Caring for Your Hispanic Patients: AMSA works with the Women and Infants Family Van
5/5/08

I first learned about the Women and Infants Family Van by signing up for an AMA-sponsored volunteer opportunity. During that volunteer experience, I discovered that a large portion of the uninsured patients who benefit from the Van’s screening services are Hispanic. I also learned that the Family Van had yet to visit the med school to discuss their work and encourage students to join them in their mission:

“The Family Van is a minority health promotion center on wheels! The van travels throughout the state with scheduled visits at housing units, community centers, neighborhood health centers, high schools, and shopping centers. The van regularly attends health fairs providing health screening and education in a variety of settings…
The Family Van is a culturally sensitive, comprehensive health outreach program, designed to address health disparities in our communities.”

See website: http://www.womenandinfants.org/body.cfm?id=92&action=detail&ref=61

In an effort to spread the news about the Van and about the uninsured Hispanic population it predominantly serves, Heidi Wilder and I invited health care providers from the Van to give a lunchtime presentation at the medical school. Part of the goal of this presentation was to extend the cultural sensitivity training that medical students begin in the Doctoring Course, by focusing on an important local minority group whose health issues are understudied, whose cultural norms are often unfamiliar to health care workers, and whose access to health care demands significant improvement.

A week before the talk, I had volunteered with the Van, performing blood pressure screening at a Latina women’s health conference. During my introduction to their talk, I reflected on my experience at the conference: “After telling one woman attendee that her blood pressure was within normal range, her friend and translator then told her the news in Spanish. The woman looked relieved, and asked me if I was sure the numbers were correct. She said these screenings are so important to her: she doesn’t have health insurance. I decided to carefully take her reading one more time just to make sure she felt satisfied. During this interaction and others throughout the evening, it was clear to me that the Family Van – with its core group of providers and its volunteers – plays an important role in providing screening and health services to the uninsured population of RI, as well as to the Hispanic population and other minority communities in the state.” Given the increased presence of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the state, and the fact that the notion of preventative care is often a new idea for many immigrants, the Van is an important link between the Hispanic community and health resources.

Family Van presenters passed out pamphlets and schedules of their upcoming volunteer events, and I am continuing to work with them to plan events for the coming fall. One event will provide screening services and an information session on Hepatitis A, B and C at a local church.

Thank you to Family Van providers Mary Falvey, Angelina Newbury, Yanery Garcia-Cabral and Kyle Davenport for all your help!

- Krista Hachey