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In This Issue:
Southern Jamaica Plain
Health Center
Two of every three patients Juan Jaime de Zengotita, MD, sees daily at the Southern Jamaica Plain Health Center speak Spanish. Many of them may rely on the state’s free care pool or Medicaid, but here they form part of the incredibly diverse population of Jamaica Plain.
“Health care in a community health center is very hands-on, and there’s a lot of opportunity to make a real impact and help people,” de Zengotita said.
Many of his patients face obstacles that de Zengotita must keep in mind. “There are a lot of things that you may not think could be a problem, like challenges some patients face in just getting to appointments,” he said.
“We’re fortunate to be in a state with good health care benefits, and working at the Brigham lets me take care of patients without being concerned whether or not they have insurance,” he said.
de Zengotita was born in Puerto Rico and grew up in Brooklyn and Long Island in New York. He attended Harvard College and Harvard Medical School and completed his medical training in the U.S. Navy. He spent three years in Portsmouth, Virginia, and three years taking care of Marines at the Naval Hospital at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.
“It was a very clinical training and there was a lot of exposure to different and interesting people,” he said. de Zengotita left the Navy with the rank of lieutenant commander.
He has been at SJPHC since his return to Boston more than three years ago. When he is not busy seeing patients or wading through mountains of state-required paperwork or insurance files, de Zengotita is giving back to Harvard pre-med undergrads as a voluntary advisor at the Lowell House.
Also, he serves as head of the Boston-Cambridge Chapter of the Harvard Gay and Lesbian Caucus and on the board of directors of Earthen Vessels, a non-profit group that connects Harvard students as tutors and mentors to inner-city students.
“It’s all very rewarding,” he said.