In Los Angeles, Inland Empire and Coachella Valley, a community health center is extending its services to immigrant patients in their homes after realizing that people were going to jump critical medical quotes because they have been too afraid to venture.
St. John's Community Health, one of the greatest non -profit community care suppliers in Los Angeles County who serves low -income residents and working class, launched a home visits program in March after learning that patients were missing routine and urgent care quotes because they feared that the agents of application of immigration and customs of the United States.
St. John's, which offers services through a network of clinics and mobile units throughout the region, estimates that at least 25,000 of their patients are undocumented, and approximately one third of them suffer chronic conditions, including diabetes and hypertension, which require routine checks. But these patients lacked evidence to monitor their blood sugar and blood pressure, as well as quotes to collect claims.
Earlier this year, the Health Center began to register patients and discovered that hundreds of appointments canceled appointments “only due to fear of being stopped by ice.”
President Trump entered his second term promising the greatest deportation effort in the history of the United States, initially focusing his rhetoric on undocumented immigrants who had committed violent crimes. But shortly after assuming the position, his administration said they considered that anyone in the country without authorization was a criminal.
In later months, the new administration has used a variety of tactics to sow fear in immigrant communities. The National Security Department has launched a advertising campaign Understand people in the country without authorization to leave or risk being rounded and deported. Immigration agents are appearing in the starting deposits and within the courts, in search of people in the United States without authorization. More and more, detainees are being taken and deported to their countries of origin, or, in some cases, to the nations where they have no ties, without time to pack or say goodbye to us.
The Trump administration in January rescinded a policy that once protected delicate places, such as hospitals, churches and arrests of immigration related.
In response to the survey results, St. John's launched the medical care program without fear in an effort to reach patients who are afraid to leave their homes. Jim Mangia, executive director and president of St. John's, said in a statement that medical care providers should implement policies to ensure that all patients, regardless of immigration state, have access to care.
“Medical care is a human right: we will not allow fear to get in the way of ESO,” he said.
Bukola Olusanya, a regional medical practitioner and director at St. John's, said a woman reported that she had not left her home in three months. She said she knows other patients with chronic conditions who do not leave their home to exercise, which could exacerbate their illness. Even some immigrants in the US legally express reservations, given news about the government that accuses people of crimes and deported without due process.
Olusanya said that waiting for people to have medical attention on their own felt too big risk, given the speed with which their conditions could deteriorate. “It could be a complication that will make them obtain a disability that will last a lifetime, and become much more dependent, or have to use more resources,” he said. “So why not avoid that?”
On a recent Thursday at the St. John Avalon Clinic in South La, Olusanya prepared to go to the house of a patient who lived about 30 minutes. The Avalon clinic serves a large population of homeless patients and has a street team that often uses a truck full of medical equipment. The truck is demonstrating to be useful for home visits.
Olusanya spent about 30 minutes preparing for the appointment of the 3 PM, assembling equipment to extract blood, collect a sample of urine and verify the vital and glucose levels of the patient. She said she has performed physical exams in bedrooms and living rooms, depending on the situation and privacy of the patient's housing.
She recalled a similar fall in patient visits during the first Trump administration when she also promised mass deportations. At that time, he said, St. John's staff celebrated exercises to prepare for possible federal raids, joining weapons in a human chain to block the entrance of the clinic.
But this time, he said, fear is more palpable. “You feel it; it's very thick,” he said.
While the Telesalud is an option for some patients, many need care in person. St. John's sends a team of three or four personnel members to make the house calls, he said, and are generally welcome with a mixture of relief and gratitude that makes it worth it.
“They are very happy like, 'My God, Saint John can do this. I'm very grateful,” he said. “So it means a lot.”
