Overview
San Juan Basin Public Well being is a public well being company serving residents of Archuleta and La Plata counties in rural southwestern Colorado.
Hispanic ladies with low incomes residing in these counties have hassle getting well being care, particularly preventive care. Few clinics present interpreters, assist with scheduling an appointment, or details about monetary help. These companies turned much more vital through the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Many ladies misplaced their jobs through the COVID-19 pandemic, creating extra limitations in entry to well being care and resulting in worsening well being outcomes,” mentioned Ivy Hontz, MA, MNM, Program Coordinator, Ladies’s Wellness Connection. The Colorado Division of Public Well being and Surroundings’s Ladies’s Wellness Connection helps the state’s most cancers prevention and early detection program with funds from CDC’s Nationwide Breast and Cervical Most cancers Early Detection Program.
“It takes work to know what help exists, and much more work to assist shoppers enroll or apply, particularly when they don’t communicate English,” mentioned Ashley Gonzalez, Clinic Supervisor, San Juan Basin Public Well being.
Gaining belief to beat limitations
Francilia Pena, MS, Clinic Outreach Coordinator at San Juan Basin Public Well being, reached out to different organizations that serve the Hispanic group within the space. She hosted month-to-month on-line conferences the place the teams shared details about assets. The organizations labored collectively to attach ladies with well being care, housing, meals, transportation, and different monetary help through the pandemic. The outcome was elevated belief from ladies in the neighborhood. Extra ladies requested for assist and obtained well being care.
“Language, lack of assets, and lack of awareness are massive limitations for this group,” mentioned Ms. Pena. “I communicate Spanish, which helped me higher perceive the wants of the ladies in the neighborhood. For instance, a number of the ladies couldn’t get to their well being care appointments as a result of though that they had automobiles, that they had no cash for gasoline.”
Ms. Pena helped schedule medical appointments for her shoppers, mailed gasoline playing cards to their houses for transportation, and walked them by the applying course of for monetary help packages. “I’m very proud that I used to be in a position to achieve the group’s belief and assist them overcome these limitations,” she mentioned.
The organizations that labored collectively to assist Hispanic ladies through the pandemic included Mutual Assist Catastrophe Aid, Compañeros, and Housing Options for the Southwest.
Serving to save a life
This collaboration helped a Hispanic girl discover her cervical most cancers early, when it’s simpler to deal with.
A 40-year-old Hispanic girl visited the San Juan Basin Public Well being’s clinic, and her data confirmed that she had not had a cervical most cancers screening take a look at up to now 10 years. Her Pap take a look at outcomes weren’t regular, and the lady was referred for a biopsy.
“She was in nice misery,” Ms. Pena mentioned. “This girl lives in a distant mountain city over an hour’s drive away from medical care. The work in her space is seasonal, and you could work throughout summer season to save lots of for winter. She was frightened about having to take day off work. She feared she wouldn’t come up with the money for to pay her lease or for pay for her medical procedures.”
Ms. Pena helped schedule a biopsy with an interpreter current and organized for a journey to the appointment. She labored with the opposite teams to assist her shopper with lease, meals, and cost for her biopsy. The lady was scheduled for therapy after her analysis of cervical most cancers.
“I’m grateful that we have been in a position to assist my shopper even with all of the challenges offered by the pandemic,” Ms. Pena mentioned.
