Healthcare In The Latino Community

In this discussion, a Hispanic or Latino group is considered. While the statistic is not available for the city of Cleveland, in Ohio this group represents a 3.7% of the total population as of July 1, 2016 (USCB, 2018). The Hispanic/Latino group represents people from Cuba, Latin America, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Caribbean and other Spanish cultures, regardless of race (Juckett, 2013). While a treatment plan in hospitals is the same for all the patients, the perception varies in different ethnic groups or races. Thus, a health care provider need to be aware of Hispanic/Latino cultural beliefs and implement this knowledge into a daily routine.

The health care system must change to improve our nation’s health and takes strong steps to address the unsustainable growth of health care costs in America. We still have a long way to go before our health system become effective. We still have population that do not have insurance, have difficulties accessing their health care, or their needs are not met within the healthcare system. It is an investment in prevention and wellness and increasing access to primary care physician.

Limited access to health care for Spanish Speaking populations is due to inability to afford services, difficulty with transportation, dissatisfaction with services, language barriers and inability to understand treatment plans. Health indicators of Spanish Speaking populations suggests that health outcomes continue to be behind other population groups, they also remain below goals established by Healthy People 2010 (Butler, Kim-Godwwin, & Fox, 2008). The US Spanish Speaking population represents a particular vulnerable subset of US Hispanics that have lower-income, less education, poor perceived health status and poor access to the health care System (Dubar & Gizlice, 2008).

Christopher Columbus landed on the shores of America back 500 years ago in the year 1492. Were he and his crew the first illegal immigrants in America? The land was occupied by another group of people that didn’t grant these explorers the right to have whatever they please without acquiring some kind of legal status. The topic of legal status might have been irrelevant back in those days but it surely is an issue that is widely talked about in today’s America. The issue of illegal immigrants has been a hot topic especially when it comes to discussing whether these people should be allowed to have health care provided by a government that doesn’t recognize their

Although most American citizens today associate racial and ethnic disparities in public health care quality with socioeconomic status, a majority of studies performed conclude that these discrepancies are still highly prevalent when the factor of one’s socioeconomic status is taken out of the equation. Health disparities for a certain minority result in a higher number of illness, injury, and even mortality for that race or ethnicity in comparison to white Americans; therefore, health care disparities can be defined as differences between groups in health coverage, specifically focusing on both the quality and access to care. The Office of Management and Budget has created two ethnic categories for all American citizens to fit into, being either

For this paper, Ms. Minister Melishia Bansa MPH was interviewed. She is a thirty year old African-American woman. Her occupation is the director of community outreach and provider Relations for “Coordination of Health Care for Complex Kids” (CHECK) Program and Project Coordinator of “Promoting Adolescent Health” (PATH) Study. She was interviewed about her work with the CHECK Program. The Coordination of Health Care for Complex Kids program aims to improve overall health and quality of life for underserved populations. This programs aims to fight the social injustice of unequal health systems for low socioeconomic communities. The CHECK program aims to increase doctor appointments and improve communication between the patient and the patient’s health provider. However, the program is focusing on young individuals with chronic illnesses within low socioeconomic communities.

Although culturally Mexico closely identifies with Central and South American countries, however, it is situated in North America.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) (2015) provided an overview of the Hispanic population, in which they reported the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) categorization of the population. Specifically, OMB defines Hispanics as a population which comprises of Cubans, Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, South and Central Americans as well as people from other Spanish cultures (CDC, 2015). According to a report compiled by the CNN Library (2015), Hispanics are the largest minority group in the United States. In fact, the size of the Hispanic group in the United States is only second to the size of the Hispanic group in Mexico. The report further explained that there were approximately 54 million Hispanic people in the United States by 2013. The number showed a 2.1% increase in the Hispanic population between 2012 and 2013 (CNN Library, 2015). The total Hispanic population in 2013 constituted about 17% of the United States total population. Gonzalez-Barrera and Lopez (2013) inferred that people of Mexican origin constituted the largest number of Hispanics in the United States. They maintained that there were approximately 33.7 million Hispanics from Mexico in the United States by 2012 (Gonzalez-Barrera & Lopez, 2013). The Mexican-Hispanics population is represented by people who are born in the United States and immigrants from Mexico.

Although the United States is a leader in healthcare innovation and spends more money on health care than any other industrialized nation, not all people in the United State benefit equally from this progress as a health care disparity exists between racial and ethnic minorities and white Americans. Health care disparity is defined as “a particular type of health difference that is closely linked with social or economic disadvantage…adversely affecting groups of people who have systematically experienced greater social and/or economic obstacles to health and/or clean environment based on their racial or ethnic group; religion; socioeconomic status; gender; age; mental health; cognitive, sensory or physical disability; sexual orientation or gender identity; geographic location; or other characteristics historically linked to discrimination or exclusion” (National Partnership for Action to End Health Disparities [NPAEHD], 2011, p. 3). Overwhelming evidence shows that racial and ethnic minorities receive inferior quality health care compared to white Americans, and multiple factors contribute to these disparities, including geography, lack of access to adequate health coverage, communication difficulties between patients and providers, cultural barriers, and lack of access to providers (American College of Physicians,

By 2011, nearly one person out of every six living in the United States will be of Hispanic/Latino origin (Selig Center Multicultural Economy Report, 2006).

The United States has had tremendous growth in population over the past two decades, and the demographic landscape has completely shifted because of this. Latinos account for the largest ethnic minority group in the country today, and this has caused tremendous negative backlash against them including increased discrimination and an overall negative impact on their mental health. A previous meta-analysis reported that Latinos experience high levels of depressive symptoms when compared with non-Latino whites (Torres, 2015). Depression is a terrible condition which takes over your ability to control your emotions and ultimately brings you down to the point where the daily activities that you take part in are no longer of interest to you. Not

The United States is a melting pot of ethnicity, in which, the healthcare system and its benefits vary widely. Those who are able to obtain primary care insurance via a full time employer, typically have the benefits of full coverage care. However, for many minority groups, full time work alone is hard to acquire, along with the health benefits full time employment provides. Culturally competent care among the diverse populations helps increase health promotion and gain a cultural perspective. One of these mentioned groups is the Hispanic population which is steadily increasing within the United States.

To achieve LOZ’s mission of creating a flow of well trained and industry-qualified candidates to enter into the nation’s fastest growing fields, of health care, it is essential to recruit and train individuals to become highly skilled and dedicated employees. Attention to workforce development is essential to ensure that there are a sufficient number of trained individuals entering the workforce of impoverished communities and that continuing education for these individuals is accessible, encouraged, relevant, and linked to core competencies. Our strategy is to empower these individuals to have a desire to function at the top of their competency level. Lights of Zion’s Workforce Development Plan addresses the challenge of assuring a well-prepared

Description: Tufts held a month-long program where I engaged in problem based learning classes, medical student mentorship, various shadowing events and a disparities project. As part of the Tufts’ Winter Enrichment program, I was able to shadow at a free clinic. The clinic is open once a week to the public. I engaged with newly immigrated, uninsured and homeless patients. Paired up with a resident and attending, I observed key traits needed to support an especially vulnerable population. The traits I saw embodied the importance of cultural competency, communication, and empathy.

These programs are supportive of the overall changes in healthcare happening now in the US. These types of programs are becoming more and more common throughout the U.S as ambulance and emergency room abuse are reaching critical levels. The program has a goal of providing services to 100 individual patients annually.