Pastor Olguin serves on Promise board as way to serve community

SIOUX CENTER – When Pastor Eddy Arturo Olguin moved to Sioux Center a year and a half ago, people in his church, Amistad Cristiana, told him many positive comments about Promise Community Health Center.

So, his family started going to the health center for care.

The Rev. Eddy Arturo Olguin, pastor at
Amistad Cristiana in Sioux Center, began
serving on the Promise Community Health
Center board earlier this year. He thinks
Promise plays an important community role
and is happy to serve in that capacity.

“I went to Promise, and I enjoyed it. For me, it was right,” Olguin said. “When I have questions, there are people speaking Spanish. They help me in Spanish. That is good. They have the attitude to help people in anything – not just Spanish. They help with insurance – how to do it – and about the doctors. So I enjoy that. It is a great help. It was right for me.”

Then, the invitation came for him to serve on Promise's Board of Directors earlier this year.

He accepted it.

“It’s an opportunity to serve the community,” he said. “I think Promise is doing a great job.”

Olguin, who is an immigrant from Peru, said serving on Promise’s board has been a learning experience for him. For one, he continues to work at mastering the English language, so it takes him longer to process and understand what is being said and to express his thoughts. Also, he is learning more about how a community health center operates and his responsibilities as a board member.

But he’s settling into his role now. And he’s eager to learn more.

“I’m starting to understand more and learn what ways I can be more effective for them, so this is nice,” he said. “They are very excited when they are explaining what is happening (at meetings) and the things that they are doing. I enjoy this time.”

Olguin thinks Promise plays an important role in the community.

“Promise is giving people help about the cost,” he said. “In America, the health-care costs are very high. I have insurance, but the cost is high. In this way, Promise is a good help for the people. The reason many Hispanic people come to Promise is because they feel comfortable. They see people who speak the same language. Promise can help them so much.”

Promise Community Health Center of Sioux Center is the only Federally Qualified Health Center serving the far northwest corner of Iowa. Promise provides medical, prenatal, dental, vision and behavioral health services. To learn more, visit www.promisechc.org and watch this video. To read more Promise news, visit promisechcnews.blogspot.com.

MORE ABOUT PASTOR OLGUIN:

Pastor Eddy Arturo Olguin and his wife, Carmen, are from Peru. They have four children, Jair, 18; Valerie, 16; Alexa, 14; and Adriena, 10. Olguin became a pastor in Peru in 1995. He and his wife immigrated to New York City in 2001. He preached in various churches there before helping to plant a Christian Reformed Church serving Spanish-speaking people in Queens, NY, in 2003. In 2008, his family moved to DeMotte, IN, to help plant another CRC church serving Spanish-speaking people. They moved to Sioux Center in June 2015 when Olguin became the pastor of Amistad Cristiana. In his free time, he enjoys watching movies.