Meet Lorena Montalvo | Chief Executive Officer, CHW

We had the good fortune of connecting with Lorena Montalvo and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Lorena, let’s start by talking about what inspires you?
I am an immigrant from Mexico, coming to an unknown country not knowing the language was hard, my parents worked extra hard to learn the ways of living in the USA, with no support from family or friends. A grew up in a household where my father work in construction and my mother worked at home to help pay for the bills, we did not have extra money or resources. When someone in our household got sick, we did not have a doctor to go to, we depended on the members of our local church (who ware nurses) to give us medical advice. Growing up I knew I wanted to help people in my community, I started volunteering in my church at a young age, 11-13 years old, but it was not enough. After getting married and coming back to the community I grew up in, I started volunteering at Mercy Clinic of Fort Worth as an interpreter. I felt in love with the mission of the clinic, they were offering medical and dental services to our community. I got more involve in the clinic, finding more ways and resources to help our community. Soon I received an offer for a full-time position, now ten years later I became the Chief Operation Officer. I also became a Certified Community Health Worker to educate the community in various health topics and the resources available for them and their families. My inspiration is knowing that I can make a difference in the community by providing the services and the education to the people that need it the most, knowing how I can impact their future generations to feel more comfortable in their new community.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
As begin as a volunteer interpreter at Mercy Clinic of Fort Worth ten years ago. The staff mentored and trained me in the administration part of the clinic. after about two years of volunteering, Mercy Clinic offered me a part time position as the administrator assistant. My role was to assist patients with their intake documents and assist the director of the clinic with clerical task. As I got more involve in my role I build strong relationships with the community around the clinic, the director of the clinic promoted me to a full-time position as the Administrative Coordinator. In my role at Mercy Clinic, connecting to the patients and their families is very important, what has helped me succeeded is being a part of the community, I understand their needs firsthand because I once was in their position.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I like to take people to enjoy our local vendors, our local restaurants and small businesses.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Mercy Clinic of Fort Worth is a nonprofit faith base organization that offer free medical, dental and spiritual services to adults without health insurance. Besides providing services to the community the clinic also offers volunteer opportunities to young adults who may be interested in the medical, dental or administration field.

Website: https://www.mercy-clinic.org/