Last updated:
July 3, 2003
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Documented and Undocumented Limited English Proficiency (LEP) Clients;
Resources Available to Minorities
Workshop
By Rebecca Rivas
A report contributed by 
- Maria Smith � Investigator, Office of Civil Rights, U.S. Department
of Health and Senior Services
- Maria Carpena � Health Program Representative,
Office of Minority Health, Missouri Department of Health and
Senior Services
- Pam Youngblood � Office of Civil� Rights: 816-426-3981 ext. 145
-- For information about Health Start plan for immigrant children�����
Maria Smith, of the Office of Civil Rights, was not even able to get
past the first sentence of her presentation without being bombarded with
concerns. �Head Start is available for documented and undocumented children
of
needy families,� she said.
Hands flew up. Eduardo Crespi, director of the Centro Latino in Columbia,
was one of the most vocal. �The truth is down at the grassroots, things
aren�t so,� he said. �You get a taste of reality.� The Centro Latino
has struggled for years to get immigrant children into Head Start programs.
The conversation in the �Documented and Undocumented Limited English
Proficiency (LEP) Clients; Resources Available to Minorities� session
then jumped everywhere from emergency rooms to Medicaid for children.
Crespi and others expressed their concern about emergency care.� By
law, emergency room personnel are only required to stabilize the patients � not
care for them. At the University Hospital in Columbia,
ER staff are only stabilizing patients and not caring for them afterwards � the
minimum required. In 1997, pregnant women were entitled to emergency
Medicaid, regardless of immigrant status. However, this does not mean
that everyone will be admitted to hospitals, said Crespi.
Maria Carpena, of Minority Health Department in Jefferson
City, was able to present some facts. Carpena
noted that bilingual materials do not help if they are not culturally
competent or comprehensible to an everyday person. Sometimes videos
are more useful. Children skip school to translate, but the instructions
they relay about medication are not always correct. This could be
hazardous to their health.
Minorities are also disproportionately affected by communicable diseases
in the United States because
they don�t have access to health care.
Although the presenters did not get to give most of their presentations,
their information will be available on the Cambio De Colores website.
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