Binational Health Week reached out to immigrants

“Maria is not her real name, but the woman I have called that told me this story last year as I was administering surveys during Binational Health Week. It’s hard to imagine that a doctor in Watsonville would turn away a woman with a broken arm, but that’s precisely what Maria believes happened to her.

Since its launch in 2001, the goal of Binational Health Week — which occurred last week — has been to improve the health care of immigrants by providing information about tuberculosis, diabetes, breast cancer and other diseases, and initial health screenings for conditions such as high blood pressure. Increasingly, the goal includes educating immigrants about their rights. Under state law, for example, the hospital Maria visited was required to provide a Spanish translator. More basically, even undocumented immigrants have the right to emergency health care, a right few realize they have.”*

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