Bridging the Gap of Uncertainty and Doubt Between the Latino Immigrant Community and the Health Care System

Abstract

The underprivileged Latino community currently exists as a minority in the United States, yet as their numbers continuously increase, their access to certain services in the health care field requires serious attention and modifications to create a system with reliable, permanent, and accessible resources. The Pew Hispanic Center/Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Latino Health explored the amount of access Hispanics have to health care including understanding the type of information received by Hispanics. Approximately 79 percent of Latinos reported receiving health care information through social groups or media outlets such as television which can setback the overall health of this community by limiting the possibility of receiving reliable facts regarding their health. The reasons for this vary among the Latino community ranging from difficulty in deciphering the medical system to seeking alternative herbal medicines in place of traditional Western treatments (Machado 2014). Language also serves as a continuous barrier to this target population, and a lack of qualified interpreters can additionally diminish the experience and quality of care received by Latinos. Ever-present health concerns make understanding and receiving health care services vital for this minority population (Office of Minority Health). Not knowing how to access these services can cause serious problems for the Latino community, and which can be instilled in future Latino generations. This is a problem that should be addressed to create a more comfortable environment for Latinos seeking medical assistance. The long-term goal for this project will be to provide the necessary resource base that the Latino community can rely on to seek and receive information about different aspects in the health care system. The project will consist of initially conducting seminars on certain medical topics while receiving feedback in the form of surveys to assess the best method of getting information across. Another purpose for this project will be to create long-lasting partnership with the organization of AMEXCAN, which is a non-profit organization in Pitt County dedicated to serving the Latino community through advocacy, leadership, health, community, and education. This project will serve to initiate the conversation regarding how to improve Latino access to health care in order to lead to the establishment of an accessible outlet for information regarding services geared towards this population.