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At the Capital Plaza Specialty Clinic, Olga Hernandez is the reason patients stay connected to their care

In the Central Health system, navigators like Olga are the glue. When patients feel detached from their health care experiences elsewhere, it’s people like Olga who bring them back.

What that means for Olga, 38, who’s been with Central Health since 2024, is that she assists with running the clinic for patients in those programs. She coordinates appointments, sets up patients with pharmacy, and schedules follow-ups for specialty health care services. She obtains medical records, makes reminder calls to patients for special programs, and generally coordinates the ins and outs of her patient pool, which is now up to 118 in total. Her three-person office consists of Dr. Jasneet Riar and Medical Assistant Brenda Estevez.

“Olga kind of goes in there, motivates them and pushes them not to be discouraged,” Estevez said of Olga’s patients. “She tells them, ‘The progress is just the fact that you’re trying.’”

Olga believes in the Central Health system because she was once part of it.

“I come from a low-income family, so helping navigate people’s health care has always been a grateful thing for me,” she says.

Her patients have noticed.

How The Central Health System Operates

The Capital Plaza Specialty Clinic, located off I-35 in Central Austin, is a robust facility that welcomes a variety of patients for a host of health care needs. Services include behavioral health counseling, hepatology, infectious disease, psychiatry, clinical pharmacy, gastroenterology, nutrition, and medical weight optimization.

Then there’s the Bridge Clinic, a wrap-around health care service designed to meet Travis County residents with low-income where they are. Many lack stable housing. Others might need acute care after being discharged from hospitals with nowhere to go.

Olga works with patients who are working toward healthier lives. Inside exam rooms, she will update patients on their hemoglobin A1c levels, blood pressure numbers, and any ancillary notes for the physician. On a human level, she might ask about their kids, recent successes, or any fears they have going into the appointment.

“I think of them as if they’re one of my family members,” Olga says. “Like if they were my grandma. My grandma passed away from cancer and the nurse that assisted her was amazing. This memory pushes me to be a better nurse every day. It connects in a way.”

How Olga Hernandez-Cornejo Found Health Care

A mother to three children, Olga grew up in Austin the oldest of four in a Mexican American family. She went to high school at Northeast Early College High School, and then for a time went to Our Lady of Lake University in San Antonio to become a teacher.

After giving birth for the first time, she decided to switch career paths and enrolled in a medical assistant (MA) training program. She worked as an MA for six years—including three years with CommUnityCare Health Centers—until earning her Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN) designation in 2018. A year later, she became a registered nurse (RN).

“I feel like in nursing you do some teaching anyway,” she says.

Growing up in Austin, Olga’s family used the City’s Community Health Centers—the system Central Health took over after being created in 2004 and transformed into CommUnityCare Health Centers a few years later. She says the experiences of her youth, and those that were afforded to her mother, were vital when she had a family of her own.

“My mom always talked about how great the services were,” Olga said. “When she went to the doctor, she got support and if she needed any resources, they would guide her toward a goal.”

A Day in the Clinic

“You look great,” Olga tells a patient who steps off a scale.

The morning is a busy one.

A patient cancels early, so Olga gets on the phone and works through the next steps. An hour later, another enters the exam room excited to learn more about her health care plan. The next patient arrives but leaves before being seen because she doesn’t want to miss her morning meeting at the Mexican Consulate.

Olga schedules that patient out and then goes over to billing to ensure she either gets her money back or that her next appointment is free of charge.

“They don’t mess around,” Olga says of the Mexican Consulate.

The last patient of the day arrives. Olga makes small talk, discusses medication levels, then completes her final checklist of responsibilities.

All these interactions are reminders of impact. They are sometimes small and undistinguishable, like pieces of stained glass, but cumulatively they complete a full picture of care.

They are also what you can expect from Olga.

Making A Promise

She says this body of work is embedded in her DNA.

“I come from a low-income family, so helping navigate people’s health care has always been a grateful thing for me,” – Olga Hernandez-Cornejo, clinical registered nurse navigator

The way she is, the way she fights for patients, the way she doesn’t stop until she gets the right answer, that’s been ingrained in her from a young age. It’s pretty simple, she says. Never give up.

“I guess my parents taught me this,” she said. “If I’m going to start something, I need to make sure that I follow through. I feel like that goes into everything I do. I don’t want to leave things halfway done or hanging. That’s important to me. Once I start something, I want to make sure I finish it.”

It’s why she returns to the office, walks the hallways, enters exam rooms, and meets patients with a smile on her face.

And if a follow-up is needed?

She’ll return to her desk, put her headset on, and start dialing.