Dr. Helen Rodriguez-Trias: Early Reader Edition

Dr. Helen Rodriguez-TriasWikimedia Commons

Dr. Helen Rodriguez-Trias was a Puerto Rican doctor and the first ever Latin American to become President of the American Public Health Association. Dr. Rodriguez-Trias was not only an amazing doctor, but a very caring one too. She spent her life trying to help women and children, especially those from poor backgrounds. 

Helen was born in 1929 in New York City. Her parents were from Puerto Rico and Helen’s family spent a lot of time there when she was growing up. At school, lots of the children were mean to Helen because her family were Latin American. And even though she spoke perfect English and got good grades, she was sometimes placed in lower-level classes just because she was Latina. Luckily, one of Helen’s teachers noticed just how smart Helen was and helped her move up to more challenging classes.

Helen wanted to become a doctor because she loved both science and helping people; being a doctor would let her do both of those things. She went to medical school in Puerto Rico and graduated with top honors.

One of the first things Helen did when she became a doctor was open the first in health clinic for babies in Puerto Rico. The clinic was a big success and helped save hundreds of sick babies. Because Helen did such a good job at the clinic, she was put in charge of the children’s department at Lincoln Hospital in New York, where many Puerto Rican families were treated.

The hospital wasn’t doing a very good job at the time. Lots of patients weren’t getting good care, especially people from Black and Latino communities. A group called the Young Lords Organisation even protested inside the hospital to demand better care for Black and Latin American people. Dr. Rodriguez-Trias worked with both the hospital staff and the protestors to improve the care at the hospital.

Helen understood that where people come from, the amount of money they have, and whether they’re a man or woman, had an impact on how they were treated. For example, she saw that lots of women were being treated very unfairly. Many poor Black and Latina women were being forced or tricked into having surgeries that stopped them from having children. In Puerto Rico, one out of every three women had this surgery, and lots of them didn’t know that it couldn’t be undone.

Dr. Rodriguez-Trias wanted to stop this. She helped create rules that made sure women would have the surgery explained to them fully in their own language, and that they’d have time to think about whether they really wanted it. These rules helped protect women’s rights in hospitals.

In the 1980s, when many people were getting sick from HIV and AIDS, Helen helped again. She worked for New York State and helped make sure women and children with AIDS got the very best care.

Dr. Helen Rodriguez-Trias spent her life helping others. In 2001, she was given a special award from President Bill Clinton called the Presidential Citizens Medal. She passed away later that year, but her work is still remembered today. Dr. Helen Rodriguez-Trias showed us that one person can make lots of people’s lives better when they care about helping people. She is a true health hero.