Theresa Siaw: Mourning to New Day Starting Again
Theresa Siaw lost her partner in life & son’s father about a decade ago, and it changed her career and life path forever. In his honor, Theresa decided she wanted to honor his legacy as a medical clinic doctor and philanthropist. Through the pain of her loss, she vowed to help keep his clinics, OMNI Healthcare, open and continue to serve the disenfranchised communities they are located in. She became the Director of Business Development and helped expand the clinic and its mission to multiple new locations and hospitals. Through OMNI she went on to open the OMNI Medical Student Training Program, which helps international medical students prepare and secure residency programs in the states. Throughout this journey, Theresa faced multitudes of backlash for being a black female entrepreneur despite her efforts to help the community. She never let any of it stand in her way to pursue and reach her goals.
One of the ways Theresa stays positive is knowing that her goals are to help people and no amount of negative backlash was going to prevent her from providing a much-needed service to the members of her community.
Surrounding herself with a strong support system and committed team of employees has also helped her stay positive in the face of personal and business adversity.
Struggling with the decision of whether to give up or keep pushing forward, things changed and resulted in tangible results her community and former clinic patients rallied around her and uplifted her to remember why she was doing this in the first place. The support of the people she was trying to help and seeing how much her mission mattered to them gave her the final push to stay committed and execute her mission.
Currently, OMNI Healthcare operates nine clinics and is in close to a dozen different hospitals. They are much more than a health clinic but offer a safe haven to those in need and provide help with a multitude of task such as filling out forms, paying bills and helping find housing at no cost to those in the community that need assistance due to elder age, lack of speaking the language or any other reason. OMNI Student Medical Training Program has placed over 100 students in residency positions.
How long after your husband death did you decide that you must continue the legacy?
There was a grieving period, but I knew almost immediately that I wanted to carry on his legacy. I saw how much the community meant to him, and him to them. I wanted to carry that on. It was important to me to make sure that his kind-hearted nature never left the community just because he is no longer with us.
Were you already in the medical field?
My degree is in marketing, but I had worked in one facet or another for OMNI Healthcare for many years before I became the Director of Business Development and went on to create the OMNI Medical Student Training Program.
Was it hard internally to pick up where he left off? Or were you already aware of how
things were running business wise?
It was hard to pick up where he left off in the sense that he was such a big presence, he was a man who could not be replaced. Luckily, on the business side, I was already pretty well versed and knowledgeable on the run of the show in the office. The hardest part to pick up where he left off was his community service. He did so much for the community, it was a lot to figure out where to even begin, being half as helpful and charitable as he was. I was determined to do so.
What was the process of balancing grief internally while making business progress
externally?
Trying to process grief is hard enough on its own, let alone trying to get back into the swing of things with work, especially when taking on a bigger role to help fill the gaps.
While there is grief going on, businesses don’t stop because of it. The most important part of finding a balance is…
Theresa Siaw is a social entrepreneur currently directing Omni Healthcare, a multi-location health clinic for the underserved. She also runs Omni Medical Student Training, which helps students who have trained at foreign medical schools prepare for residencies in the United States. It is her passion for improving not just physical health but also the whole life of the community.
