This story was produced as part of a large project by Jessica Bedolla, a participant in the 2020 National Fellowship, who is exploring, researching and reporting the impact of this worldwide pandemic in communities along the border.
U.S.-Mexico border communities are facing dire challenges as the pandemic escalates.
Thousands of immigrants who have lost their jobs are suffering all kind of mental disorders and they are not receiving any mental health care.
As Congress goes into recession, the debate over healthcare hits home. But what's really happening on the reform front? Will it meet the needs of the American public? In a 5-hour special series over five days, we'll hear from doctors, hospital administrators, insurance companies, economists and average people about what's driving up healthcare costs, what it will take to make real changes, and what trade-offs people are willing to make to see meaningful reform through.
Dr. Bonnie Bade is a medical anthropologist whose work focuses on farm worker health, health care, California agriculture and farm labor, transnational migration, and ethnomedicine and ethnobotany among peoples of both indigenous Oaxaca and indigenous Southern California. Dr. Bade has worked with Mixtec communities in California, the San Diego/Tijuana border region, the San Joaquin Valley, and Oaxaca for over 15 years. Dr. Bade earned her Ph.D. in anthropology at the University of California, Riverside in 1994.
Dr. Blanca Lomeli is the regional director of North America programs for Project Concern International, an outreach organization that works to prevent disease and provide access to clean water and nutritious food around the world. Lomeli has over 20 years of experience in the fields of community health and medicine. She has served as director of Project Concern's programs in Mexico for over 17 years, overseeing all operations and supervising staff in both Tijuana and Mexico City. She currently oversees a multi-million dollar project funded by the U.S.
Dr. Alfonso Valenzuela Espinoza is chief of pathology at Hospital General de Tijuana in Tijuana, Mexico. He also is a commissioner for the United States-Mexico Border Health Commission, a binational organization working to optimize health and quality of life along the U.S.-Mexico border.
