Pamela Cruz and Manuel Ortiz. Peninsula 360 Press
After the U.S. has been hit by the Covid-19 pandemic in recent months, where the Latino community has been the most affected, the need for medical personnel who speak Spanish has increased and has highlighted the disparity that exists in that field.
According to Dr. David Hayes-Bautista, director of the Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Medicine, until 2015, there were 344.2 doctors in the state of California for every 100,000 people, of which only 62.1 spoke Spanish.
He also said that until 2015, the state of California had a deficit of 54,655 Latino doctors, because for a population of 15 million 184,905 people of Latino origin, there were only 6,953 doctors from that community, while for 14 million 814,590 white people of non-Hispanic origin, there were 60,106 doctors.
As a result, Spanish has become the least represented language in the medical field in the state, with more practitioners mastering other languages such as Farsi, Hindi, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai and Filipino, the specialist said.
Also, Hayes-Bautista explained that from 1980 to 2010, throughout the U.S., for every 100,000 people there was an increase in English-speaking doctors, which rose from 211 to 315, while Latino doctors went from 135 to 105.
In this sense, Van Ton Quinlivan, CEO of Futuro Health, announced the launch of the new campaign, "Tu Nuevo Futuro" (Your New Future), which consists of registering a thousand people who have Spanish as their main language and take a course to prepare them to handle English.
The program in Southern California, he said, consists of a free, health care-specific online English preparation course that seeks to build a diverse portfolio of students who want to pursue a career in the health care industry.
During the virtual meeting: "The health care field offers career paths for LatinX jobseekers-Free online English course, a first step," conducted by Ethnic Media Services, the expert said that in California alone there is a demand for thousands of new health care allied workers with bilingual characteristics.
Van Ton Quinlivan said that beyond doctors and nurses, medical technicians and assistants are needed to help translate and be the contact with the millions of Latinos living in the state who are not fluent in English, let alone in area-specific vocabulary, so many patients cannot adequately manage treatment because they do not understand the indications.
He noted that medical partners include a wide range of clinical, administrative and support functions, including: physician assistants, certified nurse assistants, respiratory therapists, radiology technicians, care coordinators, health IT specialists, licensed vocational nurses, among others.
The course represents an opportunity to improve English language skills for those who wish to pursue a career in health care and provide care to patients, seniors, family members, or become certified health care professionals as a long-term career.
It should be noted that students who decide to apply to the program must be over 18 years old, live in California, have an electronic device such as a smartphone, tablet or laptop with Internet access, and be willing to study three to six hours per week for the duration of the course which can vary between three and five months.
Students who are fluent in Spanish can enroll in the English Health Preparation course by visiting www.tunuevofuturo.com or by calling 1 (855) 463-8580.
"Our nation needs a health care workforce that reflects the communities it serves," Van Ton-Quinlivan said.
For Rosalie Garcia Bernal, who has worked for years as a medical assistant, the opportunity for programs like this are of great importance, because throughout her career she has realized the shortcomings of the Latino community in the state in terms of health, for not being able to communicate with staff who speak their language.
Viviana Row, born in Colombia and married to an American citizen who is in the health care field, said she is happy to enter the program because the course has allowed her to speak better English and has learned more technical vocabulary, which will help her reach her goal of becoming a medical assistant.
"I've felt super comfortable because now I have knowledge that I didn't have before. I think the course is important for those of us who don't speak English well or feel a little insecure. Futuro Health helps us to find our way in the health field. I am motivated and excited to start my career," she said.
Dr. Margarita Loeza, director of medical information at Clínica Familiar Venice, noted that there are many Latinos who seek to enter the medical field in the country, but cannot find the right path to do so because of barriers such as language or economics.
He added that when a Latino patient goes to his doctor and finds that the staff, assistant, or technicians speak the same language, a bond of trust is created, and they respond better to the indications given by the doctors, as well as to the medications that are prescribed for their conditions.
"Latino patients prefer to be seen by doctors and medical personnel who are Latino, but there are simply too few of them," he said.
