My project will compare the health status of Valley Latinos living in a handful of urban communities to those living in rural towns.
Immigrant and Migrant Health
Most people wouldn’t think of the San Joaquin Valley - California’s agricultural heartland - as a hotbed for sexually transmitted infections. But the agriculturally rich yet impoverished region has a significant and growing HIV/AIDS problem that’s troubling local health officials.
There are around 120,000 indigenous Mexican migrants living in California. Most of them are farmworkers, face poor living conditions and higher than normal rates of illnesses. Many don't speak English or Spanish and are living in the country illegaly. They typically don’t have access to health care.
This three part series will be looking into mental health care among black communities within the U.S. Focusing on access, stigmas and cultural views toward mental health.
At La Clínica de la Raza in Northern California, the surge of new Medicaid enrollees has made it difficult for the clinic to meet the demand for care. But the need to make the most of limited resources has also led the organization to adopt new innovations, such as the "morning huddle."
I was nervous about the final story in my series from the start, since I'd need to feature someone who fell into the large group of “other” uninsured. Finding such a source would take me down a lot of dead ends before I finally got a solid lead and, ultimately, an amazing source.
For La Clínica de la Raza, long a source of care for a diverse Oakland community, the ACA has increased the clinic's share of insured patients. But financial pressures are still a constant reality, and the problem will worsen dramatically if federal funding isn't renewed.
Up to a million undocumented immigrants in California are expected to remain uninsured after the ACA is fully implemented in 2019. One California community is trying to meet some of the unmet health needs by partnering with community health centers and hosting a physician’s assistant once a week.
When Covered California reports its health insurance enrollment figures each month, one worrying statistic consistently jumps out –- the low number of Latinos signing up. This became the top news story out of the exchange in January, overshadowing the overall positive numbers.
My series for Voice of OC on immigrants' health decline as they live in the U.S began with a study that got my attention. It showed that life expectancy rates in the Orange County were higher for Latinos than whites. I was surprised for a couple reasons.