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Dulce J. López: From Immigrant Hitting Barriers to Bilingual Paralegal Opening Doors for Others

[Editor’s Note: It’s that time of year! Migrant Clinicians Network (MCN) is celebrating the 5th Annual Kugel & Zuroweste Health Justice Award. Named after MCN’s Candace Kugel, FNP, CNM, MS, former Specialist of Clinical Systems and Women’s Health, and Ed Zuroweste, MD, Founding Medical Director, the Kugel & Zuroweste Health Justice Award recognizes early-career clinicians making an impact at the intersections of vulnerability, migration, and health. This is quite the special occasion, because in a Kugel & Zuroweste Award first, there are TWO incredible recipients of this prestigious award. In this blog post, we celebrate the accomplishments of one of the winners, Dulce J. López.]  

Dulce J. López, one of the recipients of this year’s Kugel & Zuroweste Health Justice Award, has made a big impact in her South Carolina farmworker community, despite just a few years on the job. “As a Bilingual Outreach Paralegal, Dulce’s work is an example of our broad definition of ‘clinician,’” said Candace Kugel and Ed Zuroweste, MD, when announcing the selection of López for the prestigious award. “Her focus is on ensuring access to health care services for farmworkers in South Carolina—providing outreach to 12,000 people in the past four years! We are delighted to have the opportunity to highlight and honor the contributions of team members like Dulce.”  

  

López immigrated from Mexico to South Carolina with her mother at the age of nine. As she improved her English language skills, one of many barriers she faced as a new immigrant, she began to use those skills to interpret for her family and others in her community. For López, this is where her passion began: “It was kind of like a calling for me to continue advocating for my community, because, if I could use my skills to help in one way or another, I [felt] that… would be the most rewarding thing,” she said. To pursue her education, López moved to Florida to attend Florida International University. She transferred to Trinity Washington University in Washington, DC to finish her degree, and graduated in 2020, with honors, in International Affairs and Communication. After graduation, López took a position at the Charleston County School District, where she helped newly arrived students adjust and offered support as they faced many of the same difficulties she did in her youth as a new immigrant.  

A referral from a friend led López to South Carolina Legal Services, and it is in her role as Migrant Outreach Paralegal that she was propelled into the world of migrant farmworker health. López’s first trips out into the fields were eye-opening, with workers experiencing a lack of access to clinics, inadequate care, poor housing conditions, and exploitation by their employers. A key part of her work is education, meeting with farmworkers, in the field and in their homes, to let them know about their rights, about the community resources available to them, and doing so with kindness and empathy. The expansion of her role in 2022, to Bilingual Outreach Paralegal for Diverse Communities, means that she now serves the needs of not only farmworker populations, but other underserved groups, including indigenous peoples, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and immigrants arriving from around the world. 

“Dulce has overcome barrier after barrier in her life to get to where she is now,” notes Seth Hershberger, Director of Resettlement and Immigration at Lutheran Services Carolina. “She is someone who is so passionate about health justice, about health care, from migrant communities, and about ultimately showing compassion and courage in everything she does to care for these communities.” 

Hershberger, who collaborates frequently with López, submitted a video nomination on her behalf, impressed with the tireless energy López has for her work and the communities she serves. 

“The ways that she's able to connect with people and just make them feel comfortable and appreciated and noticed and seen… is just remarkable,” says Hershberger. “Dulce is one of the most passionate people that I have ever met.” 

The Kugel & Zuroweste Award committee considered many applications, ultimately selecting two finalists and two winners. The two finalists for the award this year are: Martha “Melissa” Herrera, at the Children’s National Hospital in Washington, DC; and Shahid Jaffer, MD with the Mobile Health Initiative at the University of Minnesota. “We had some wonderful candidates and as usual it was a hard choice,” commented Karen Mountain, RN, MSN, MBA, Founding Chief Executive Officer of Migrant Clinicians Network, and Kugel & Zuroweste Award committee member. 

“This year brought us more nominations than any previous year, which presented us with the difficult task of choosing a single awardee,” added Kugel and Dr. Zuroweste. “As it turned out, the votes from the selection committee resulted in a tie between two candidates and we elected to recognize them both! Perhaps we’re in a celebratory mood, with MCN marking 40 years of working to provide quality health care for the underserved and supporting the clinicians who are dedicated to that mission.”  

As the recipient of the Kugel & Zuroweste Health Justice Award, López will receive a gift in the amount of $1,000, as well as considerable recognition across MCN’s network of partners, collaborators, and constituents. A virtual ceremony acknowledging the finalists and honoring the accomplishments of both Dulce J. López and Dr. Clint Brayfield was hosted January 27. 


Here's a moment from an interview MCN had with Dulce: