1 00:00:00,090 --> 00:00:03,049 What I feel in the military since I 2 00:00:03,049 --> 00:00:06,030 joined . I feel that I never felt it 3 00:00:06,030 --> 00:00:09,770 before in my 15 years as a dentist , 4 00:00:09,789 --> 00:00:12,229 and I don't think nobody can feel it . 5 00:00:12,939 --> 00:00:15,460 Until you are in this position , until 6 00:00:15,460 --> 00:00:18,799 you're here helping , um . These 7 00:00:18,799 --> 00:00:20,410 soldiers to go through their 8 00:00:20,410 --> 00:00:21,270 deployments . 9 00:00:25,479 --> 00:00:27,646 When I was , uh , practicing in Puerto 10 00:00:27,646 --> 00:00:29,757 Rico in my office , I at least I have 11 00:00:29,757 --> 00:00:33,200 the , the , the opportunity to decide 12 00:00:33,200 --> 00:00:36,000 what it was a , a treatment plan for 13 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:38,479 the good of the patient , but as soon 14 00:00:38,479 --> 00:00:42,119 as I start working in private practices , 15 00:00:42,200 --> 00:00:44,479 they have certain requirements that you 16 00:00:44,479 --> 00:00:47,639 have to meet to be able to stay working 17 00:00:47,639 --> 00:00:50,560 with them . Um , you have to produce a 18 00:00:50,560 --> 00:00:54,159 certain amount of of money . If , if 19 00:00:54,159 --> 00:00:56,326 you don't , they give you in between 3 20 00:00:56,326 --> 00:00:58,680 months to 6 months , and if you don't , 21 00:00:58,959 --> 00:01:01,181 you're out , right ? They , they really 22 00:01:01,181 --> 00:01:03,181 doesn't fire you , but they kind of 23 00:01:03,181 --> 00:01:05,599 push you like , to like , you're not 24 00:01:05,599 --> 00:01:07,330 meeting our requirements . 25 00:01:14,410 --> 00:01:17,959 I was missing my family . Um , I , I , 26 00:01:18,230 --> 00:01:20,610 some days I was so frustrating because 27 00:01:20,879 --> 00:01:24,629 if I saw 10 new patients , 2 of them 28 00:01:24,629 --> 00:01:27,150 can do the treatment plan , 8 of them , 29 00:01:27,209 --> 00:01:29,431 I knew they wasn't able to pay . That's 30 00:01:29,431 --> 00:01:31,598 mean they're not gonna do it . They're 31 00:01:31,598 --> 00:01:33,900 in pain , they leave my office and I . 32 00:01:34,970 --> 00:01:37,330 I study what I did because I really 33 00:01:37,330 --> 00:01:40,949 like it . And I wasn't expecting that 34 00:01:41,540 --> 00:01:44,129 insurance is gonna be an obstacle in my 35 00:01:44,129 --> 00:01:47,349 life to do what I like to do . Um , 36 00:01:47,769 --> 00:01:50,000 that's mean I always come back every 37 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:53,050 afternoon telling my husband I'm so sad 38 00:01:53,050 --> 00:01:55,272 this happened and this happened instead 39 00:01:55,272 --> 00:01:57,383 of oh I was able to fix this for this 40 00:01:57,383 --> 00:01:59,383 patient , he was so happy . No , is 41 00:01:59,383 --> 00:02:01,328 he's , he always say it's normally 42 00:02:01,328 --> 00:02:03,328 you're coming complaining about you 43 00:02:03,328 --> 00:02:05,383 what you cannot do this patient that 44 00:02:05,383 --> 00:02:07,606 went crying and , and you couldn't help 45 00:02:07,606 --> 00:02:09,661 this many people and . That's me . I 46 00:02:09,661 --> 00:02:11,772 wasn't happy . I wasn't spending time 47 00:02:11,772 --> 00:02:14,899 with my family . Um , I was working all 48 00:02:14,899 --> 00:02:17,380 the time to try to see what I can do 49 00:02:17,380 --> 00:02:20,830 for my patients with . Little amount of 50 00:02:20,830 --> 00:02:23,880 money insurance give them , um , and it 51 00:02:23,880 --> 00:02:25,800 was too much stress . 52 00:02:31,360 --> 00:02:33,527 Because my husband was in the military 53 00:02:33,527 --> 00:02:35,638 all these years , um , for the last , 54 00:02:35,638 --> 00:02:39,369 um , 12 years , um , I was able to work 55 00:02:39,369 --> 00:02:43,080 close to , um , bases , um , 56 00:02:43,199 --> 00:02:47,119 military installations , um , and 57 00:02:47,479 --> 00:02:49,880 I started looking for information , um . 58 00:02:51,009 --> 00:02:53,176 I say why I cannot do it . I'm used to 59 00:02:53,176 --> 00:02:57,009 move . I like to move , um . I kind of 60 00:02:57,009 --> 00:02:59,176 know how it is because of my husband . 61 00:02:59,210 --> 00:03:01,410 I , I've been living as an army wife 62 00:03:01,410 --> 00:03:05,270 for 12 years now , um . I probably 63 00:03:05,270 --> 00:03:08,229 can help and then I find out that I 64 00:03:08,229 --> 00:03:10,610 don't have to fight with insurance , um , 65 00:03:11,229 --> 00:03:15,190 that I can help , um , and I find a 66 00:03:15,190 --> 00:03:17,429 recruiter , um , for things he told me 67 00:03:17,429 --> 00:03:19,651 it's like , you know , you're not gonna 68 00:03:19,651 --> 00:03:21,929 make the amount of money you're making , 69 00:03:21,929 --> 00:03:24,262 um , right now and I say no and he said , 70 00:03:24,262 --> 00:03:26,539 but when I say you're not , it's like 71 00:03:26,539 --> 00:03:29,910 53 times , 2 times less than what 72 00:03:29,910 --> 00:03:32,130 you're making . I'm like . Tell me the 73 00:03:32,130 --> 00:03:34,019 benefit . Tell me what can I have 74 00:03:34,019 --> 00:03:36,186 besides money , because not everything 75 00:03:36,186 --> 00:03:38,352 is money . good . We just find a small 76 00:03:38,352 --> 00:03:40,574 cavity in your bottom right side of the 77 00:03:40,574 --> 00:03:44,169 mouth . I can be a dentist . I can do 78 00:03:44,169 --> 00:03:46,570 my own treatment plans . Yes , I feel 79 00:03:46,570 --> 00:03:49,369 that I , I'm not thinking about what 80 00:03:49,369 --> 00:03:51,850 insurance will pay for you . I'm not 81 00:03:51,850 --> 00:03:54,009 thinking about you as an insurance 82 00:03:54,009 --> 00:03:56,419 anymore . I'm thinking of you as a 83 00:03:56,419 --> 00:03:59,779 human and I'm thinking of you as a . 84 00:04:00,649 --> 00:04:03,520 As a person , I can do a treatment plan 85 00:04:03,520 --> 00:04:06,160 of what you need , not what your 86 00:04:06,160 --> 00:04:09,039 insurance pay for . Um , I'm , I'm , 87 00:04:09,080 --> 00:04:12,679 I'm free . I have the freedom to do the 88 00:04:12,679 --> 00:04:15,399 correct things for patient . Everything 89 00:04:15,399 --> 00:04:18,320 that I do now is for the good of the 90 00:04:18,320 --> 00:04:20,920 patient , not for what the patient can 91 00:04:20,920 --> 00:04:23,160 pay or , or the insurance . That means 92 00:04:23,720 --> 00:04:25,942 that stress is , is over . I don't have 93 00:04:25,942 --> 00:04:27,942 to deal with it anymore and I'm not 94 00:04:27,942 --> 00:04:29,720 going to deal with it anymore . 95 00:04:32,140 --> 00:04:35,980 I feel really proud every time I finish 96 00:04:35,980 --> 00:04:39,640 the treatment of some of them like , oh , 97 00:04:39,660 --> 00:04:41,940 we was able to do this amount of 98 00:04:41,940 --> 00:04:43,884 cavities , all these crowns to fix 99 00:04:43,884 --> 00:04:45,829 their teeth at the front . They're 100 00:04:45,829 --> 00:04:47,996 gonna be able to smile , to go there , 101 00:04:47,996 --> 00:04:50,051 to feel confidence , to be sure that 102 00:04:50,051 --> 00:04:52,051 they're not gonna be in pain in the 103 00:04:52,051 --> 00:04:54,260 middle of a big mission . Um , they're 104 00:04:54,260 --> 00:04:56,260 not gonna , they're not scared that 105 00:04:56,260 --> 00:04:58,427 what happened if , if this happened to 106 00:04:58,427 --> 00:05:00,579 me doesn't mean the proudest that you 107 00:05:00,579 --> 00:05:04,369 feel . When you finish a treatment plan 108 00:05:04,369 --> 00:05:06,890 every single day of your life in a 109 00:05:06,890 --> 00:05:10,089 soldier , you cannot find this in any 110 00:05:10,089 --> 00:05:12,609 other place in the civilian side , you , 111 00:05:12,690 --> 00:05:14,890 you're happy because you finished a 112 00:05:14,890 --> 00:05:17,119 treatment plan because the patient is 113 00:05:17,119 --> 00:05:19,609 smiling back again , but here is just 114 00:05:19,609 --> 00:05:21,553 more than that . It's just not the 115 00:05:21,553 --> 00:05:23,869 smiling part it's not that . 116 00:05:24,829 --> 00:05:28,500 You are taking care of not , not a 117 00:05:28,500 --> 00:05:30,611 patient , you're taking care of their 118 00:05:30,611 --> 00:05:33,380 family , the country , all of us , 119 00:05:33,510 --> 00:05:35,621 because if they're OK , we will be OK 120 00:05:35,621 --> 00:05:37,677 here . If they're doing good there , 121 00:05:37,677 --> 00:05:39,677 wherever they go , we're doing good 122 00:05:39,677 --> 00:05:39,750 here too .