Remembering George Floyd
As I step outside for a quick recess on the roof of Portland Providence Medical Center, I can finally rest my tired eyes on the gentle skyline brushed with shades of orange-yellow hues. I don’t always make it outside during clinic hours, sometimes I forget we have a great view. I take off my N95 and allow my mind to drift just for a moment, away from patient charts and nearby sirens into the nostalgic traces of the colder season - my favorite being the flock of birds flying south for the winter. Their togetherness never fails to capture my attention. As if on cue, they emerge across from the sea of trees with the ultimate flight pattern practicing harmony, unity, and rhythm that easily outperforms the current scenario of our country.
2020 has felt so unfamiliar and unsettling, especially living in a city under national media attention, and at one point, under the hands of the National Guard for its intense response to Black lives lost to police brutality, including Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and many precious others. 
George Floyd would have been 47 years old this month on 10/14/2020, which was remembered and celebrated across the country. Breonna Taylor was on her way to work at a hospital just like mine as an emergency room technician, with future plans to become a nurse. The impact of her loss has been felt across the Black community but also among those who share a passion for healthcare.
In Portland, the impact of Black Lives Matter (BLM) was seen and heard loud and clear. The tall glass walls of the Apple store once stood sparkling in the center of our Pioneer Square, overlooking its consumerist audience marveling at the latest technologies it had to offer. In the last several months, windows of multiple high-end businesses like Apple were shattered by the much-needed call to justice and have been replaced by murals and sketches commemorating Black lives taken from us too soon. “I CAN’T BREATHE” is sprawled across black wooden boards and streets, a message even more amplified every night by BLM supporters. We say George and Breonna’s names with sorrow and hope that, one day, deaths like these will be prevented.
When I bring up the topic of police brutality and BLM, many folks (mainly comfortable, privileged, and white people) who have never experienced racism or hateful discrimination respond with skepticism or disapproval. Everyone must ask themselves, “have my rights ever been up for debate in court?”
Because more likely than not, it is those with minority identities who will reply with a resounding “yes.” To vote is to vote not only for yourself but for your fellow neighbors. I challenge you to empathize with and further protect those beyond your own socioeconomic class, citizenship status, gender, and skin color. The health disparities between Caucasians and BIPOC (Black and Indigenous People of Color) are astounding and well-documented. Furthermore, only 5% of all active physicians in 2018 were Black, while 2% of the nation’s doctors were Black females that year.
As women in healthcare and on the edge of scientific fields, it is our job every day to uphold equitable and fair treatment of all humans. As citizens of this country, it is our duty to use our privilege to vote for the people who make it a lifelong mission to enact real, lasting, and impactful systemic change for all.
Sabrina Raqueño-Angel identifies as a Colombiana and Filipina woman who grew up in Houston, Texas before moving to the Portland area in 2007. She enjoyed attending an all-girls high school, where she was empowered to pursue a career in the science field with guidance from her mentors there and a research lab at OHSU.
She continued her education at the University of Oregon and graduated from the Robert D. Clark Honors College in 2019 with a major in Human Physiology and a minor in Global Health. It was aiding a local homeless clinic in Eugene as a Spanish translator/triage volunteer as well as serving low-income Latino patients on Día de Salud every year on April 7th that sparked her passion for the medical field and she has hopes to pursue life as a physician; helping to understand social inequities via public health research and clinical experience as a physician.
Nowadays, you can spot Sabrina biking the city streets with her Portland Street Medicine team accompanying the needle exchange program providing necessary healthcare to our homeless folk. She also works as a medical scribe at a cancer clinic for a Medical Oncologist/Hematologist, where her devotion to medicine continues to grow. She also enjoys soccer and trail running on the luscious Oregon trails. Her favorite event in Portland is the summer Rose Festival, where she used to compete in Dragon boat races and hopes to continue rain or shine.