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Language a medical barrier for Hispanics
State’s immigrants also face insurance hurdles

By Charles Wilson
Associated Press
Posted on Mon, May 09, 2005

INDIANAPOLIS – For thousands of Hispanic immigrants with limited or no English skills, a trip to the hospital or doctor can be a bewildering experience.

Describing symptoms, filling out forms, even making an appointment can be intimidating, and complicated medical explanations can be incomprehensible, Hispanic community activists say.

The Indiana Minority Health Coalition and other groups say the state needs a system to train and certify health care interpreters to cope with the increased numbers of Spanish-speakers in Indiana. They’ve pushed for one without success in each of the last two sessions of the General Assembly.

“The language barrier is the biggest issue� keeping many Hispanics from adequate medical care, said Margie Chavez, Hispanic liaison for the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration.

The Indiana Supreme Court already has adopted one for legal interpreters.

“We do need to have a better system for interpreters – not only for the courts, but for medical access,� said Juana Watson, the newly appointed senior adviser for Latino affairs to Gov. Mitch Daniels.

Relying on family members or bilingual friends to serve as interpreters has its pitfalls, as officials at Memorial Hospital in Logansport found out when they tried to find out whether a Hispanic couple wanted their new child to be circumcised. They counted on one of the child’s grandmothers to translate.

A nurse who had received some training in medical Spanish immediately knew something was amiss, said Brian Shockley, the hospital’s chief executive. The nurse phoned an on-call interpreter who discovered that the grandmother wanted the child circumcised, but the parents did not. The hospital observed the parents’ wishes.

After that close call, the 104-bed hospital last year hired two full-time interpreters at a combined cost of about $67,000 a year.

Language may be the biggest barrier standing between Hispanics and health care, but it is not the only one. Many Hispanics do not have health insurance or cannot afford to pay for expensive treatment, studies show.

“It is no secret that workers are not receiving the health care benefits they should from employers, because of their immigration status,� said Sergio Aguilera, consul general of the Mexican Consulate in Indianapolis.

Many Hispanics, however, do not understand the need for health insurance or do not know it is available, Shockley said.

Since Memorial Hospital began sending its interpreters to local employers to explain health care benefits to Hispanic workers, the percentage of non-English speaking patients with health insurance treated at the hospital has risen from 3 percent to more than 40 percent, he said.

Illegal immigrants often fear seeking treatment because of their immigration status, Chavez said.

Another obstacle standing between Hispanics and health care is reluctance to seek care, even if their immigration status is in order, she said.

“Latinos do not usually like to do the doctor thing,� she said. “This is why diabetics usually are in a very bad state when the doctor finally does see them. Preventative care is a big issue.�