The Cuban entrepreneur Maivy Padrón, a native of the Playa municipality in Havana, knows what it means to start from scratch. She arrived in Germany 27 years ago and, like almost all emigrants, carved her path by working in whatever job came her way: cleaning houses and as a waitress in restaurants. Today, she owns three clinics in Germany, and most importantly, her work has been a great help in her mother's recovery, who suffered a paralysis in 2021 and is now enjoying good health in Europe.
In an interview granted to CiberCuba, Maivy Padrón recounted how she discovered her passion for physiotherapy while taking care of an elderly woman in a wheelchair in Germany. She earned 15 marks per hour, at a time when Germany had not yet adopted the euro. One day, a physiotherapist came to see the woman she was caring for, and she asked to be paid 100 marks for the 45 minutes she had spent in the house.
At that moment, Maivy Padrón, taken by surprise, told herself that she wanted to be a physiotherapist. And that’s how she began studying the career in a private center. She achieved it despite not speaking a word of German, thanks to her sister who worked hard to pay for her studies. She also put in a lot of effort working in restaurants on the weekends and cleaning houses.
At that time, Maivy Padrón remembers, no one believed in her. Everyone, except her sister, told her it was impossible to achieve it without speaking a word of German. But she did it. Not only did she learn the language, but she also graduated, and today she owns two clinics, one for physical therapy and another for occupational therapy.
She also owns a dental clinic, which came to Maivy Padrón in a different way. It was while working in a hospital that she met a woman she became very fond of, but who left her very sad when she passed away from cancer. Shortly after her death, the woman's husband called her asking for help to sell his wife's clinic, which was a dental practice.
Maivy Padrón went to see the clinic and loved it. She fell in love with it and asked her husband to help her buy it, but he hesitated because she is not a dentist. However, Maivy Padrón had everything well thought out in her mind. She spoke with her personal dentist and asked if she would be willing to work in that clinic if she bought it. The dentist agreed, and since then they have been working together.
It was in 2021 when Maiby Padrón's mother suffered a paralysis, and that’s when everything went wrong. The doctors sent her home in Cuba because there was very little to be done. The daughters flew from Germany to Havana and managed to get her treated at CIREN (International Center for Neurological Restoration) for a whole year. Afterwards, the mother traveled to Germany, and today she leads a normal life with her three daughters, now recovered.
Based on her life experience, Maivy Padrón advises all Cubans with a sick family member in Cuba to not hesitate to do everything and never give up. She also sends a message to entrepreneurs: "Life is perseverance and a lot of love." That, she adds, is what distinguishes her clinics from the rest: the enormous personal involvement of their workers.
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