Originally from Puerto Rico, Natasha Wolf Pacheco, MD, is the first in her family to follow in the footsteps of her late grandfather, who was a physician in Cuba and later in Puerto Rico after fleeing the Castro regime.
Her own personal journey to a career in medicine is also one of resilience and overcoming life’s challenges.
When her father unexpectedly passed due to suicide in her last semester of undergrad, many doubted if Dr. Pacheco would be able to graduate, let alone attend medical school. Nevertheless, she persevered. She graduated cum laude, passed her MCATs and traveled the world before finally attending medical school and moving to the United States.
Her journey has been an inspiration to those who know her and an encouragement for others to pursue their career dreams no matter what life throws at them. Dr. Pacheco’s experience with her father’s passing has also allowed many to open up to her about their own struggles with thoughts of suicide.
“It’s not just my job that inspires people, it’s the journey and how I treat people,” she explains.
Dr. Pacheco completed her residency with us at Mercy Health – St. Elizabeth Youngstown Family Medicine. While completing her training, she noticed the large gap in care for the Hispanic community and wanted to do all she could to make a difference.
Dr. Pacheco looks forward to building her practice and relationships with her patients at Mercy Health – Belmont Primary Care while also addressing the health care gap in the Hispanic community.
“I’m here to help my patients understand their health and provide them with options and solutions to help them make decisions based on their best interests, culture and beliefs,” she says.
She continues, “the lack of Hispanic and Spanish-speaking providers is a challenge, particularly in the behavioral health sector, creating a giant gap in mental health services for the Hispanic community. In all specialties it is hard to schedule patients and follow-up care due to the inability to communicate appropriately with office staff and physicians.”
With the opening of Mercy Health – Belmont Medical Center, Dr. Pacheco’s patients will now have access to more health care resources all in one convenient location, including primary care, women’s health and behavioral health.
We are so proud to have Dr. Pacheco on our team! Learn about the primary care services we offer at Mercy Health.
