A survey released last week by the National Council of La Raza found that a lack of bilingual health care workers in the South prevents “many Hispanic patients from seeking appropriate medical care,” the Associated Press reports. Surveyors interviewed Hispanic residents and health care workers in Georgia, Tennessee, and North Carolina—states where Hispanic communities recently have grown more rapidly than other states—and found that language barriers prevent local residents from seeking “much-needed medical care,” adding that Hispanic communities often have “very limited sources of health information”; according to the survey, Spanish radio programs promoting “unregulated health remedies” are sometimes the only health information available. Meanwhile, the survey notes that the Hispanic population in the South has “exploded so quickly that health services have yet to catch up”; for instance, between 1990 and 2000, Atlanta’s Hispanic population grew by 30%, and Nashville’s grew by 21%. The researchers conclude that state health departments should launch “more campaigns to educate Hispanics about health issues” and that medical schools should begin offering courses about the Hispanic culture (Yee, AP/Newark Star-Ledger, 9/17).
