Miriam Andrade Cuevas – West Michigan 25 most influential Latinos

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Miriam Andrade Cuevas

Inclusive Communications Manager

Corewell Health

Miriam Anrade Cuevas for the past 14 years has been dedicated to improving health care access for the Latino community at Michigan’s largest health care system.

Her work has led to the expansion of language services across 14 hospitals and over 200 clinics in the Corewell network.

“This work has been vital in serving a diverse community that speaks more than 200 languages, including Spanish and American Sign Language,” she said.

Her impact extends beyond Corewell Health. During the COVID-19 pandemic. Cuevas identified a significant issue within the state’s Licensing and Regulatory Affairs department, which was delaying the certification of ASL interpreters.

To address this issue, Cuevas collaborated with Corewell’s internal government affairs team and the Grand Rapids Chamber’s governmental affairs team and organizations like Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services and Disability Advocates of Kent County to bring about legislative change and ensure continued access to essential language services through the pandemic.

After that effort, she was appointed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to serve in the Board of Interpreters for the Division on Deaf, DeafBlind and Hard dedicated to advancing the Latino community, particularly in health care access, economic growth and socio Hearing.

“My work in West Michigan has been done justice,” she said.

Cuevas came to the U.S. as a first-generation immigrant from Honduras. She already had three years of medical schooling but had to start over from the beginning and figure out life as a new mom.

She eventually earned a business degree from Cornerstone University, all while managing work, motherhood and caring for her grandmother, Linda, who inspired her to keep going.

“She would encourage me by saying, ‘Miriam – if you graduate it will be as if I graduated,”” she said of her grandmother, who did not pass third grade. “She was my rock and pushed me to move forward despite the obstacles.”