Hispanic Heritage Month Celebrates Deborah
From Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, the United States celebrates Hispanic Heritage month. It is a month of recognition for the contributions and influence of Hispanic Americans to the history, culture and achievements of the United States.
The Phoenix VA celebrates this by sharing stories of its patients, caregivers and service workers.
Deborah Ulloa is a social worker at the Phoenix VA, and for her, her Hispanic heritage is an integral part of her story, and she draws on it to connect with patients.
“My mother came here from Peru to America when she was 16,” said Ulloa. “She knew nobody, didn’t speak the language, came alone, but she knew she wanted to be here. This is the world of milk and honey. She wanted a job and opportunity. I think she’s brave, coming here to this new world where everything really is new for her. She barely knew how to use a payphone.”
Her mother’s journey was spurned on by tragedy. Having lost her father at a very young age, his death left her and her seven siblings with her mother. They were all sent off to their respective godparents. Her mother, with time, was able to bring all her siblings to the United States.
Ulloa’s father’s journey begins in Guatemala. He came to America and joined the military as a dental lab technician, eventually separating and making his own business in Chicago, which proved very successful.
“When I was one year old, my family and I got into a motor vehicle accent,” said Ulloa. “My brother, who was four at the time, was killed. This broke my family. My father left and went back to Guatemala, while my mother wanted to stay here in America.”
Through their church, they moved to a suburb with a good school district, so that Deborah could get a better education. They moved in with a Veteran, who let them stay affordably.
“My mother always stressed into me to get an education,” said Ulloa. “It was phrased ‘when’ to go to college, not ‘if.’ Just one problem: how was I going to pay for it?”
Her family was unable to pay for her college education. She turned to the Army for their loan buy back program. This would start her on a 27 year long journey serving in U.S. Army. Her father was proud of her, and supportive of her decision to be in the Army.
After this she started a degree in architectural engineering, but after a deployment to Desert Storm, she switched to social work, and commissioned into the Army as a behavioral health officer, offering therapy and guidance to soldiers. It was hard, though, and she needed her own therapy, and she found that through the craft of soap making.
“Guys were coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan, and I could not understand why they were taking their lives,” said Ulloa. “You survive a war come home and take your lives. It was affecting me because I didn’t understand what was going on. I’m supposed to be helping these guys, and I was just thinking, how am I missing this? It took a lot of help from the NCOs and other enlisted talking to me and saying, ‘Deb you’re not missing anything. We were with this guy the night before. He was smiling. He was laughing,’ and then to find out that he didn’t make it to formation and that he had taken his life.
So, I had to figure out my own form of therapy. Soap making became my therapy. Just this weekend we did Operation Restore Veterans’ Hope. Every year since they started I’ve been able to volunteer to teach Veterans how to make soap and sugar scrubs.”
Currently Deborah works in the VA as a social worker, providing therapy for Veterans seeking mental health assistance and care.
“It’s easier to connect with Veterans being one myself,” said Ulloa. “I can talk to them Vet to Vet, and they feel a connection there and it just makes it all easier. The walls come down.”
For Ulloa, Hispanic heritage is a great opportunity to reflect on the contributions Hispanic Americans have brought to the country.
“I’m proud of my heritage and I’m proud of where I come from,” said Ulloa. “Hispanic Heritage is just an opportunity for us to celebrate a lot of the things that the Hispanic Americans have brought to this country. The posters that we’re putting up in the hallways that are showing not only famous people but also our VA staff. I’m hoping people will look at them and see the amazing things that they bring to the table.”