Andy Scheer Email & Phone Number

Since 2009, I have been working as a bilingual, English/Spanish, Medical Social Worker in San Francisco, focusing on entry and re-entry into care for People Living with HIV. A large part of my work focuses on complex insurance systems navigation, patient education, and linkage to community services. I take great pride in my focus on supporting health care equity for monolingual Spanish-speaking clients through service delivery in their native tongue. To expand upon my work in this area and further support social justice for this client population, I decided to become a Health Care Interpreter in addition to my work as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker.I have extensive experience studying, living, and traveling throughout Latin America. My bilingual education started in Quetzaltenango (Xela), Guatemala the summer of 2008, between my first and second year of graduate school. During my second year of graduate school in the Bay Area, I studied weekly, via Skype, with a tutor based in Antigua, Guatemala and engaged in local, face-to-face language exchanges with visiting professors from Spain and Mexico. After graduating with my Masters in Social Work, I returned to Xela to study further. Since my initial, intensive language learning sessions, I also studied in Guadalajara, Mexico and Bogotá, Colombia and continued my online education and cultural exchanges. Apart from extensive travel throughout Mexico and Guatemala, I have also visited Argentina, Uruguay, and Nicaragua. In our home, my husband and I only speak Spanish and I spend approximately 40% of my workday speaking Spanish.