Joining the order of Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace seemed a natural progression for Sister Amalia Camacho in her journey of faith.

“The draw for me to the Sisters was how they’re continuing the work of our foundress (Mother Francis Clare),” Camacho said Wednesday of the order, which sponsors PeaceHealth and St. John Medical Center. “She was strong on advocating for justice, especially for women. I already had that in my heart, what the sisters represented.”

Camacho, who is Latina, last month joined the staff at St. John Medical Center in the new position of Cultural Health Advocate and Spiritual Care. Part of her job is to help minority groups in the community get health care,” especially people who are underserved.”

Camacho, 61, grew up in Port Isabel, Texas, the 11th of 12 children in a family of migrant farm workers. Joining her family in the fields when she was about 7, she was no stranger to sometimes unfair treatment.

“Some farmers would treat us as human and others not so kindly,” she said.

One particular instance still stays in her mind.

“This man used to come and pick us up to bring us to the job sites in his big truck. He would charge to take us, but the farmer also was paying him,” she said. “When my dad found out, he said, we’re not going to do this anymore. We’re going to save up for a truck and drive ourselves.”

That was her first taste of injustice, she said. “Wow, it’s really sad taking advantage of others, especially when he was in our same culture.”

When she got to high school age, she and two of her older brothers told their parents they didn’t want to do migrant work anymore so they could better attend school, but the family still needed their incomes.

“I got a job cleaning motels, one brother got a job driving a laundry van and the other got a job in maintenance,” she said. “That’s how we broke the chain of migrating and field work, but it was hard.”

After a brief stint in college after high school, Camacho went back to work full-time and married at 23. She and her husband adopted a son and moved to California. (Her son, Christopher, 39, and granddaughter Crystal Amalia, 5, live in Ferndale, Wash.)

Raised a Catholic, she said her childhood faith continued to strengthen in her adulthood, but her marriage weakened, breaking up in the mid-1990s after the family had moved to Lynden, Wash.

In her 40s, she decided to continue her education. A friend who was an English teacher at Whatcom Community College helped Camacho apply for 13 scholarships. “I got four of them, which got me my education at Western Washington University (in Bellingham).”

She taught for three years at Immaculate Conception Regional School in Mount Vernon.

“Within that time, I had already met the Sisters of St Joseph of Peace and started the process (of becoming a nun) when I was 48 years old.”

She took her first vows on Sept. 21, 2002.

After earning a master’s degree in pastoral studies at Seattle University, she served as a pastoral assistant at St. Louise Parish in Bellevue until coming to St. John.

“I feel like I’ve already done what I needed to do (at St. Louise),” Camacho said of her move to Longview. “I love the parish, but I needed new challenges and to use my gifts in a different way.”

She said she hopes her work here is a continuance of the legacy of the Sisters of St. Joseph.

“I don’t have a medical background, but here there is the sense of service, the mission, statement and values that the staff carries,” she said.

Camacho stressed her outreach goes beyond Latinos, the area’s biggest minority group.

“I’m here for outreach for all people who need health care, especially those who don’t have the ways or means to get health care. If we believe in the mission of Jesus, it doesn’t matter what color or what language. It’s looking at the needs of the poor.”

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