Thread: Language A Medical Barrier For Hispanics

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/fortwayne/ ... 601433.htm

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.�

This is beyond reason, folks. Beyond common sense!!

What did our immigrants do all these years? Italian, Asian, German and all our people who came to this country never thinking of a HANDOUT.

What did they do??

First Medical and now PRINCIPALS........this is cockeyed and OUT OF CONTROL!!

OUR MONEY IS PAYING FOR THIS GOVERNMENTS DECISIONS TO HAND IT OVER TO ILLEGAL PEOPLE

OUR MONEY FOOTS THE BILLS

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

I don't see illegal immigrants shying away from hospitals. They take advantage of hospitals everyday. They hoarde into emgergency rooms, alot coming by ambulence, for treatment of anything from a hangnail to a post-nasal drip. We pay for these services. Illegal immigrants don't.

Language Barrier? Well, isn't that just too bad. Are we supposed to foot the bill to provide a translator for every illegal man, woman and child? These people need to learn english, because that is the language of OUR country.
Language barrier? Has anyone had to spend time in a hospital lately? It's amazing to see the number of nurses and doctors who were imported for quotas sake, who are probably just as stumped trying to communicate to us in english.
Americans, as patients, are dangerously volunerable to mistakes that can be made, because these foreign caregivers do not have a full comprehension of the english language. I fear many mistakes can and will happen.[/quote] So there.

It is more of a burden for us in the healtcare professions than for the illegals. Parkland Hospital here in Dallas delivers more babies than any other hospital in the nation. Period. They have so many expectant mothers of anchor babies there that they have to deliver them in the halls.
I don't know where yall live but here in Texico, it is just overwhelming.
The hospital that I work at is a secondary trauma center for Dallas County. I work 12 hour shifts on Friday and Saturday, Hard Liquour and Hand Gun nights, and this weekend there was a huge gang fight in Dallas.
We had illegal immigrants by the boat loads. They can say I have been shot or stabbed. They can speak English when it is to their benefit. We are being offered a "Spanish for Healthcare Workers" class. I speak Spanish but I refuse to do so at work. Besides by the time they get to me, they are sleep. No need to talk.