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Mission Statement: Somos Hermanos aims to reduce the
disparity in health care access and quality that results when health care
providers are unable to effectively communicate with Latino patients due
to language and cultural barriers. The Student Immersion Program (SIP)
seeks to address the inadequacies of the current efforts to address these
problems by increasing the number of bilingual, culturally competent
health care professionals.
Program Description:
Our students live in Quetzaltenango (Xela), Guatemala for 6
months. Through intensive Spanish courses, lecture series, socially and
culturally relevant volunteer projects, and weekly activities, our
students gain the language capability and cultural competency desperately
needed to serve marginalized, Spanish-speaking Latino populations.
Brief Background of the Problem: Spanish is the
primary language for 11% of the US population and 44.5% of Los Angeles
County residents. While Latin Americans comprise the largest minority
group in the US, they receive disproportionately low access to lower
quality health care. The National Healthcare Disparities Report states
that having “providers who meet the needs of individual patients and with
whom patients can develop a relationship based on mutual communication and
trust” is an essential component of health care access - a component that
is often not addressed for Latinos in the US. In fact, language barriers
and lack of cultural understanding account for 37% of health care access
problems, while the inability to afford health care accounts for only 18%
of access problems.
Note: for more background information or
articles pertaining to this topic, please contact us at [log in to unmask]
* California. California State Department of Transportation. Census
Data: Ethnicity by City. 2000. 18 Feb. 2006
** National Healthcare
Disparities Report. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2005. |
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