CHICAGO (CBS) — We’re celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month, and we might wish to introduce you to a Hispanic skilled who works hard and plays hard.
Dr. Gene Romo Jr. credits mentors with inspiring him to chase down his profession and sustain his creative hobby. Now his neighbors from the blocks where he grew up get the advantages of each.
If there’s one thing to find out about Dr. Romo, it’s that the person goes after what he wants. And he knew what he desired to do together with his life when he was only a boy in Little Village.
“I actually grew up within the Little Village Boys and Girls Clubs,” he said. “We went to a conference, and the speaker that was there happened to be a dentist, and ever since then once I heard him speak, and I assumed to myself, ‘I can type of give back to my community by being a dentist.'”
Because the son of Mexican immigrants, that club opened his eyes to the world. At 12 years old, he began having big dreams of what he could go and learn, then bring back home.
“I need to have the opportunity to assist the people who speak like me, that seem like me, and I felt that there was a giant need for that. So I assumed this could be an ideal way for me to do it, and I suppose my dream got here true,” he said.
He now lives it, five days per week, at his offices in West Lawn and Brighton Park, where shared backgrounds make for higher health.
“Ninety-nine percent of my day, I speak Spanish. So once I refer to someone, I do know their culture, I do know their food habits, I understand how they were raised, and all that definitely plays a giant role of their oral care,” he said.
This mission to present back and encourage others continues through his work in several skilled groups – just like the Greater Chicago Hispanic Dental Association, and in one other place you would possibly not expect.
This dentist by day, is DJ Gino Rockin Romo by night. His love of music also began early, with gigs he played for fun money as a young adult.
“I normally do more of the throwbacks; more like older dance music from the 90s, 80s, early 2000s. That is what I like,” he said.
But he got here back to it in a giant way through the pandemic, live-streaming for fans on Facebook from his basement on the Southwest Side.
“The energy from the viewers is amazing. I absolutely adore it,” he said.
Dr. Romo even worked his day job into his logo, finding a latest solution to get into his neighbor’s homes, and using beats as reminders to book those cleanings.
“We have had plenty of patients coming in because they see me live stream. They see me at events, and so they’re thought, ‘You understand what? I have the desire to make an appointment,'” he said.
It’s brought in a younger crowd too, and Dr. Romo takes advantage of their time in his chair.
“I ask them, ‘What are you going to do along with your life, what are doing next?'” he said. “They usually’re torn between doing something that they love, and doing something that they ought to be doing, and I wish to be an example of you may do each.”
Music and molars; hoping to motivate the following generation of Hispanic youth to share their gifts and provides back to their very own blocks.
Marie Saavedra
