From a Tribe of Strong Women and Girls
DAP Health Associate Chief Operating Officer Nedy Terrazas was born into a family that nurtured her desire to reach for the stars.
Words by Kay Kudukis
Nereida (Nedy) Terrazas has been on the move since childhood. She was born in the land of very happy cows — Hanford, California — where Dad managed a dairy farm and married his 16-year-old sweetheart when he was 20. Terrazas came along two years later.
Mom and all her siblings lived close to their parents, all with daughters close in age to Terrazas. She calls them her sister cousins. They are seven strong. The families were so tight, they even moved together. First to Palm Springs when Terrazas was 6 — and from where Mom went back temporarily to Tulare, near Hanford, to give birth to her sister, Daisy. And then one year later, mid-second grade, to Tepatitlán, Jalisco, where Dad started a taxi service with his brother-in-law.
Although the girls spoke Spanish at home, they’d been English-speakers in school, so it took Terrazas and her sister cousins time to acclimate. But as long as they had each other, they could get through anything.
By fifth grade, much of her extended family had returned to Palm Springs, and Terrazas was transferred to a local Catholic school — with uniforms and discipline — where she stayed until mid-term seventh grade. That’s when her family rejoined their tribe in the desert. When tasked, once again, with acclimating to a new culture and a language she hadn’t conversed in for more than half a decade, Terrazas did what all badass girls do — she pulled straight A’s and made the honor roll every single year.
That tracks. In Mexico, Terrazas set a goal for herself to become the world’s fastest typist, practicing after school until she got up to 90 words per minute, a coordination skill that came in pretty handy when learning drums for marching band.
“She got both feet on the ground, and she’s burning it down.” ~ Alicia Keys
When Terrazas was 14, she and one of her sister cousins got work permits to cashier at a family friend’s restaurant. Cathedral City High let out at 2:20 p.m., so she worked from 3:00 to 10:00 p.m., and by the time she was 16, she’d earned enough to buy a new 1997 Honda Civic with cool rims, which she proudly drove to school every day.
The trade-off was no school sports, no after-school activities, and no real social life. The upside was that she was fiscally independent, and perpetually mobile. It also didn’t hurt that she looked fierce driving that car. “In hindsight, I probably should have gotten something cheaper,” she says, chuckling.
Becoming a teacher held her interest until she spent three weekends instructing catechism. No thank you! That’s when Mom’s dad, Papa Chuy, suggested she try nursing. There were funded programs available at school, so she enrolled in the regional occupational program, learning the pathways to a medical career.
At home, Mom and Dad called it quits after 26 years, but they did have one more daughter — Angela — when Terrazas was 18, causing some chatter around town. “They thought she was mine,” Terrazas says, laughing. But seriously, when did she have any time for boys?
“Looks like a girl, but she’s a flame.” ~ “Girl on Fire,” Alicia Keys
After graduation, Terrazas continued working while going to medical billing school. After 18 months, she was certified and got her first placement at an institution. But she disliked sitting in front of a computer all day, missed interacting with customers, and was so far from home. Mom noticed the shift in her daughter immediately, so Terrazas shared her unhappiness with her.
Mom advised her to quit, but Terrazas didn’t want to burn any bridges. She also needed the job, but Mom had that covered too: “The clinic where I take your grandpa is hiring a receptionist and they love your grandpa. I’ll make a call.” Terrazas resigned from the institution.
She then spent four years as a receptionist at Centro Medico Latino, and was promoted to office manager when the private clinic was purchased by Borrego Health in 2006. She oversaw the clinic’s expansion from eight exam rooms to 22, keeping the clinic running smoothly all the while. Her skill and enthusiasm were rewarded in 2010 with a promotion to regional director of operations for Riverside. The following year, she was upped to vice president. She was 28.
“Hand me the world, what good would it be, with no one to share.” ~ “If I Ain’t Got You,” Alicia Keys
They met when all the sister cousins were out celebrating Daisy’s 21st birthday. Some guy asked Terrazas to dance, and she did, but when she laid eyes on his friend Eddie, she finally found time for boys.
She confided in her sister cousin, who did what sister cousins do — she wrote Terrazas’ 411 on a slip of paper and marched it over to Eddie. Terrazas was so mortified, she left before Eddie could even figure out who she was. Three days later, Terrazas got a voicemail saying, “I’m only calling you because your name is Nedy, and my name is Eddie, and I thought it was funny. Eddie and Nedy.”
They married in 2016, the same year Terrazas was promoted to chief operating officer of the San Diego region. She’d already achieved two leadership certificates, earned her B.A. from the University of Redlands, San Diego, and by 2022, was named VP of operations over the entire Borrego Health organization. When that system was absorbed by DAP Health in August of last year, she was tapped as associate chief operating officer.
“I only have one match, but I can light an explosion.” ~ “Fight Song,” Rachel Platten
Terrazas’s purpose not only honors her tribe of strong women and girls, but her community at large. Her own two pregnancies — Nedy and Eddie are still happily married, and have a 6-year-old daughter and a 3-year-old son — helped inform her of some of her fellow women’s immediate needs: transportation to appointments and beyond, and more services available in a single location. “Removing all the barriers to make sure everybody has access to care,” she says passionately. “That’s the magic thing for me.”
For 20 plus years, Borrego Health was all Terrazas knew. “But CEO David Brinkman made it very easy to want to be part of DAP Health,” she concludes. “I know my voice is being heard, and I’m the voice of so many others.”