Nona Eulalia Santiago, MD

Hi. My name is Nona Santiago and I'm from The Philippines. I graduated from St. Luke's College of Medicine in Manila, which is in The Philippines. So I moved here three years ago to Southern California after finishing my medical school. What really inspired me to pursue medicine is, not as often as you hear. So I initially did not wanna pursue medicine. When I was in high school, I just really had no idea what I wanted and my dad was like, Oh, why don't you try and apply for medical school? So I went with my pre medical course and then moved into medical school and I still kind of have no idea if I'm in the right place.

But then during my medical school, I did volunteer at the largest public tertiary hospital in The Philippines and that is where I was completely blown away because I saw a lot of cases. I saw the patients, the whole healthcare system in general, and I told myself that I wanna be a part of this. I wanna be a part of this change. I saw how the patients were suffering And not just the patients, even the healthcare workers are suffering because we don't have enough equipment, and they're understaffed. So I thought to myself, I wanna be a part of it. I wanna be a part of that solution. Whenever I interact with my patients, I always see to it that I interact with them and treat them, receive them like my own family because it's very important for me to make them feel that they are very well supported, very well cared for, they are understood. Because especially for patients, they oftentimes feel very intimidated or just feel uncomfortable because technically they're sick and it's the most vulnerable part of their lives.

And so I wanted to make sure that they not just get the medical treatment that they need, but also they get the emotional support that they need. It's not the easiest path. There will be a lot of exhaustion and discouragements, a lot of times when you don't feel like you're enough or you're failure. So all that is nothing compared to your why. I wanna make a difference no matter what hardships or hurdles that you encounter as long as you stick to your goals, your purpose, that's gonna keep you grounded all the way. No one here is by themselves. So we all live together and we all depend on each other. We all make each other better.

I really just love how the people work together in harmony always. I have found myself a new family for the next three years or even more. San Antonio Regional Hospital. Here for life.