Ruby Carnalla

I attribute my success to always trying harder every day, learning from what happened the previous day, and then just moving forward. Not letting one bad day of phone calls determine that we are not going to be successful the next day. Each day is a new day and you're always trying your best. That's all we can do.

I would tell young women entering the industry that if you need to love working with people of all ages, all types, keep into consideration that if people are sick, you know, maybe they don't feel good, they don't want to talk to you, they are in a bad mood. Pause, and just give them that time of day, listen to them, ask those questions that are necessary that maybe others are not asking, and having a conversation and noticing the little things. Maybe it's their birthday, and no one has said happy birthday. Maybe they're by themselves, say, how's your day going? Always offering more motivation to live. These people are alone, and they say, no one has told me to have a good day, no one has told me happy birthday. So it's the little things that count, acknowledging people. A hi and a smile through the phone when you say, hey, good morning, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, how are you? It goes a long way, the tone of your voice.

Nowadays, especially with the AI and spam calling, you do find patients that will not trust you. I do have to make a certain amount of calls during the day. I do have people cursing, I do have people saying I can't trust you, and why do I have to verify my name or my address or my date of birth? We do have to verify that we are speaking to that person. I'm not going to reveal no personal information. I do have to make sure that I am speaking to the father and not the son. And kind of educating the patient why I'm doing what I'm doing, and then they kind of calm down, okay, you know what, it's because I've had spam calls, and I don't trust anybody that's on the phone, so this is something that's come across right now that we have to deal with. It's a barrier into people trying to let someone in and provide services. This is the biggest challenge right now.

The values that are most important to me are being very respectful and empathetic toward others. Always putting yourself on the other side, walking into people's shoes. If we don't have any empathy or show that you care and listen, be very patient, especially when working with people that are sick or the elderly. Sometimes they have hard of hearing, maybe they don't understand, maybe sometimes they even lack education. Being patient and very empathetic, I think that's something that I value most. I do come from a Hispanic background, and you were used as a medical interpreter everywhere you went since a small age. I can remember being in kindergarten and having to learn both languages, English and Spanish, so I had to help my parents at their medical appointments, at the school. At a very young age, being responsible, caring, loving. I'm a people person. I love helping others, even if I don't know you.