In Memory of Conchita Somoza (CHW)

Conchita Somoza was a community health worker for over 25 years at Mariposa Community Health Center in Nogales, Arizona. Conchita Somoza recently passed away from COVID-19, shortly after she had retired. All of us who knew her here at the AzPRC were so deeply saddened and are working to see her recognized for her work. There is no question that she impacted so many folks over the years and Nogales will miss her presence and impact. Conchita served as a promotora at Mariposa Community Health Center reaching out to the community beginning with her work on cancer education and support. She was so amazing as she connected women to services, support and long lasting friendship as they each dealt with cancer. She was their bridge to everything—never taking no for an answer when women needed surgery, follow up, etc. As a community advocate, she organized with her colleagues to establish a bus route in the community with a private bus firm to ensure that everyone had transportation to get to the clinic, the hospital, the grocery store, etc. (Nogales has no public transportation. ) She participated in the first education program for people with hearing loss in a border community, delivering education and strategies for folks who were suffering from hearing loss. Her work in organizing, recruiting and educating about hearing loss opened up both the recognition of a deep health disparity in the community and at the same time developed a program directly focused on action and solutions. She also collaborated closely on a project to strengthen the linkages between clinical services and community services assisting in creating a wholistic response to strengthening a sense of well-being.