AAPI Heritage Month: Tony Cassera

Celebrating AAPI Heritage Month with Tony Cassera

May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Month. This year, Legacy's AAPI Employee Resource Group is proud to share stories of leadership, resilience and identity in the workplace from a few members. This is just one of many stories.

---

Tony Cassera’s career in film and video production spanned years in Portland, working for a subsidiary of the Eastman Kodak film company and local wedding photography. In 1995, Tony gladly gave up his Saturdays and Sundays spent wrangling wedding parties to use his talents at Legacy.

He started at Legacy Good Samaritan and, days into his new job, found himself dressed in scrubs, ushered into an operating room, and was told very sternly by the anesthesiologist not to cross the sterile field and wait for the doctor to tell him when to take the photo.

“Sterile field became another word in my vocabulary,” he said. 

Today, Tony continues his photo and audio-visual work at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center. He recently took time to share his experiences and perspectives as Legacy celebrates Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month and the national theme of a legacy of leadership and resilience. 

What traditions or values from your heritage do you carry with you in your work at Legacy Health?

I was 10 when my parents brought us to the United States. My cultural identity as a Filipino American was shaped somewhat by my mother's influence and my involvement in the Filipino American community. 

This community provided me much of my early education in my cultural and social understanding of the Filipino’s shared experiences. The Filipino events and community gatherings that I attended has contribute to most of what shaped me into how I carry myself in my working environment.    

I was taught the Filipino hospitality. I can say some of these traits I was brought up with have had some effects in my work ethic and it has served me greatly through much of my 30 years at Legacy. 

I still prioritize individual expression and self-reliance, emphasize family values. I respect the established lines of authority, responsibility within my group of medical clients, departments, and my co-workers. 

I respect my organization’s higher positions and adhere to the chain of command.
In most healthcare settings and social interactions, I am very respectful to address physicians as "Doctor."

In my culture I leaned to respect all authority in my working environment. Some doctors may prefer to be called by their first name, but in general, using doctor is a polite and respectful way, and that is how I show my professionalism at work 

What challenges have you faced navigating your identity in the workplace, and what helped you overcome them?

I realize that I've been on an amazing journey after all these years in a profession that I’ve learned to love and appreciate. With that, I have had no trouble navigating myself through a very challenging service-oriented workplace. In fact, what I realized was that this workplace led me through many career opportunities and the workers, doctors, nurses, patients and all the hospital support people became my friends and mentors.

Can you share a moment when you had to show resilience in your career or life, and how your cultural background helped shape your response?

There have been numerous times where resilience was required. It is when you just got a wakeup call, that grand slam, holy grail of bad news. This was the day that my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer.

I drove home and we just hugged each other in silence. It was a larger brick thrown into our plate glass window shattering all our preexisting plans. The initial shock was pure devastation. Why? What have I done?

The results were shocking since this type of breast cancer was a very fast replicating cancer and very rare. After a few moments of tears and hugs, we started to plan our next move to schedule surgery. She opted for a double mastectomy to lessen the chance of a recurrence since it is a hereditary type.

Next, we scheduled chemotherapy and followed with radiation treatments. The plan worked. 

The idea that accepting religious and cultural beliefs as the status quo in health care is quite complex. While it's true that some religious and cultural beliefs can conflict with modern medical practices, hindering treatment with old provincial beliefs can cause unnecessary suffering.

But when nature’s fury blows into my life, I need to dispel my family’s old traditions of coping by putting religious belief aside and stepping into a more medically proven method of cure.

My resilient attitude is to seek immediate solution to this broken window in my life and not to rely on folk remedies. It is also equally important to acknowledge that these beliefs can also play a positive role in health care by providing comfort, meaning, and support for patients and families navigating difficult medical journeys. 

In what ways has your cultural identity shaped your leadership style or the way you navigate challenges?

I take pride in my work, and I have always been thorough, helpful, knowledgeable, and accommodating to all my clients' needs. I always do more than what is expected from my clients. That understood, we all gain a sense of accomplishment from a job well done. Service asked and service provided, and this is a mutual and fundamental attitude we all need to understand in our workplace duties. Everyone benefits with this understanding.

What does being part of Legacy’s AAPI ERG mean to you?

The opportunity to connect with other AAPI members from different hospitals at a social event has opened a bond between us as a group with similar backgrounds, celebrating our cultural heritage among ourselves, as well as with the wider community of Portland.