

One of the tests patients commonly avoid is the Pap test, an exam that doctors recommend women have annually to check for cervical cancer and other cervical abnormalities.

“There’s also a lot of misconceptions like, if you have sex, you need a Pap smear — that’s not true,” she said. “This causes young women to not schedule an appointment because then their family will know they’re sexually active.”

Vargas said every woman, regardless of sexual activity, should get a Pap test starting at age 21 and every year after that until her doctor tells her otherwise. Most of the clients at the center, at 700 S. Ochoa, are from low-income families, but she said it is open to everyone regardless of income or where they live in the region.

The slow-growing cancer detected by the Pap test is caused by the human papillomavirus, which is transmitted through sexual contact.

“HPV is a very common STI (sexually transmitted infection) and can cause cancer if it’s not treated,” Vargas said. “Early stages of cervical cancer (don’t) have symptoms, (don’t) hurt and you don’t feel any different. The Pap test can detect it before it turns into cancer and isn’t so easy to treat.”

At every opportunity, she emphasizes the need for such exams. In addition to providing the well-woman exams, the center provides free pregnancy tests on Thursdays, free HIV risk assessments and free condoms.

“This work is important because just because they’re uninsured or poor women, they still are deserving of good health care,” she said.

Vargas said she has noticed an increase in the number of mother-daughter visitors to the center.

“I think the word is getting out about how important these tests are,” she said.

Pink Rivera may be reached at privera@elpasotimes.com; 546-6156.

Our students and teachers are grateful to Olivas and to Congressman Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas for helping us to coordinate this fabulous educational event.

Students, staff, and families at the La Fe Preparatory School were proud to welcome Astronaut John “Danny” Olivas, PhD, PE to their campus this morning for a special presentation on science, math, and space.
Olivas, a graduate of Burges High School and of the University of Texas at El Paso, spent the morning talking to La Fe’s nearly 200 Pre-K through third-grade students, their teachers, and families. Olivas shared video of his spacewalks, two space missions, and of life aboard a space shuttle.

Our students and teachers are grateful to Olivas and to Congressman Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas for helping us to coordinate this fabulous educational event