Reaching Latinos seen as prescription for better health

Some advocates fear many remain unaware of services

Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2006

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by Liza Gutierrez

Staff Writer

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David R. Spence⁄The Gazette

Youngsters participate in activities designed to teach them about good health during a program sponsored by the county’s Latino Health Initiative at Maryvale Elementary School in Rockville. At the same time their parents were learning English in another classroom.

At the end of 2005, the county’s Latino Health Initiative celebrated five years of helping low-income Latinos gain critical access to medical care and health education. But no matter how much outreach is conducted, program directors are concerned there are people who are still not aware of the services.

Latinos, the fastest growing ethnic group in the county, face serious barriers to medical care and public health services, according to a Latino Health Initiative report. The high rate of uninsured Latinos, with estimates ranging from 40 percent to 80 percent of the county’s Latino population, presents a challenge to the healthcare system, the report says.

The Latino Health Initiative was created within the county’s Department of Health and Human Services to mobilize resources and address the county’s underserved Latino population.

People do not have to reveal their immigration status and can participate in county-sponsored programs even if they are undocumented, program director Sonia Mora said.

Although the county has several healthcare facilities for people who are uninsured, Latino Health Initiative research has revealed that many low-income Latinos do not know about the services.

Limited Spanish-language outreach and recent immigrants’ unfamiliarity with the county healthcare system contribute to the lack of awareness, the report says.

The initiative’s Health Promoters Program tries to tackle the challenge by training volunteers throughout the county to educate Latinos about health-related issues and activities and facilitate access to county health programs.

The program is one of the most successful in the county because the promoters are people from within the Latino community, Mora said.

‘‘They reach individuals that a typical county employee would not be able to reach,” she said, adding they have the community’s trust because they are Hispanic.

Health promoter Olga Dibari of Wheaton agreed.

‘‘It’s good because we come from the community ... we know exactly what the community needs,” she said.

Dibari has participated in the program for five years ‘‘because I like to serve my people,” she said.

Health promoters share information about a wide range of health issues, like changing unhealthy eating habits, diabetes prevention, asthma education, the benefits of exercising, and combating obesity in children, Dibari said. The promoters focus on connecting people to health coverage from county and federal government sources, she said.

Health promoters meet every month for almost five hours to receive training and stock up on health material to take back to their communities, Dibari said. People respond well to them and are always interested in receiving the information, she added.

The Latino Cancer Prevention and Control Program is another successful arm of the Latino Health Initiative, Mora said. The program partners with entities that provide free or reduced-cost medical services for low-income Latinos, like cancer screenings and treatment, coordinator Paola Fernan-Zegarra said.

A traveling van goes into different communities every month to provide an average of 20 mammograms each trip, Mora said. Cancer education outreach has reached about 7,000 people since it started, and almost 4,000 people have taken advantage of cancer screening services, Mora said.

Even with those successes, Mora and others worry there are still people who will not be reached, and language barriers contribute to that, she said.

Because the language gap creates a barriers to medical care, Latino Health Initiative developed the System Navigator and Interpreter Program, which is staffed with bilingual speakers that man a phone line to help Latinos find the county health and human services they need. If people need primary or urgent care, they are connected to the appropriate clinics.

An interpreter is also provided to accompany the client to clinics that have no bilingual staff and serve uninsured and low-income individuals and families.

More than 5,000 medical interpretation services have been provided over the past three years, Mora said.

Although there is a lack of culturally competent services and bilingual personnel, some progress is being made as clinics and county departments try to bring bilingual staff on board, Mora said.