DES MOINES, Iowa — National Latino Physician day started a couple of years ago as a way to create more awareness about the need for more Latino and Latina physicians.

To make sure the Latino community’s needs are taken care of, patients need more providers who look and/or sound like them so they can comfortably communicate their medical needs.

In the U.S., 6% of physicians are of Latin descent and 2% of physicians are Latina.

Here in the metro, MercyOne said 4% of their medical group are of Latin descent, but it doesn’t account for all physicians that provide services to MercyOne.

Cinthia Naranjo sat down with MercyOne Pediatric Surgeon, Dr. Ulises Garza to talk about Latino representation in the medical field and inspiring the next generation.