by Lalitha Chandolu, Aaliyah Brown, and Andy Meja

While Minority Health Month is a time to acknowledge systemic barriers and distinct health outcomes for each minority community, it is vital to stress the reasons and root causes of such outcomes. For the Latine and Hispanic community, English literacy is a major divider between a person and quality access to health care. In the United States, acquisition of English is a key to unlocking doors and health care access for the Hispanic population. Although English is the predominant language spoken in the United States, no single language bears the title of "official language." The United States is in the top 10 countries with the highest Spanish-speaking population, so it should adopt multilingual practices for patients with limited English proficiency, such as increasing access to bilingual medical professionals or providing necessary information in various translated languages.

Limited English proficiency creates most of the disparities shown by statistics from various accredited sources. Oftentimes, young family members are left to be language brokers (informal translators between a dominant language user and a family member) to fill the language gap. Critical sensitive information between a patient and their health care provider is usually diminished. It creates a bubble of insecurity and fear of judgment for patients. A study conducted comparing health care spending between Hispanic adults with and without English proficiency showed that mean per capita health care expenditures or dollars spent was 35% lower for Hispanic adults with limited English proficiency than for Hispanic adults who had adequate English proficiency. This means that those without adequate English proficiency saw lower expenditures, outpatient visits, inpatient days, and prescription medications.

Furthermore, language barriers also play a major role in Latine and Hispanic health disparities when it comes to employment, poverty, and housing instability. Health is affected by four prominent dimensions of housing: stability; quality and safety; affordability and accessibility; and neighborhood environment. These remain critical social determinants of health and should be considered in evaluating prevention efforts to reduce and eliminate racial or ethnic socioeconomic disparities.

Almost 19% of the Latine and Hispanic people in the United States live in poverty, and many can't afford medical care or therapy. Medicare's guaranteed health care coverage is crucial for Hispanic or Latine Americans but usually doesn't cover the full cost of prescription drugs and other health care services. Of Latine and Hispanic people in the United States, 18% don't have health insurance, and out-of-pocket costs are a burden for these low-income families with various health care needs. Job insecurity is created by the prominent job requirement of English proficiency and correlates to the number of people struggling to find a job to afford health care services and housing in a hygienic or safe neighborhood.

The impact of mental illnesses among the community is commonly overlooked. In the United States, 18.3% of the population (approximately 60 million people) is estimated to be Hispanic, of whom nearly 10 million people report having a mental illness. Research shows that older adults and youth are more susceptible to mental distress relating to anxiety from immigration, school, or the community. What's more surprising is that more than half of young adults and adults between the ages of 18 and 25 do not receive treatment. Only 35.1% of Latine and Hispanic people with mental illnesses receive treatment each year compared with the average for American people being 46.2%.

For the Latine and Hispanic community, mental illnesses are often stigmatized, resulting in prolonged periods of silence. Language barriers are one of the largest reasons Latine and Hispanic people face difficulty in receiving health care treatment. As most Latinos speak Spanish, or other Latin American languages, communicating with providers is hard or even impossible when a person seeks counseling for sensitive or personal issues. A large portion of the Hispanic community, especially older adults, is not fluent in English, preventing them from clarifying the issues they are facing. This has led people to be unwilling to speak up in public about their mental health, as they either feel unheard or misunderstood.

In addition to mental health, there are several health issues that are prevalent within LatineHispanic communities due to multiple adverse factors. A study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention implies that a Hispanic or Latino person is 10% more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than overall U.S. adults, resulting in a 50% chance of developing diabetes, and an increase in complications, such as cardiovascular and kidney disease.

The Latine and Hispanic community still incessantly faces challenges that alter their quality of access to health care. Despite grueling disparities, the community sees hope with potential solutions becoming clearer and forthcoming. A common goal when addressing and encompassing minority communities and their health disparities is looking beyond statistics, and getting involved not to reduce minorities to health disparities and challenges. An important issue being combated is poverty and housing instability within minoritized groups. Latine and Hispanic immigrants usually face barriers in accessing proper health care due to unemployment, caused by the long bureaucratic process of work permits.

An active step everyone can take is becoming more involved in local politics. Bills in Washington include House Bill 1095 and Senate Bill 5109, which attend to unemployed persons, such as immigrants awaiting work permits that otherwise are not represented under unemployment insurance. It is impossible to dismantle biases embedded in the health care system within months or even years. While combating poverty is a major step to fixing inequities, creating bills and legislation is at the forefront of our solution for Latine and Hispanic patients. The goal is to have adequate multilingual practices in any part of the United States, not just in highly dense populations of Latine and Hispanic people. For example, the formation of the Hispanic Transplant team, which has more than 20 bilingual employees, is dedicated to Spanish-speaking patients in need of a transplant. On the other hand, actively editing our schemas of who and how health care benefits certain communities and patients is one key to encompassing and fixing the community's inequitable health care.

OPINI"N | Multilinge Practicas en Asistencia Mdica

by Lalitha Chandolu, Aaliyah Brown, and Andy Meja

Mientras Mes Nacional de Salud de las Minoras es un tiempo para reconocer barreras sistmicas y distintos resultados para cada comunidad, es importante poner estrs a las razones y races de cada resultado y discrepancia. Para la comunidad Latine, alfabetizacin de ingls es un gran separador entre una persona y acceso a asistencia mdica. Una llave a desbloquear puertas y asistencia mdica para la poblacin Latine1 es la clasificacin de idioma en los Estados Unidos. Aunque ingls es el idioma predominante hablado, ningn idioma obtiene el ttulo de "idioma oficial". Los Estados Unidos se incluye en los diez pases con la poblacin ms grande de hispanohablantes, as que deberan adoptar practicas multilinges para pacientes con Competencia Limitada de ingls, como aumentando acceso a mdicos profesionales o informacin en varios idiomas traducidos.

Competencia Limitada de ingls genera la mayora de las disparidades enseada por estadsticas de fuentes acreditadas. Frecuentemente, miembros familiares jvenes se quedan como corredor de idiomas a llenar el hueco de idioma. Corretaje de idiomas es la traduccin informal entre el usuario de un idioma dominante y un miembro familiar. Informacin clave que es sensitivo entre un paciente y su proveedor de asistencia mdica queda disminuido.

Genera una burbuja de inseguridad y miedo al juicio para pacientes. Un estudio realizado (Himmelstien, 2018) vio que la meda per cpita gastos de asistencia mdica eran 35% menos para adultos latines con competencia limitada de ingls que por adultos latines con competencia adecuada de ingls. Esto tiene correlato con menos visitas ambulatorias, visitas de hospitalizacin, y medicina recetada para los latines con poca competencia de ingls.

Ms an, barreras de idioma juegan la mayora del rol en disparidades de asistencia mdica para la comunidad Latine, cuando viene a empleo, pobreza e inestabilidad residencial. Salud es afectada por cuatro dimensiones prominentes, estabilidad, calidad, seguridad, asequibilidad, accesibilidad, y ambiente vecindario. Todas estas cosas quedan determinantes sociales crticas de salud y deben ser consideradas en evaluando esfuerzos de prevencin para reducir y eliminar disparidades raciales, tnicas y socioeconmicas.

Casi 19% de personas latines en los Estados Unidos viven en pobreza, y muchos de ellos no pueden permitirse acceso mdico o terapia. El gasto prometido por Medicare es crucial para la comunidad Latine, pero no completamente cubre el gasto de un hospital, acceso a un doctor, medicamentos u otros servicios mdicos. 18% de latines en los Estados Unidos no tienen cobertura mdica, de empleo es creado por el predominante requisito de hablar solo ingls y correlaciona al nmero de latines luchando para encontrar un trabajo para ahorrar los gastos mdicos y ahogar sanitario y en un vecindario seguro.

El impacto de enfermedades mentales entre los latines es comnmente pasado por alto. En los Estados Unidos, 18.3% de la poblacin es estimada ser Latine, de que casi 10 millones de personas reportan tener una enfermedad mental. Estudios ensean que adultos mayores y jvenes son ms susceptibles a estrs mental relacionado con ansiedad mental relacionado con ansiedad de inmigracin, escuela y la comunidad. Lo que sorprende ms es que ms de la mitad de los adolescentes y adultos entre 18-25 no reciban tratamiento. Solo 35.1% de latines con enfermedades mentales reciben tratamiento comparado al promedio para estadounidenses siendo 46.2%.

Para la comunidad Latine, enfermedades mentales frecuentemente quedan estigmatizados resultando en prolongados lapsos de silencio. Barreras de idiomas siendo una de las ms grandes a travs de recibiendo tratamiento mdico. Como la mayora de Los Latines hablan espaol u otros idiomas de Latinoamrica, comunicndose con mdicos es difcil o imposible cuando una persona busca ayuda profesional u orientacin para problemas personales o sensitivas. Una gran porcin de la comunidad Latine, especialmente adultos mayores, no son fluente en ingls, interrumpiendo que clarifiquen los problemas que enfrentan. Esto ha llevado a que personas a no estar dispuestas a hablar en pblico sobre su salud mental, como ellos se sienten inauditos o incomprendido.

Adems, salud mental, hay varias cuestiones de salud que son comn en comunidades latines debido a varios factores adversos. Northwestern Medicine ndica que (40%) de "Hispanoamericanos" dentro los Estados Unidos son proyectados a tener diabetes tipo 2. Casi 1 en 4 Hispanos tienen hipertensin que resulta en enfermedades cardiovasculares.

A pesar de estas disparidades que son muy real, el futuro se ve iluminado para la comunidad Latine. La comunidad Latine continua incesantemente enfrentndose con desafos que alteran su calidad de vida. A pesar de disparidades, la comunidad Latine ve esperanza con soluciones potenciales convirtindose ms claras y venideros. Una meta comn al abordar y abarcar comunidades minoritarias y sus disparidades respectivas es yendo ms all de estadsticas, e involucrndose para no reducir minoras a sus disparidades y desafos. Un asunto importante siendo combatido es la pobreza e inestabilidad habitacional entre grupos minorizados como la comunidad Latine. Inmigrantes Latines se enfrentan con barreras en acceso de adecuada asistencia mdica a travs de desempleo, causado por el proceso burocrtico largo que son permisos de empleo.

Un paso activo que todos pueden tomar es por involucrndose en la poltica local. Proyecto de leyes en Washington incluyen HB 1095 y SB 5109 que asisten a personas sin empleo como inmigrantes esperando permisos de trabajo que de lo contrario no son representados debajo seguro de desempleo. Es imposible a desmantelar sesgos incorporados en el sistema de asistencia mdica en semanas o aos. Mientras combatiendo pobreza es un gran paso a componiendo desigualdades, creando proyecto de leyes y legislacin son la vanguardia a nuestra solucin para pacientes latines. La meta es tener prcticas multilinges adecuadas en cualquier parte de los Estados Unidos, no solo lugares que llevan poblaciones densas de latines. Por ejemplo, la formacin de "Equipo Hispano de Trasplantes" dedicados a pacientes hispanohablantes en necesidad de trasplantes, ahora tiene ms de 20 empleados bilinges. Por otro lado, editando activamente nuestros esquemas de quien y como el sistema beneficia a algunas comunidades y pacientes ms que a otras es una clave para abarcar y arreglar la asistencia mdica desigual de la comunidad Latine.

The South Seattle Emerald is committed to holding space for a variety of viewpoints within our community, with the understanding that differing perspectives do not negate mutual respect amongst community members.

The opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints expressed by the contributors on this website do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints of the Emerald or official policies of the Emerald.

Lalitha Chandolu, Aaliyah Brown, and Andy Meja are high school students. They were participants in the Explorers Virtual Internship with Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center.

Featured image by Have a nice day Photo/Shutterstock.com.