Gloria Astorga is now retired after 31 long years working as a hospital monitor tech, even working through the pandemic, at the age of 68. She describes being a Monitor tech as someone “watching heart rhythms of patients and if something is wrong I notify the nurse who then notifies the doctors.” Astorga became a monitor tech about 15 years ago, however, it wasn’t her first medical job.
She was first a certified nursing assistant for 16 years. Her dream job was to be an airline stewardess but life took a different turn.
Born on April 8, 1954, she was the oldest with five siblings; raising them as she grew up herself. She has always been hard-working and devoted to her family, even as she grew up, she still believed that family is the most important thing in her life.
At the age of 21, Astorga studied to become a nursing assistant learning at Hen Roein Hospital, which is no longer standing. She defines herself as “hard-working, never late.” Adding, “I never called in sick only when necessary.”
She met the love of her life at the age of 22. She was a nursing assistant, and her husband Ignacio Astorga, who was an immigrant who spoke little to no English, was a supply deliverer for the floors at the time. They first met by the elevator “doing nothing” as Ignacio would call it.
Gloria married Ignacio on Sept. 18, 1976. They had their first child a year later Oct. 15, 1977. She stopped working for 12 years to raise her family of three children. To make a little extra money on the side, she ran a small daycare. Within those 12 years, she was a hard-working stay-at-home mom.
She made sure her children her healthy, well fed and had their education, which was very important to her, and made that their first priority. They were already learning to read, write, and count before they even started kindergarten.
When her youngest was 4 years old, she slowly transition back to work as a nursing assistant. Later on, as technology advanced, she learned to use new computers along with the help of her co-workers, children, and grandchildren; she refers to herself as a “fast learner.”
When her youngest was 16 years old, she had a baby, and now Gloria found herself raising another child. Teaching her youngest responsibility, she made her get a job while continuing her education to finish high school.
Those were my promises, that everyone gets their high school diploma even if I had to sit in the classroom with them. I told them if they didn’t go get their diploma that I would drag them to school and sit there with them.
So while raising her youngest and her new grandchild, she still worked “it was hard but I did it. I managed.” Not being perfect she still did a great job caring for her family and her career. Some of the challenges she faced at work were sometimes lack of communication and the short help of co-workers.
Astorga met her longtime best friends Hilda and Thomas. Hilda was her best friend of 31 years “she was like a big sister to me” they grew close. “She taught me many things,” recollected Astorga. They were nursing assistants together and then became monitor techs together. Hilda sadly passed away in 2022.
Thomas has been her best friend for 10 years. She met him when he started working with her and Hilda as monitor techs.
Astorga has a “work daughter named Shannon. She is very sweet, thoughtful about other people, and very outspoken; always says what’s on her mind.” However, while getting along with everyone she didn’t enjoy everyone’s company but she never spoke badly about anyone.
Even with her disabilities, like her left knee meniscus and her cataracts in her left eye on top of having Type 2 diabetes, she persevered and nothing slowed her down. Which made her more respected around her community.
Astorga said she learned to: “Only look, listen, and keep your mouth shut, only speak when you’re spoken to, like this you won’t get into trouble.” Her husband is the exact opposite who speaks before thinking and makes impulsive decisions but he always made her laugh and smile, “you know what they say opposites attract.” She has 14 grandchildren with one on the way who loves her dearly, and really respects her so much.
When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, “It was very stressful, we had to work a lot of overtime but it was also sad because many patients passed away. Especially on my floor being on the COVID floor. Many people cried out of frustration and stress. We were overworked and understaffed, which made me take on roles I didn’t have before like helping other floors and patients. I hope something like that never happens again. I was worried when I found out my daughter had COVID, but my children were always healthy so I knew she would be ok.” And she was.
Astorga is not sure what she wants to do yet, “It’s only my first day [being] retired.”
I thank God for all his blessings and for his help through all these years to be able to retire.
While only 68, she still has a great sense of humor and lots of energy to keep up with all her little grandkids. She enjoys making party decorations for her grandchildren’s parties and cooking their favorite foods or going on long road trips with her husband. Astorga enjoys her life. She thought about traveling now that she’s retired “but we will see what the future holds.” However, she has no plan of slowing down anytime soon.
Written by Zaylah De La Torre
Edited by Sheena Robertson
Interview: Gloria Astorga September 1, 2022
Featured Image by Kalumet at German Wikipedia Courtesy of Wikimedia – Creative Commons License
Inset Image Courtesy of Jernej Furman‘s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
