Paul received his Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 1982 from Washington State
University’s Intercollegiate Center for Nursing Education. He went on to receive
his Masters in Science in International and Cross-Cultural Nursing from the
University of California in San Francisco.
Paul has demonstrated his dedication to the underserved through his many roles
in nursing. He recently became a RN Case Manager for the Surgical, Orthopedics,
and Pediatrics units at Central Washington Hospital in Wenatchee. Previous to
that, he was a public health nurse in Chelan-Douglas Health District.
As a public health nurse, he focused mainly on First Steps maternity care, high
risk newborns, children with special health care needs, well-child screening,
and Spanish interpretation and translation for predominantly monolingual
Hispanic clients.
Paul has had extensive experience working with migrant workers in Central
Washington. His ability to speak Spanish fluently is a major asset. In 1984,
Paul left Seattle for his “dream mission” to direct a church sponsored health
care clinic in the rural region of Guatemala. Working with Hispanics was one of
Paul’s goals when he entered nursing school. Growing up in Wenatchee, he
witnessed the influx of agricultural workers who primarily spoke Spanish, and
observed the limited access to the health care system due to the small number of
bilingual caregivers.
His excerpts from his journal in Guatemala were published in The Washington
Nurse. His work there gave him many challenges including government and
political unrest, the myriad health care problems that stemmed from lack of
nutrition, sanitation and preventative health education. Paul’s understanding of
poverty was enhanced by his experience in Guatemala and his work for the
underprivileged continued upon his return to Central Washington and throughout
his years of service as a public health nurse working with migrant workers.
Paul was elected to the WSNA Cabinet on Ethics and Human Rights in 1993-1995 and
again in 1995-1997. During his tenure as chair of the Cabinet, they conducted a
survey of all the men who were WSNA members to explore discrimination faced by
men in nursing. The survey received one of the highest return rates on surveys
for WSNA and shed light on the discrimination faced by men in nursing. The men
surveyed had been nurses from six months to thirty years and 54% of the
respondents said that they did face discrimination as male nurses. As a result,
Paul has worked diligently to improve the image of men in nursing and has helped
promote and mentor other men into the profession. Paul also served on the Board
of Directors for WSNA District 7 Chelan-Douglas County Nurses Association, and
was a delegate to the 1992 ANA Biennial Convention.
In addition to WSNA, Paul is also member of Sigma Theta Tau and the Society of
St. Vincent DePaul, the Transcultural Nursing Society and the American Public
Health Association. Paul has served as President and on the Board of Directors
at Columbia Valley Community Health Services, on the Advisory Board of El Centro
del Pueblo a Latino mental health agency, and as co-chair of the Wenatchee
Mayor’s Council on Community Relations to promote positive cross-cultural
communication and advocate for the underprivileged in North Central Washington.
Paul was recognized in 1993 with the Washington Human Development Community
Organization Award for his work on the Wenatchee Mayor’s Council on Community
Relations and also the 1998 WSNA Ethics and Human Rights Award from the Cabinet
on Ethics and Human Rights.
From his experience in Guatemala, Paul vowed to "continue to fight and work to
improve the conditions of the poor wherever I may live." And that is exactly
what Paul has done throughout his entire career!
Inducted 2006
