Neftali Lazaro, 28, has been a respiratory therapist at Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula since July. Since then, she has been on the front lines during the pandemic, working to help Covid-19 patients breathe – by connecting them to nasal tubes, helping with intubation, checking oxygenation and managing ventilators – as well as providing moral support to patients, in both English and Spanish.
Before becoming a respiratory therapist, Lazaro worked in CHOMP’s kitchens for eight years while going to school at Hartnell College. It took her five years to finish Hartnell’s respiratory care program. She also got lucky: The popular program has a lottery system and she got in on her first try. (Lazaro didn’t go to college right away after high school, because her family was struggling financially; she didn’t want to be a burden for them so she worked at Wendy’s to support herself.)
Lazaro moved from Mexico to the United States when she was 3 years old, and she has never been back to Mexico since. She learned she was undocumented only when wanted to apply for higher education. She was devastated. “I really couldn’t fulfill my college dreams,” Lazaro says. “It was unrealistic that I could afford going to university with my current income.”
When the federal program Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) started in 2012, she jumped on it. Getting the two-year permit opened opportunities for her: She was able to work and go to school.
Lazaro says sometimes she feels powerless because DACA has been challenged multiple times in court, going from legal to illegal, depending on the latest court ruling. “It makes me feel like we’re a sack of potatoes just being thrown around,” she says. She wants people to know about their contributions in the U.S., and has been pretty open about her own immigration status since she learned of it herself.
Lazaro spoke with Weekly about her personal and professional journey.
Weekly: How did it feel going back to work in the same place but in a different department?
Lazaro: Weird. I parked at the same place I used to park for the kitchen, and in my brain I wanted to go to the kitchen, and it was like, nope, you need to go to your respiratory department.
You made a drastic career change. Did impostor syndrome ever get to you?
Like I don’t belong? Yeah, a little bit. Because being a new graduate, normally you don’t get hired right away. For me it was different, since I [already] worked at CHOMP.
Everything happened so fast. I graduated on May 21 from the program. Within a month, I had my boards, examinations, I got my license and then I started working. I still don’t believe it sometimes that I’m a respiratory therapist.
What’s the best thing you’ve experienced so far in your new job?
Seeing our patients go from being really sick to getting better and walking out the door. That is the most amazing feeling ever.
Who is your role model?
It definitely would be my mom. She is the most hardworking lady I’ve ever met. And I’ve never seen her call in sick, so I never call in sick. She doesn’t break; even though she had a bad day she won’t give up, and I think I get that from her.
I know you just became a respiratory therapist, but what future goals do you have?
I’m working on my bachelor’s right now. I got into a bachelor’s program for respiratory [therapy] and I want to get my master’s in respiratory and become an educator. Since Salinas already has the respiratory program, I would love to help that program grow.
You came to the U.S. as a toddler. Do you ever think about how your life would be if you were in Mexico?
I don’t know, I don’t know what I would have been. I feel like this was the right choice my parents made. I know my mom thinks about it sometimes and thinks, “Oh, maybe I shouldn’t have brought you guys here.” But I’m grateful because I see my cousins over there. Both of them graduated college [in Mexico], but they still don’t have good-paying jobs.
You worked in the kitchen for a long time. Which is your favorite dish to cook at home?
Enchiladas, the red ones. I kind of love every type of enchilada but definitely my favorite would be the greasiest one with cotija cheese and onion.