Thread: Nurses challenge Butler County initiative

http://www.journal-news.com

Nurses challenge Butler County initiative/12-15

Butler County officials have launched a plan to rid the county of undocumented, foreign-born residents. Included in the initiative are plans to require a declaration of citizenship from all booked into the county jail, discouraging employers from hiring illegal aliens and introducing new legislation that will make it a state offense for illegal aliens to cross Ohio’s borders. While county officials anticipate savings by deporting these immigrants, the fear imposed on the immigrant population threatens to generate an additional expense to the county, in terms of increased health care costs.

This is a concern to me and several other graduate nursing students from Xavier University, including C. Schneider RN, D. Tibbs RN, and P. Fiorini, RN.

Graphic and real examples of this are young expectant immigrant women in critical need of prenatal health services, who do not seek care out of fear that such assistance might put them, their unborn children and families in danger. The resulting lack of preventive and timely care may lead to life-long health problems not only for the immigrant mother, but for the citizen child.

Failure to provide basic healthcare services results in a cost not only to the person denied access, but also to the general community in terms of unpaid health care services. Lack of prenatal care can result in premature delivery and low birth weight babies that produce increased hospitalization, an average of 23 days in a neonatal intensive care unit. This specialized care amounts to an average cost of $56,942 per child.

Professional nurses have a fundamental responsibility to promote health, prevent illness, restore health and alleviate suffering. We believe in the principles of justice and respect for the dignity of all persons. This includes supporting immigrants’ access to health care and demanding access without fear of legal repercussion, the most significant of these being the fear of deportation. When access to basic health care is blocked due to cultural background, educational limitations or legal status of an immigrant or, because of the ignorance, distrust or prejudice of key providers, nurses must advocate for changes that will mitigate those barriers.

We cannot close our minds to the financial impact of the healthcare needs of the immigrant populations in our communities. Likewise, professional healthcare providers cannot ignore their duty to everyone in need of care. The health of the community is impacted by the healthcare services we provide to all who live within its borders, legal or illegal. Moreover, the manner in which we treat those who come to us seeking a better life reflects the values we hold as a community.


Dee Dee Mosko, RN

Graduate nursing student

Xavier University

Very noble of you , Dee Dee.

I suggest that you work for free to provide these critical services, just to show how open minded you are about "the financial impact of the healthcare needs of the immigrant populations".

Go ahead, Dee Dee. Show us the way.

must not have 3rd world in her neighbor hood yet. wait till the crime moves in lady.