[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 196 (Wednesday, November 29, 2023)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1136]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     TRIBUTE TO LUISA BUADA, R.N., B.S.N, M.P.H. ON HER RETIREMENT

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. ANNA G. ESHOO

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, November 29, 2023

  Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor an extraordinary woman, 
Luisa Buada, who brought culturally sensitive, integrated primary and 
preventive health care to thousands in a highly underserved community. 
She brought this care regardless of ability to pay or immigration 
status and collaborated with community partners to address the social 
determinants of health.
  Luisa Buada was the founding Executive Director of Clinicas de Salud 
in the Salinas Valley and the Berkeley Primary Care Access Clinic, and 
cofounded LifeLong Medical Care in Berkeley as part of a merger with 
Over 60 Health Center in 1996.
  In the early 2000's in the wake of the closure of the Charles Drew 
Health Center by the federal government, a group of community leaders 
and I came together to explore creating a new, vital health care system 
to support the low-income communities of East Palo Alto and Menlo Park. 
Residents and representatives of Stanford Health Care and San Mateo 
County met regularly for months to form what is now the Ravenswood 
Family Health Network, a Federally Qualified Health Center that now 
cares for approximately 21,000 patients. Of these, 7,576 are children 
and adolescents, 90 percent are low-income, and 88 percent identify as 
an ethnic minority. About 63 percent are enrolled in public health 
coverage, and 27 percent are uninsured.
  Luisa Buada was the consultant in the development of Ravenswood, and 
despite her insistence that she was only temporary, after serving 12 
months as Interim Chief Executive Officer she became Ravenswood's 
Permanent CEO in November 2003. Luisa received her Bachelor of Science 
degree in Nursing from the University of California, San Francisco 
School of Nursing in 1977 and her Master's degree in Public Health 
Policy and Administration from the University of California, Berkeley 
in 1990. In March of 2010, Buada was inducted into the San Mateo County 
Women's Hall of Fame. In 2013 she received the California Senate Woman 
of the Year Award for the 13th District and was a 2016 San Francisco 
Chronicle and St. Mary's College Visionary of the Year Award Honoree. 
She received the 2016 John W. Gardner Exemplary Leadership Award from 
the American Leadership Forum of Silicon Valley and in 2018 she 
received the California State Assembly Woman of the Year award for the 
24th District. She has earned and deserves all these honors.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask the entire House of Representatives to join me in 
honoring Luisa Buada as she begins her retirement. She has been an 
extraordinary leader who brought health services to many thousands who 
otherwise would not have been cared for. She is a national treasure 
that I shall treasure all the days of my life.

                          ____________________