CalUCA - Armando G Samaniego, MD Scholarship Fund

Armando was proud to be a part of CalUCA. His membership and the camaraderie with you all meant so much to him.

When Armando first realized he wanted to play a role in changing the healthcare landscape for the better, he turned to the Urgent Care Association of America (UCAOA) for advice on launching STAT MED Urgent Care. He soon realized there was a need for a UCAOA chapter in California. He worked with Dr. Roger Hicks, Dr. Richard Park, and others to start this chapter. As recently as May of this year, Armando was busy recruiting people to work on the various committees responsible for putting on the CalUCA Monterey 2022 Conference. He would be so proud of all the work done to bring this conference to fruition.

Armando’s story is a quintessential immigrant story. He was a child of a farm worker family that settled in the Sierra Nevada Foothills. He was one of the first in his family to attain a higher education and chose Emergency Medicine as a way to serve the world. After 25 years of practicing Emergency Medicine at various medical centers in the SF East Bay, he decided to explore the feasibility of launching his own Urgent Care clinic. During the UCAOA Conference in 2013, he felt he had found his new home and eagerly attended all the start-up workshops offered, where he honed his operational and bootstrapping skills. Most importantly, he connected with others like you, who shared his dream of creating an alternative to the busy and often prohibitively expensive Emergency Room. He felt strongly that a patient ought to have easy access to high quality advanced urgent care medicine without fear of financial distress. He felt this was the right thing to do.

Many of you can relate to this, as you embarked on your journey to provide urgent care medicine in your communities. You have come to CalUCA to nurture and advance your dream and will leave this conference better prepared to confront the challenges you will meet in your day-to-day practice.

The Armando G. Samaniego Endowed Scholarship at Cal State East Bay was established to support first-generation students pursuing a career in healthcare. Although Armando is not here with us today as he had planned, he always dreamed of being able to give back by encouraging those following in his footsteps. Over $50,000 has already been raised for this scholarship fund by friends and family. Now with CalUCA’s support, Armando’s dream to inspire future generations of healthcare professionals can help many more students. Please consider donating today to help reach the goal of doubling the number of students that can be awarded scholarships.

We appreciate your support.

Please note:

You will receive your tax deduction acknowledgment from the PayPal Giving Fund, which is the charity partner of GoFundMe.

If you prefer to send a check, please make it payable to:

Cal State East Bay Educational Foundation. Note "Armando Samaniego Scholarship" in the memo.

Mail to:

California State University, East Bay, Cashier’s Office, SA 1200,

25800 Carlos Bee Boulevard

Hayward, CA 94542-9988.

Contact [email redacted] if you have any questions.