UCONN Latino Medical Students Work To Increase Numbers And Improve Healthcare For Community

Seven of the eight LMSA board members at UConn School of Medicine are, from left, Jorge Ortiz, Andria Matthews, Alexandria Meyers, Cristina Valentín Rivera, Verónica Schmidt Terón, Salem Harry, Kevin Iglesias.

Bill Sarno/CTLatinoNews.com

While programs such as the Affordable Care Act have significantly increased, for now, the number of Latinos in Connecticut and elsewhere who have health insurance, getting this population, particularly new arrivals in this country, to use this system remains a major challenge,

According to healthcare researchers, Latino physicians, especially those fluent in Spanish, are seen as the critical component in alleviating the communication and cultural issues which can complicate medical diagnoses and exacerbate a reluctance ...

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Why A Hospital Is Taking Farm Workers Out Of The Field And Training Them As Medical Interpreters

Angelica Isidro was the first interpreter hired by Indigenous Interpreters Plus. She interprets in Spanish and Mixteco. For years Angelica had been informally interpreting for her community; interpreting over the phone while she worked her day job in the fields. Credit: Nina Porzucki .

Folks from Salinas like to remind you that their valley is the “Salad Bowl of the World.” Not that you can forget. Everywhere you look there’s fields growing lettuce, strawberries, broccoli.

A growing number of the farm workers picking the broccoli and lettuce from those fields speak neither English nor Spanish but several Native Mexican languages like Mixtec, Triqui, Zapotec. How are ...

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Bridging The Health Care Gap For Many Latinos

SCSU Nursing students teach healthy eating habits at the Spanish Community of Wallingford.

Bill Sarno/CTLatinoNews.com

For many Hispanics living in Connecticut during the 1980s, the health care system care seemed alien and inaccessible, populated by nurses and other providers who did not talk like them, did not understand their culture and did not appreciate their financial barriers.

If a patient could only communicate effectively in Spanish, it might take a little effort but a translator usually could be found among the aides and physicians at a major medical center, such as Hartford Hospital. Or the housekeeping staff might help, recalled one longtime health care provider.

And if she was ...

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