Nurse DJ brings joy, care to others
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Sept. 30, 2022 — DENTON — Working as a registered nurse at Cedars Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles, Paulina Andujo connects with patients through virtual and in-person education before and after surgery. But she also finds a connection to others and herself through music.
“I DJ on the side. It’s my creative outlet,” Andujo said. “It’s my therapy.”
While she says it is her own therapy, Andujo’s same caregiving attitude she shows as a nurse comes out in her music. Amid a COVID-19 surge, Andujo, or DJ Pau Pau as she is affectionately known, hosted Zoom parties for her co-workers. Her fellow nurses took the opportunity to dance from their homes and let loose.
“I just want people to be happy when I play music,” Andujo said. “Music moves people and it’s something that can connect us, even if you don’t understand the language or the lyrics.”
She holds tightly to her culture through language, food, music, books and traditions.
“Coming from an immigrant family, there’s pressure to assimilate into a new culture, yet still hold on to our own culture,” Andujo said. “My parents have nicely held space for my siblings and me to do both gracefully. My culture is now a blend of both.”
But she says that for her, all roads lead back to Spanish music. She favors hip-hop music and occasionally plays tracks by Vicente Fernandez and other Latinx artists.
“I try to incorporate a Selena song somewhere in the mix,” Andujo said, revealing her deep Texas roots.
From Sunray, Texas, just north of Amarillo, Andujo graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from TWU-Dallas in 2008. She said TWU prepared her for a career in nursing many ways but most importantly by teaching her integrity, professionalism and how to always keep patient safety the priority.
After graduating and working as an RN at Parkland Hospital, Andujo moved to Los Angeles for something different at Cedars Sinai in 2015. Not long after that, she enrolled at the Beat Junkie Institute of Sound in Glendale, California, where she fell in love with being a DJ.
“I’ll DJ here, private parties. I will DJ in the middle of the street. It doesn’t matter to me,” she said. “I just like to play music.”
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Her patients at Cedars Sinai or those lucky enough to dance to her music are not the only people who get to see her compassionate smile. Andujo also travels overseas with Operation Walk, a volunteer medical humanitarian organization that provides joint replacement surgeries to those in need.
Andujo has been on seven medical trips for Operation Walk to places such as Guatemala, Nicaragua and Cuba.
“It’s really rewarding and fulfilling. I don’t know what I would be doing if I weren’t a nurse,” Andujo said. “This is what I’m supposed to do.”
Paulina Andujo and Cedars Sinai contributed images and quotes to this story.
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Page last updated 1:04 PM, January 26, 2023