My motivation and drive to help curtail and ameliorate human suffering springs from my witnessing and living firsthand some of the tragedy and pain in some of the rural villages and "favellas" in Minas Gerais, Brazil, and urban and reservation Native American communities in Minnesota. I strive to honor, respect, learn from, educate, empower, motivate, and inspire those whom I serve while adhering to a bio-psycho-sociocultural-spiritual model of care.