In the United States, many Spanish-speaking communities struggle with accessing good healthcare. One reason for this is because of the lack of Spanish-speaking healthcare doctors and healthcare providers. This language barrier often leads to many misunderstandings between patients and the doctors not being able to understand one another, and this causes more issues overall over diagnoses, treatments, and medication. Also causing confusion and fear while also having to deal with the overwhelming feeling when they are having to deal with stress of an injury or illness.
This issue is mainly in Florida and California with heavily populated Spanish-speaking people who have been working out a solution for this problem. For example, local schools have held fairs or fundraising events to help with medical services with translators or professionals to help. Churches also often help with providing free checkups, vaccinations, and talking with medical professionals creating that safe space between the patient and the provider.
These events help people to talk with bilingual professionals who can truly help them, and not cause any treatment they would have experienced at a hospital without this sort of help. For example, if a father comes in with his son he would feel relief being able to talk to the providers in a language HE is fluent in to fully help his child without having the fear of being misunderstood. Hearing “I understand” in their own language makes a patient feel heard, respected, and taken care of. These encounters have a transforming effect, fostering trust and empowering families to ask for assistance without fear.Such experience can help with making sure they feel understood and cared for, which helps with people coming in and not having to worry about what they might go through in facilities.
Though these may not be the only reason, many hospitals and healthcare facilities are pushing towards hiring more bilingual staff to solve and help with the gap. Students in medical school are required to take a course to learn Spanish to go with their curriculum, and many hospitals are encouraging doctors and others to learn Spanish. As well as other campaigns, in the meantime, have been trying to enact laws that would ensure that patients can get medical care in the language of their choosing. Even though there has been improvement, much more needs to be done to guarantee that families who speak Spanish feel informed and confident when seeking care.
Rather than this being a language barrier this is a human issue: having good communication in the medical field is critical especially in life and death situations. More patients are likely to come and get treatment from more trusting caregivers mainly when they feel heard in an environment that is very scary. Since our nation was built on values of justice and inclusion they are undermined if this gap is not solved.
It highlights how important it is to take language access into account when creating suitable healthcare systems. The health care system may be able to serve the millions of Spanish-speaking people who contribute to this nation’s culture and economy by removing such obstacles.
Works Cited
Lopez Vera, Alexandra, et al. “A Case Study of the Impact of Language Concordance on Patient Care, Satisfaction, and Comfort with Sharing Sensitive Information during Medical Care.” Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, vol. 25, no. 6, Feb. 2023, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-023-01463-8.