Week 8; Jonathan Hilton

Week 8: Immigration and Health -- Jonathan Hilton

"Maria," a Nicaraguan girl with Down's 
Syndrome (from my 2009 to Granada)

When I read Chapter 7, “Heath and Culture,” in Vaughn, I kept thinking about a time when I was trying to help a Guatemalan mother understand a letter from her child’s school about vaccinations. The school had sent her multiple letters asking her to provide documentation that her seven-year-old son had received certain vaccines. I could translate the letter easily enough for her, but since I am not a doctor, I had no idea what vaccines her child actually needed. The school had only provided vaccine codes. Had they simply put “Hepatitis B,” life would have been so much easier. The numbers and letters of the vaccine codes meant nothing to me or to the Guatemalan mother.

Another Nicaragua student with Down's. In
Nicaragua, there is not sufficient access
to health care for students with disabilities.

My task was to help the mother locate a clinic where she could obtain the vaccines for her child at reduced price. The school had given her an ultimatum—if she didn’t manage to provide vaccinations for her child in two weeks, he wouldn’t be allowed to attend the school anymore. Trying to figure out how to coordinate the mother’s busy schedule with going to a clinic with her child was tough. Although in the end I didn’t accompany her to the actual clinic, I know she had a difficult time trying to explain to them which vaccines her child had already received in Guatemala and which ones he hadn’t. With no shot records, either, some guesses had to be made. What would happen if the child received a “double dose” of the same vaccine? The doctors needed to understand these kinds of things to decide what shots the child should get, making his case complex.

In the end, the mother got new shot records for her child, who was able to keep going to the school. This kind of stressful experience—which combined school needs, health needs, financial concerns, the language barrier, and bureaucracy—is unpleasant to say the least, and may even lead to additional health problems later. No wonder, according to Vaughn, “racial/ethnic minority patients utilize health care less frequently, report being less satisfied with their care, have less access to care, and use fewer health care resources” (pg. 159). If I had to go through so much hassle to get my shot records straightened out, I would be less inclined to be satisfied with my health care, too. ~Jonathan Hilton