IAM1874 – CEO Helps the Underrepresented Communities to Improve Health Care Issues

In this IAMCEO Podcast episode, Oscar Delgado, Chief Executive Officer of Community Health Alliance, shares his inspiring journey in helping underrepresented communities improve healthcare issues. Oscar is a leader in the arena of compassionate healthcare, advocating for medical attention that is caring, respectful, and helpful.

Transcription:

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Oscar Delgado Teaser 00:00

Just want to represent the community as best we can and mirror the community as best we can. So when people go into our health centers, they feel like they're at home and that's something we've been striving to do, which I'm proud of my team. We've been able to accomplish.

Hopefully, by the end of next month, we'll be serving close to 26, 000 patients and growing and it's pretty exciting because people are seeking us out trying to figure out how do you do what you do.

Intro 00:24

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview?

If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of, this is the IAMCEO podcast.

Gresham Harkless 00:53

Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the IAMCEO podcast. And I appreciate you listening to this episode. If you've been listening this year, you know that we hit 1600 episodes at the beginning of this year, and we're doing something a little bit different.

Where we're repurposing our favorite episodes around certain categories, topics, or as I like to call them, the business pillars that we think are going to be extremely impactful for CEOs, entrepreneurs, business owners, and what I like to call the CB Nation architects who are looking to level up their organizations.

This month, we are focusing on operations. The systems will set you free. So think about systems, think about flow, sustainability, potentially working out in your morning routine, waking up early, e-commerce, different business models. Think of the operations, the models that basically set up the foundation to allow the creativity within organizations, but also to make sure the trains are running on time and things are going as they should.

Now, this is extremely important because we often turn to the sexy parts of business and forget about the operations and how important that is. So I really want to focus this month on this specific topic.

So sit back and enjoy this special episode at the IAMCEO podcast.

Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the IAMCEO podcast. I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Oscar Delgado of Community Health Alliance. Oscar, super excited to have you on the show.

Oscar Delgado 02:13

Thanks for having me. I'm a big fan.

Gresham Harkless 02:15

Yes, I'm a fan of all the awesome things that you're doing as well too. And of course, before we jumped into that, I'm going to read a little bit more about Oscar so you can see why I'm so much of a fan.

And Oscar's understanding of the power of compassionate health care began when he was a child accompany his mom on errands around Reno and Sparks. His mom helped support her family as a housekeeper in the maternity ward of Washoe Medical Center, now it's renown.

As one of the handful of Spanish speakers. She was called to provide translation services for Spanish-speaking patients who were navigating a largely English-speaking hospital.

They thank Oscar's Mom for her assistance during these stressful times. And these moments suck with Oscar, and he's devoted his career to ensuring that all the members of his community receive caring, respectful and helpful attention to their medical needs.

An experienced and innovative leader, Oscar serves as Chief Executive Officer of Community Health Alliance, where he works with a team of nearly 300 medical and administrative professionals who meet the needs of primarily low-income patients.

With 7 clinic locations, as well as a mobile clinic serving the Reno-Sparks metropolitan area of northern Nevada, Community Health Alliance provides cares to more than 25, 000 patients provides strategic leadership to the organization works closely with other community groups as well, and ensures that the 31Million annual budget of community health alliance provides top-flight health care.

Under Oscar's leadership, the Community Health Alliance takes pride in being health care, that is the equal of any in the region. And when he was named CEO in early 2019, he brought more than a decade of healthcare experience to the position and he spearheaded outreach and development programs and improved health outcomes and underrepresented areas.

And he also played important roles in ensuring that multicultural communities get the word out about state-sponsored health insurance plans. He worked closely with families of Children with learning and physical and behavioral disabilities. And even while he worked long hours on health care issues, Oscar also serves since 2012 as a member of the Reno City Council.

He's been an effective advocate for quality-of-life improvements in the ward he represents as well, too. And he's been a leader of the entire city on issues ranging from zoning and recreation to public safety.

Even as he has blossomed into a respected, effective leader, Oscar never is far from that boy that dedicated to the lessons of respectful compassion he learned from his mother.

Oscar, I love all the awesome things you're doing. Love your story, even more. Are you ready to speak to the IAMCEO community?

Oscar Delgado 04:35

Let's do it. And I appreciate that very much.

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Gresham Harkless 04:37

Absolutely. I appreciate you and let's definitely make it happen. So to kick everything off, I know I touched on a little bit, but I want to hear a little bit more on what I call your CEO story. Let's get started with all the awesome work you're doing.

Oscar Delgado 04:46

Yeah, thank you again. And I'm sorry for that long bio, appreciate that so much. It just has me reflecting back and reminiscing about the other time I spent here in the Reno-Sparks area. Been so blessed to be in such a great community here.

Both of my parents actually migrated from Mexico back in the late 60s. And I have 3 brothers, all of us raised here in the city. It's basically a suburb of the city of Reno but very much all immigrant stories, they worked hard, extremely hard for a better future.

And along those lines working hard and sacrifice, what I learned early from them was the need to make sure that you served, that you helped somebody alongside you that needed a little bit of help. That you would take them along, that you would explain to them, so her trying to explain to them what the processes are, how to seek help and in order to make sure that they're successful.

And that was something my dad and my mom shared with me early on. Other people's successes are our successes, not only for us, but for our neighborhood, for our community, and for everyone. And so, that's just been the journey of my life. And at any time I could, it was always about serving.

I was helping people and just the joy when you're able to see someone, because I saw how my mom's face will light up and her smile and people would go and seek her out and say, thank you, Maria. Thank you for explaining and having that conversation with me and my doctor. Because I was just so stressful and now we're better for it.

And that's really just led me to being able to be a public servant, whether it's on government as a city council member, or just in these leadership positions in health care to be an advocate to ask the questions in an appropriate matter to say, why are we not getting the health care that we all deserve?

And how do we get past some of these barriers? Because ultimately, we all want the same thing, and that's to be healthy, safe and enjoying the comforts of all of our hard work.

Gresham Harkless 06:39

Yeah, absolutely loving it. Appreciate your story. And we can definitely realize that it's not just something you want to do. It's not just something you ‘should do'. It's a necessary thing that we need within societies, especially to continue to see those improvements to see the change that we want to see happen in the world.

Oscar Delgado 06:55

Absolutely, I hear it all the time and then there's the smallest ripple effect that it creates is transforming at times. I was at an elementary school yesterday where a parent said, Oscar, thank you for doing this. And I was like, my focus was broader and global in terms of how we're able to go out and bring our medical units over to go provide free physicals for kids and do the school vaccines.

So you're like, we had so many issues previously, but you guys were able to go. It was very thoughtful and done and because of that, we're able to knock out everything. Our kids went to school healthy and safe. And you guys had all these other services I had no idea about. And that hits you in the heart. It's not just about. Yeah, the soft things where you see something on media, you say, can we get this? It's those meaningful conversations that you have with the community.

Gresham Harkless 07:47

Awesome. Awesome. So I know I read a little bit and you touched on a little bit too on how you serve the clients and the people in the community. Can you take us through a little bit more on what that looks like and how you're making that impact there?

Oscar Delgado 07:56

Yeah, as an F treat C, which Community Health Alliance is, and a federally qualified health center, F treat Cs are something that was created back in the sixties as a way of a war against poverty. It was a way to get access into communities of need, where you had those deserts, those access issues, and in terms of medical services. And so what we really seek out to do in the best way we can is to make sure that we go into those communities that are underserved.

In addition to that is learning from the communities about what types of programs they need efficiently and effectively and more than anything, make sure that they're quality services when we go in there.

So, what Community Health Alliance does is we provide primary care. We do dental, we do behavior health. We also have a food prescription program. We have pharmacies in addition to some of those, we have a WIC program, which is Women, Infant, and Children. We work with the state of Nevada, we're able to go out and make sure we're able to get people in and make sure that they're eligible right on the spot.

We also work with them in terms of navigation, trying to figure out what's this craziness about insurances and what does that mean to me, or how do I make sure I get the most appropriate one for the most bang out of the buck that we can do.

In addition to making sure that we reflect the community that we are trying to support of the nearly 300 team members that I have here at Community Health Alliance, 70% of them are bilingual. And so it really helps from having individuals that are bilingual from the front office to the back of the office, and in addition to that, to our providers.

It eases the discomfort, the stressors when you go in talking about your healthcare. Cause we all know that it can get very complicated and it's very personal  and you may want to talk and have that conversation with your mother tongue.

In addition to that, we just want to represent the community as best we can and mirror the community as best we can. So, when people go into our health centers, they feel like they're at home and that's something we've been striving to do, which I'm proud of my team.

We've been able to accomplish, hopefully by the end of next month we'll be serving close to 26,000 patients and growing. And it's pretty exciting because people are seeking us out trying to figure out how do you do what you do? And again, it's all comes down just being thoughtful being respectful and in listening to the community members about it. What is it that you are looking for and how do we fill that need?

Gresham Harkless 10:11

I definitely appreciate that. And I almost wondered, I know you touched on this a little bit, I was going to ask you a little bit for your secret sauce, and it could be for the organization yourself personally, or a combination of both.

But it almost feels like you, for lack of a better term, meet people where they are, whether we're talking about serving them, or you talked about being bilingual, just all of those things to really meet people where they are to make sure that they have a really great experience. And thank you hammering home that need to serve.

Oscar Delgado 10:36

Yeah. One of the great things to about an F treat C is that over 50 percent of my governing board, my bosses have to be patients, your patients. And so to know that we are serving them and they come back to me and say, Hey, this is what I'm thinking about and really taking those questions to heart.

And saying, how do we better serve or answer that question is something that it's really part of my sauce of saying, how do you make sure you stay connected? How do you stay grounded? How do you make sure you don't now all of a sudden disconnect from who you're best serving and why you're doing what you're doing.

For me, it's always important to stay grounded and staying humble and asking those questions surrounding yourself with really what's the why. And really enjoying that it's a passion, right? It's not forced. And so, for me, it's going into our neighborhoods, going to a local restaurant and having conversations and making sure that people, it's not something that I'm just being reacted to social media trend or hashtag, right?

It's saying, what's the meaningful pieces that I can take away from this and not ever forgetting why I do what I do, and that's really just been the heart of everything I've ever done. And my secret is doing what you want to do and give your heart into it and you won't ever go wrong.

Gresham Harkless 11:52

Yeah, absolutely. I love that you said that word heart and it really resonated with me. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit and I want to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app, a book or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient.

Oscar Delgado 12:05

For me, it's I read a lot. I read tons. I'm constantly always reading white papers and reading your latest, healthcare executive articles. But for me, my biggest hack is actually surrounding myself with people that are not in the healthcare realm.

It's running myself with people that are, whether colleagues, friends, or just people that I've been able to really respect in terms of what they've been able to accomplish is finding and surrounding some people that are going to be honest with you. That it could be honest, going to be frank and going to also be willing to motivate and push you.

And those are so important to have that balance of people that surround that you surround yourself with.

Gresham Harkless 12:46

Yeah, absolutely. That's when you start to have those mastermind conversations, you have that iron sharpening iron. So, what would you consider to be a CEO nugget, which is a little bit more word of wisdom or piece of advice is something I like to say, you might tell your younger business self if you were to hop into a time machine or potentially tell a client as well.

Oscar Delgado 13:03

For me, it's going back on what I just shared is get out of your comfort zones. Get out of your silos. Make yourself comfortable to the idea you're going to be uncomfortable for quite some time.

And that's just being able to wake up in the morning and go oh, man, this is going to be nerve-wracking, but it's going to be healthy. It's a healthy thing. It's a good thing. Attend meetings for the sake of attending them, because you may be able to grab some word jargon. What does that mean or look like? And that's okay to go in walking out and saying, I had no idea what that was. It just went over my head, but I guarantee you go back a 2nd or 3rd time things are going to start to click. I'm successful because of who raised me and who's around me. That was a part of my life.

If you're able to go out there and just kill it as a big tech guy, or as a CEO and make tons of money and be successful, God bless you. Great for that. But I always come back around and make sure you get back. You'd be a part where you're from and never forget.

Gresham Harkless 14:06

Yeah, absolutely. So, I wanted to ask you now my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. We're hoping to have different quote-unquote CEOs on this show. So, Oscar, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Oscar Delgado 14:17

It's bringing forward and understanding that you have a vision. That's not set in concrete, but it's an organic, ever-changing vision that is compiled by your goals and the people you lead. It's really led by somebody as a CEO, as a leader to fulfill what that ultimate vision is that's been compiled by everyone around you.

That's in a nutshell, that's what a CEO is to me. It's not 1 person at the top of the hierarchy or the top of our organization chart. The way I see my CEO position is I have right in the middle with everyone else. I just been lucky enough to have ultimately have the last say on how things play out, but it's never done individually.

It's never done on my own. It's always a team effort and it's always vision of saying, why are we here? Why are we doing it? And everyone's a part of it.

Gresham Harkless 15:09

I love it. So Oscar truly appreciate that definition. Of course, I appreciate your time even more. So what I wanted to do now is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional that you can let our readers and listeners know.

And of course, how best people can get ahold of you find about all the awesome things you and your team are working on.

Oscar Delgado 15:25

Ultimately, again, for me, the base piece is we all come back as a better community as a better world. We all advance each other and push each other and motivate each other. And so thank you for the opportunity.

Everybody get out there, push each other. One thing I will leave you with is during your journeys, take somebody along with you. Take somebody along with you, there's nothing worse than us living in a bucket full of crabs where you're pulling each other down. Let's flip that around. Let's pull each other up.

And again, ultimately look in the mirror and say, we're better off. We're all better for it.

Gresham Harkless 15:55

Yeah, absolutely. I truly appreciate that. We're going to have the information and everything in the show notes as well, too, so that people can, follow up with you, find out about all the awesome things your team is working on. I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Oscar Delgado 16:06

Thank you. Appreciate you.

Outro 16:08

Thank you for listening to the IAMCEO Podcast powered by CB Nation and Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co. IAMCEO is not just a phrase, it's a community.

Want to level up your business even more? Read blogs, listen to podcasts, and watch videos@cbnation.co.

Also, check out our IAMCEO Facebook group. This has been the IAMCEO podcast with Gresham Harkless Jr. Thank you for listening.

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