This Central Health Nurse Manager’s Public Health Mission Has Come Full Circle
September 17, 2025
Finding inspiration from her own experience, Iza Ferrino, 32, is pulled to serve the underserved population in Travis County
When Iza Ferrino walks into an exam room inside the Central Health Capital Plaza Specialty Clinic, patients see a registered nurse who’s confident, knowledgeable, and experienced to handle their issues.
What they couldn’t possibly know is Ferrino’s own history—that she holds a deeply personal reason to serve Travis County residents who are most in need.
“I’ve always been very driven to really take care of the underserved population,” she said.
That’s because 17 years ago, as a pregnant 15-year-old looking for answers, Ferrino was in similar shoes. A lot of times, she felt judged, stigmatized, and discarded.
“Everyone kind of dismissed me,” she said.
That negativity lifted, however, following one life-changing encounter at the Rosewood-Zaragosa Clinic, which in 2008 was a publicly run health center operated by the City of Austin. Inside an examination room, Ferrino found a nurse who treated her with dignity and respect. The moment, she said, forever changed her mind about the health care industry, and especially about nursing.
She told herself to be the change that she wanted to see in the world.
“I’ve always wanted to speak for those who didn’t have a voice,” she said.
Pursuing a Path in Health Care
Ferrino delivered a healthy baby girl, then went on to balance parenting, full-time work, and full-time schooling. She worked hard and graduated from college with a nursing degree. She quickly found work, earning experience inside the medical intensive care unit (ICU) at Brackenridge Hospital and the neurocritical care unit at Dell Seton Medical Center at The University of Texas.
In 2021, Ferrino was named “Nurse of the Year” by Ascension Seton and Dell Seton, in large part for her important work through the COVID-19 pandemic. Then in 2025, roughly 17 years after that life-changing day inside the clinic at the Rosewood-Zaragosa Clinic, Ferrino made a decision that aligned with her own personal mission: in July she became a nurse manager with Central Health.
“You know when they say, ‘Things are meant to be?’” Ferrino said. “Well, I think this was meant to be.”
Joining the Mission of Public Health
Ferrino’s full circle moment has direct ties to Central Health. In 2019, the Central Health system took over the building which previously housed the Rosewood-Zaragosa Clinic, transforming the space through a $9 million dollar project into a specialty clinic for members of MAP, Central Health’s coverage program for Travis County residents at 200% the federal poverty limit or below. The nearly 15,000-square foot building, part of a $700 million dollar and seven-year Central Health Strategic Plan to bring direct care to Travis County, reopened in 2024.
Today, the Rosewood-Zaragosa Specialty Clinic provides services such as cardiology, nephrology, pulmonology, palliative care and behavior care. Last year alone it provided access to over 40,000 patients.
Ferrino now oversees nurses at Central Health’s bridge clinic, a medical program based at the Capital Plaza Specialty Clinic which provides care for short-term acute, chronic and preventative conditions for people experiencing homelessness. Often, the clinic will serve patients who have been released from the Emergency Department with lower-acuity (non-life-threatening) needs and have been dropped off by EMS. The bridge team will provide anything from wound care to a space to rest.
What Ferrino has experienced already, she says, is that “we just get it done” and that she’s inspired by the work. “I think it’s just reignited that spark in me so much more now,” she said.
As a manager, she oversees a team that performs transformative work for people in Travis County with low income. And ultimately, her team’s efforts have served to decrease volume in Austin’s Emergency Rooms and treat patients in more effective care settings.
A Space for Gratitude
At home, Ferrino’s daughter Lesley is 16 years old, at the age where her mother can begin to unwind her own history. They’ve developed a strong relationship.
It’s so strong, in fact, that Ferrino’s daughter says she may one day want to follow in her mother’s footsteps into health care.
“I’ve been very transparent about everything in my life,” Ferrino said. “I think my daughter has learned a lot from my stories, and she’s so focused on what she wants. I love her character and what she’s become.”
Ferrino says she’s grateful to be where she is today.
“Having my daughter propelled me into doing a lot more things in my life,” she said. “I think my nursing journey inspired a lot more of that love for the work.”