Meet HealthX Fellow Bryan Martinez: "I really care about bringing people hope"

The opportunity to explore different healthcare careers

Bryan Martinez, a senior at Making Waves Academy in Richmond, California, has always had a passion for mental health and aspirations to start a career in healthcare.

"I'm really interested in healthcare. I just never gotten the opportunity to explore this career I am really interested in because all the other programs are like they're either in Palo Alto, they're at Stanford, they're online or you have to pay to do them," he shared. "They're just not really like very accessible. I want to learn about different healthcare careers I might have never thought about before."

"And beyond that, I just want to like grow as a person, as an employee even. I want to be more confident in myself."

During the HealthX Fellowship, Bryan got exactly that opportunity.

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A passion for mental health and for giving back to his community

"Aside from helping people with their physical health, I really care about the social aspect and the mental health aspect of the job," Bryan shared.

"I come from a low-income immigrant background. My family, whenever somebody was sick, it's a drastic feeling like we're not going to be able to afford this doctor's visit. We're not going to be able to deal with the sickness. The worst might happen," Bryan shared.

"Being able to see a doctor at a volunteer clinic, at a low-cost clinic, there are these people who are in this position where they give us a feeling of hope and peace that they're there to help us. They're there to listen to us. They're there to give us this basic need that really should be free everywhere," he said.

"I really care about being able to be that person who brings people hope and a feeling of calmness and peace," Bryan shared.

"I want to be able to be the person who brings them back on their feet and is like, 'Dude, you're going to get through this. We are going to get through this together.'

Gaining skills and confidence for a career in healthcare through HealthX

One of Bryan's favorite parts of the HealthX Fellowship was the site visits to the Kaiser School of Allied Health Sciences, "to be able to talk to professionals and to ask how they feel about their role aside from just helping people physically. How do they feel walking away from the day after they do their job? What are the feelings they go through? And also the kind of culture that is built inside of a clinic? That is important. Being able to go to your job and feel like I'm not just going to go and see my co-workers. like these are people I see everyday."

Bryan also shared how he walked about from the HealthX Fellowship a better person than the one he walked in as.

"It definitely helped boost my confidence. If you come here to HealthX, you're going to come out a different person, a more confident person," Bryan shared.

"You're going to gain all these skills. You're going to be one step closer to the to your career goals."

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