Here's help in your search for solutions

Caring for special populations

Here's help in your search for solutions

BY SHERI PORTER

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Immigrant care challenges family physicians

Linda Stogner, M.D., medical director of Hope Medical Center in Estancia, N.M., has experience treating and locating services for immigrant patients. Her message to family physicians is this: "Take a hard look within your own community, and you'll find resources you never dreamed were there." Stogner offers these suggestions:

Investigate your community health center. "It may provide outpatient primary care and be designed with cultural sensitivity in mind," said Stogner. Such a resource can expand your ability to get patients needed services.
Look into your county or state indigent care program. These programs often cover patients who are uninsured or undergo a catastrophic event.
Check out the health department. If there's a large enough immigrant population in an area, the health department may set up a special clinic for the group. "In Albuquerque, we have a large Vietnamese community, and the health department has helped orchestrate and arrange care for them," said Stogner.
Tune in to senior centers. They may provide transportation, translation services and sometimes even home care.
Suggest Head Start to immigrant parents with infants and children under 5. "Head Start will make sure these children get a good start with vision, hearing and developmental screenings," said Stogner. Staff will help get eligible children enrolled in Medicaid.

Think outside the box if you're having translation problems, said Stogner. She discovered that the health department in her city had a Spanish-speaking receptionist trained in privacy issues. "When we need a Spanish translator, we call the health department and set up a conference call with the receptionist," said Stogner.

Finally, consider this option. When a community has a large immigrant population, local churches sometimes offer translation services. "If the patient contacts the church, the church might provide a volunteer translator to accompany the patient to an appointment with you," said Stogner.

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