WATSONVILLE >> At age 10, Oscar Hernandez lost his mother in an accident, but he’s never forgotten her words of encouragement, that some day he would become a good doctor.
Today, he is a practitioner of Chinese medicine with an office at Plaza Vigil, and ambitions to expand his services and better serve the community. He’s launched a crowdfunding campaign via the nonprofit Kiva.org, which offers peer-to-peer lending with zero interest.
Hernandez, 37, who will take his medical boards in March, aims to borrow $10,000 to expand his workspace to see patients one-on-one and obtain a software system to archive patient records and transition from paper charts to electronic health records. He also wants to set up a website so more patients can locate him and then start the process to become a Medi-Cal provider to see low-income patients.
As of Friday afternoon, he had 110 small lenders loaning him $3,375, most from outside Watsonville and some from as far away as Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands. His campaign ends Jan. 30.
Backers can loan as little as $25. Once the dollars are repaid, they can withdraw their money or re-invest in another entrepreneur.
“I really like his work, I trust his work,” said Alexandra Navarro of Aptos, a backer who appreciates being able to converse with Hernandez in Spanish as well as English. “He’s very professional, very empathetic. I think there is a need in the Hispanic community for someone like him.”
Hernandez said his parents came to Watsonville from Jalisco, Mexico, working in the strawberry fields to create a better life for their children, but his father experienced a disabling injury and his mother who became known for her baking skills never achieved her dream of opening a bakery.
“I vowed to her to become the best physician I could be and help field workers like her be pain-free and help them find their best version of themselves,” Hernandez said.
As a youth, he made his own Silly Putty, built lamps from batteries and wires and read science magazines. In high school, he gravitated to the medical Regional Occupational Program and decided to major in chemistry. After attending Cabrillo College, he got a bachelor’s degree in chemistry at UC Santa Cruz while working as a pharmacy technician.
After a Chinese medicine practitioner helped him with insomnia, he began looking at alternative approaches to health, obtaining a master’s degree in traditional Chinese medicine and a massage practitioner license. He is working on a doctoral degree in integrative family medicine and pain management and aims to become a licensed acupuncturist.
“Alternative medicine is very important to the Latino community,” said Carmen Herrera-Mansir, director of El Pajaro Community Development Corp., noting Hernandez is the only Latino alternative doctor in Watsonville.
“I did see Oscar one time when I had a sciatica problem,” she said. “His treatment helped relieve the pain.”
She said he will be getting a 0 percent interest loan, “a unique opportunity for a start-up company.”
For three years Hernandez has treated patients with chronic pain, stress, insomnia and sports injuries at Omni Health Medicine, at Plaza Vigil, 23 E. Beach St., a business incubator run by El Pajaro CDC.
Hernandez said he hopes to partner with a medical doctor who shares his vision to create Watsonville’s first Integrative Medical Center.
KIVA CAMPAIGN
What: Oscar Hernandez wants to borrow $10,000 to expand his practice of Chinese medicine in Watsonville; lenders can put up as little as $25.
When: Campaign ends Jan. 30.
To lend: kiva.org/lend/1205142.