News 12 is highlighting local heroes in the LGBTQIA+ community for Pride Month who are leading people in their fields and helping others remember that representation matters. It includes people like Dr. Wilfredo Yap at NYC Health + Hospitals/South Brooklyn Health. 

The hospital is full of inclusive health care providers, leading many say makes it such an inviting place to receive health care.  

“We are a very equitable organization in a sense that we treat everybody with not only respect, but also consideration for their preferences,” said Wilfredo Yap, deputy chief nursing officer at NYCHH/South Brooklyn Health.  

Yap’s role has given him the opportunity to work in emergency trauma, critical care, education and more, but he says sitting on the LGBTQ Steering Committee at the hospital has been his biggest achievement.  

"It goes back to inclusivity. To me it’s about feeling connected to that inorganization,” said Yap. 

Hospital workers say that seeing someone from the LGBTQIA+ community in such a high role helps to improve the inclusivity and inspires them to believe they can achieve anything, regardless of who or what they choose to love.