livingleadership patricia patron

story by | patricia carlson

Next summer, a remodeled and expanded clinic will re-open its doors in downtown Fargo. To patients who use and will use its services, and to people who will drive past the non-profit organization’s shiny, new doors, it may be just another medical clinic. But to one particular woman, the clinic’s grand re-opening will be the culmination of years of hard work. It will showcase the spirit of one of our area’s most innovative leaders; a woman who left behind her family and native country, moved to the United States unable to speak English, and found a passion to serve and speak for those who too often do not have a voice.

Patricia Patron’s story begins in Colombia; a beautiful and geographically diverse country in South America but also one plagued by political and drug-fueled violent conflicts. She had a lovely childhood, growing up the oldest of three children in Bogota, deep in the Colombian mountains. Her parents describe her as happy, creative, studious and a natural-born leader.

Patricia was especially close to her dad, Efren, in part, because she started working with him when she was 12-years-old. He was an accountant and as soon as she was old enough, he taught Patricia how to keep his books. “By the time I graduated high school, I was like a make-believe accountant!” she exclaims.

Her dad’s hard work also allowed her the opportunity to major in business at the local university. “Education is not that accessible to everyone,” explains Patricia. “It is very expensive so when your family can actually afford for you to go to college, it’s a big, big deal.”

While attending college, the brother of one of Patricia’s friends set her up on a blind date. He told her there was a guy studying to be a doctor who had seen her on campus and was interested in taking her out on a date. Although reluctant, Patricia finally agreed. “So I said if we go to the dance club as a group, I’ll go, but if I get bored, then you have to drive me home.”

Turns out this matchmaker was feeding the same story to his friend Roberto. “Roberto later told me the brother told him that there was this girl who really wanted to meet him and so he was basically setting us up!”

As far as blind dates go, this one couldn’t have started worse- at least for Patricia. “He comes to my house to pick me up and I get in the car and sit in the front seat and I say, ‘Hello,’ and this guy is just looking at me not saying anything and I’m thinking, ‘Oh, this is gonna be baaaaad! This guy isn’t even speaking!’”

But to hear Roberto tell it, it was love at first sight, despite his initial limited conversational skills and very uncool car. “I picked her up in my mother's car, a Chevy Sprint, like a Geo Metro. I was a broke, unemployed medical student,” he says. “She was absolutely drop dead gorgeous that night.”

When they got to the club, Patricia was blown away by his knowledge, friendliness and humor. “I just found this incredible individual who could really keep a conversation going and was super interesting.”

Patricia and Roberto shared their first kiss that night. “I have been in love with her since the moment I saw her getting in my mother’s car,” Roberto says.

After three-and-a-half years together, Roberto asked Patricia to marry him. But saying yes meant leaving her family and Colombia. Roberto had always wanted to practice medicine in the United States [with the intent of returning to Colombia one day to establish a practice] and had landed a prestigious residency. Patricia would be moving to a foreign country filled with an unfamiliar language and unfamiliar faces.

And there was one very important person in Patricia’s life whom she had an especially emotional time saying goodbye to - her dad. “I was very worried for her because she was leaving to an unknown land and I knew that was not going to be easy for her,” Efren says. “My advice to her was to always be honest and to respect the laws and customs of the United States. Also, never to forget where she comes from, her cultural background, her land, and her family that gave her education, values, and supported her to get to where she was at when she was ready to leave Colombia.”

A World Away

One week after their wedding in 1994, the couple moved to the US. “There were many challenges,” Roberto recalls. “Including the language, the lack of friends and family, no credit history, not much cash, the culture, the food, the weather.”

Patricia dove into learning the language. She started an English as a Second Language program and then enrolled in the local community college taking familiar business classes. “That was what I knew so I didn’t have to pay attention to the content, or what they were saying,” she says. “I just had to pay attention to how they were saying it.”

Over the next 2 years, Patricia became accustomed to life in the US and more familiar with English. The couple also welcomed their first child, a son named Sebastian and anticipated their return to Colombia. However, political and drug-related violent conflicts were ravaging their homeland and no one was safe, including Patricia and Roberto’s families.

During the height of the violence, Patricia’s father was being blackmailed and her uncle and aunt were kidnapped by rebels. The rebels eventually released

Patricia’s aunt but they killed her uncle. It created wounds from which Patricia is still trying to heal.

“It’s very traumatic to have something like that happen to your family. I remember trying to comprehend how it happened so close to home,” Patricia recalls, adding that the incident forever altered the way she viewed life in her home country. “I’d never thought about leaving because of violence but I was forced to stay away because of it.” fargo warmth

Even if they wanted to return, Patricia and Roberto knew, at that time, Colombia was no place to raise a child. On a practical level, staying in the US made sense. On an emotional level, it was heart-wrenching for Patricia to make a conscious decision to permanently remain thousands of miles away from her family.

After attaining the proper visas to continue their life in the US, a baby girl named Camilla [Cami] joined the Patron family. Patricia loved life as a stay-at-home mom of two and Roberto was working as an Internal Medicine doctor, but was looking for a position in Infectious Disease. Much to Patricia’s surprise, an opportunity from Fargo came knocking.

“Well, I had a baby and wasn’t really paying attention to where he was applying,” Patricia remembers. “In January 2000, he comes home and says, ‘I got this call today from a hospital in Fargo.’ And the only thing I knew about Fargo is the movie,” she says breaking into laughter. That hospital was Dakota Clinic, now Essentia Health. They invited Roberto to come for an interview.

“I said, ‘You’re not going alone, we’re all going,’” Patricia says. “My daughter was 3 months old, my son was almost 4-years-old. It was cold. That’s all I can say. Everything was absolutely white. My jeans even felt too cold for my skin.”

But even Fargo in January has its appeal. “I guess the thing that impressed us the most was how warm the people are here,” she says. “I grew up in a city where