[Editor’s Note: Our Health Network Associates save lives, every week. They provide critical, hands-on virtual case management for migrants and asylum seekers with ongoing health needs, people who may otherwise be unable to access care during and after their migration. Read other Associates’ stories: Enedelia, Saul, Alma, Robert, Norma, Nestor, Joshi, Brenda, and Camila.] 

Elizabeth has demonstrated that there is no impossible case for her to deal with. She is also very dedicated to her work, always available for help, and willing to go the extra mile. I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to work with her and appreciate her caring attitude towards her work and others.
– Enedelia Basurto, Health Network Associate

You can tell that she cares about the folks she talks to on the hotline, and that she works hard to provide the people she speaks with the best resources she can find. Not to mention Elizabeth's sense of humor, inquisitiveness, critical thinking, and awesome attitude.
– Alexandria Ward, Farmer Services Network Manager at Farm Aid

Elizabeth Gonzalez Ibarra, one of our Health Network (HN) Associates, has dedicated herself to the betterment of health outcomes for migrant workers. She has taken on additional responsibilities outside of Health Network with our partners at Farm Aid to support Latinx farmers and farmworkers through the Spanish-language hotline created to connect farmers and their employees to needed resources. We had the opportunity to meet with Elizabeth and talk with her about her work with Health Network and Farm Aid, exploring her work and her connections to farmwork.
 

I'm just going to start with the basics: introduce yourself and let me know a little bit about what you do at MCN. 

I'm Elizabeth Gonzalez Ibarra. I work with Health Network and also work with Farm Aid as a Spanish hotline operator. With Health Network, of course, we help immigrants, migrants, and asylum seekers get into care. And then for the hotline -- I'm pretty much answering calls, trying to also find new resources for agricultural workers, specifically, Latino farmers or farmworkers. I continue to find new resources for them. They call if they're looking for resources, or sometimes it's just a mental health call. If they're wanting to talk about their feelings, the hotline is confidential. But again, I just answer the phone call and then help him out if they need any assistance. That's a little bit about what I do here. 
 

I'm curious with the Farm Aid hotline, are you technically an employee of Farm Aid as well, or is this a partnership between Farm Aid and MCN that you work on? 

This is a partnership. We’re trying to help them spread more Spanish-language resources, which is what my main focus is -- trying to find more Spanish resources for both farmers and farmworkers. I continuously try to build up their resources. 

I love what I do. It's really interesting and it hits home a little bit too. My grandpa still works in the fields in Mexico. So it's really interesting to how it all came around full circle like, “oh, now I'm going to help my community here in the United States.” 
 

Can you tell me a little bit more about your grandfather and your family? 

My mother's dad passed away, but my grandfather on my father's side – he’s still out in Mexico, doing well, and he still has crops like fruits and vegetables and peanuts. That’s my personal connection to agricultural work. I recently went out there, I believe about two years ago. I visited Mexico and hung out with that part of my family, and I saw all of that and asked a bunch of questions. We harvested oranges and lemons. That was in December and I was very surprised to find that things are actually growing at that point. 

I think it all just connects with MCN because my parents are immigrants and my grandparents were immigrants as well. A lot of my really close family is -- this whole organization just kind of hits like home, you know? I definitely understand what it's like.  
 

Elizabeth working at her grandparents' farm.
 

And I'd love to hear a little bit about your educational background as well. 

It's a funny story. When I started off, I wanted to be a nurse and I started at Angelo State University for two years, but then quickly realized that it was not for me, but I knew that I wanted to help people. I just didn't know in what way or form just yet after those first two years of college. Then I got homesick. San Angelo is 3 hours away from where I'm from. I came back and transferred to Texas State University and that's where I started my journey and to get a Bachelor’s in Spanish and a minor in public health. Recently, since I started working with Health Network, I've really come to realize I love what I do, so I actually have been looking into a master's in social work. So that's where my education is going, and what I have right now. 

My cousin actually is a little bit of an inspiration too. She just graduated with her master's in social work as well, and she thinks I should do it. It's a great program. 
 

Are you thinking about pursuing that master's degree soon? 

Yeah, I'm actually in the process of applying right now. So relatively soon. I will be sending my application soon hopefully. But I do want to start in the fall of 2024 -- if I get accepted, of course, and we'll see about that.
 

I wanted to ask how you found MCN and what and what initially drew you to apply. 

That's a funny story, because I had recently graduated in August 2021. I was trying to do an internship for my last semester, but it was too late and I just wasn't able to do it while I was still in school. So, I graduated but I was still really interested in trying to do an internship, even if I'm not in school anymore. I thought it would be a good experience, just to get started with something.  

I ended up doing my internship working with Alma Galván and Amy Liebman at MCN’s East Coast office. This was before I worked for Health Network and I wanted to be a translator/interpreter. That was the idea when I first started my internship. I was translating some documents, and I had one opportunity to try to do interpretation, and that was crazy. I was like, “I don't know how I could ever do that.” I quickly found out it was maybe something I didn’t want to do. I completed my internship, I think in April 2022, but Alma Galván really put in a good word for me. She said that I was a great intern and that she thought I would be a great addition to the Health Network program. 

She had reached out to Del Garcia to give me an opportunity to get an interview for Health Network. A month later - I got that interview. Del reached out and she said, “I think you're gonna be great.” So that's how I came to work with Health Network, how I came to MCN, and it's been really great. I love it. 
 

I'd love to find out a little bit about some of the first cases you dealt with as a Health Network Associate when you made that transition. Do you have any early standout cases that you remember? 

My very first case actually -- I just recently closed it this year. It was a prenatal case. It was a tough case. She was in a state that makes it difficult for pregnant migrants to get prenatal care. It was just really hard to get her into care. There are some states that have stricter policies, for things like follow-up care. She was one of those cases that was really hard to get her into care.  

And seeing that this patient struggled financially was also really hard. You have to try to tell them, “it's going to be okay. Regardless, if you do have to pay or not, I'm sure someone or some service is going to be willing to help you out there.”  

Then, funny enough, I got a second case that was just beyond me. I couldn't believe what was happening, but unfortunately the patient had had a miscarriage, and I was freaking out because I didn't know what to do.  

It was my second case -- I was getting this hard case and I remember Del saying something like, ‘oh, poor you. You're getting all the challenging cases on your first, like 2-3 days that you're here,’ but the Health Network [team] was so understanding. 

Of course, I wasn't the first one to go through something like that. So, Alma [Colmenero], she was super helpful. Del was super helpful. And Candace [Kugel, retired Women’s Specialist], when she was still working, she was so, so great. She was able to walk me through the steps of what could be done. Thankfully, she ended up being fine. It's hard. I wish I could reach out to them [now] and say, ‘I hope you're doing okay.’ But yeah, those were my first two cases. 
 

I have to imagine the dream first case is one of those cases where you have a very responsive person. They have access to a car or rides, and they live in a state where it's easier to get care.  

Unfortunately, that was not me, but I think it's okay because that set me up for success. You know, I got the really hard cases the first time, but it all flowed after that. So that was good. 
 

So it's become a little easier now?

I think so. I just know how to deal with hard cases a little better now. Of course, back then, I didn't really know how to deal with them, but I knew that I had a supportive team. I knew that was going to help me get through them, if I did have any questions. 
 

I've heard that Health Network has been having more cases lately. Do you want to tell me about that?  

Del has been a good advocate for us and the word is being spread that we are doing great work and that we're going to be able to help a lot of these immigrants and migrants that are coming in. A lot more new organizations that didn't know about us before are reaching out to us and jumping on the wagon to see if we're going to be able to help them. We are definitely seeing a lot more new organizations wanting to partner with us or to continue to support Health Network. 
 

Can you tell me a bit about balancing your work with Farm Aid and Health Network?  

I try to balance out my time and then come back to Farm Aid. I think I'm good at balancing and I can try to organize myself and my time to come back to Farm Aid and do what I need to do with them.  
 

I wanted to ask a few personal questions. Let's start with just a nice fun one. Describe your ideal weekend.  

I always feel like I need to rest. So honestly, my ideal weekend is either sleeping in, which for me is I don't get out of bed until around 10. I'll be awake in my bed, I just don't want to get up. I'm early bird, so I'm probably awake around like 7 or 8, but I'm just like, “oh, I don't want to start just yet.” I watch my shows. I watch movies. But I also like to spend time outside. I try to get some sun because I'm working remote, so I’m really not getting too much sun. I try to make it a point to get outside. I have a porch, so I try to sit outside just to get some fresh air, even though I might just be on TikTok or scrolling on my phone, but at least I'm outside and getting some fresh air. Or I walk around. That's my ideal weekend - I just try to take care of myself and be around family. 
 

Do you have any hobbies?

I like to experiment in cooking. I don't cook a lot, but I do like to experiment, and so far, so good. Everything has been good. I do work part time at an Italian food truck, so I love to try to cook up some pasta. If I want to try something new, maybe some type of Asian cuisine, I try to be creative because my mom is a Mexican and so she cooks Mexican food all the time. And I'll say ‘mom, we need to try something new,’ but she's the type of person who just likes Mexican food. She doesn't really like to try new things, but we're slowly getting her there. She's starting to branch out and be open to trying new foods.  
 

What other elements of MCN really interest you?

I think everything. Honestly, I'm trying to attend a lot of the open meetings to see what everybody else is talking about or what they do, because I am interested. Like I know, Health Network takes up a lot of our time because we're having to deal with patients one on one. It does take a lot of time, but I'm trying to make the time to see what everybody else does and what's going on. You know, I think Amy mentioned this week that we should really try to incorporate everybody in these meetings. I'm going to try and reach out to a couple of Health Network Associates just to share something about what's going on for us. Just a, “hey, this is what's going on in Health Network,” type of thing. 

I also love the Ventanillas de Salud too. I used to go to the Ventanilla but it just wasn't working out with my schedule anymore. I wasn't able to continue that. But I like to know what's going on with them too. I know they're super busy as well.  
 

Those are all my questions, but I want to give you the opportunity to share anything new in your life!  

I’m going to school again! I'm really excited to start up. I'm really trying to get in the groove of school again, so I think that's the most exciting thing for me right now. That's been a new journey for me trying to start up school again because I haven't been to school in two years. It's interesting to try and get back to it and trying to apply all over again.  

In the summer, I started intro to Social Work courses, and right now I'm taking Sociology. I'm slowly but surely trying to take some introductory courses to see if social work is really something that fits for me, if it's really something I want to do. I'm taking them at my local Community College, Austin Community College. They're affordable, so before I take that step of committing to a master's program, I wanted to see if that's really what I wanted to do. I haven't backed down yet!