2023-05-08 18:18:53
ORLANDO, Florida. – A group of Venezuelans in Central Florida have created a non-profit organization to help immigrants understand healthcare processes in the United States and fill the lack of an accessible guide for newcomers.
Florida Health Station, a non-profit entity, basted its beginnings during the beginning of the pandemic in 2020. They had not identified themselves as such until then, but their knowledge as doctors gave relief to dozens of migrants in the Azalea Park community .
“When they arrived, we had them working in different programs until the Coalition of Black Nurses of Central Florida and the Association of Black Nurses came to tell us that they wanted to invest their financial resources in the Latino community,” said Father José Rodríguez, whose Episcopalian Jesus of Nazareth was the epicenter of the meeting for doctors after the interest he had in serving the congregation he serves.
The associations gave training classes on how to educate the group of Venezuelans in the community and, once with the pertinent permits from the state, they were able to go out to continue healing, but now from prevention.
Since then, every two Saturdays, they hold a health fair and deliver free food to the church for those who need it.
FROM DOCTORS TO EDUCATORS: “I ASSUME THAT MY ROLE IS DIFFERENT”
The group’s resilience comes with its history and arrival in the United States. They left Venezuela for different reasons that led them into exile. However, they all had the same dream: a better future would mean leaving their land.
“I had invention patents in the medical area, but in Venezuela any invention that is of benefit to the Bolivarian government is expropriated, including authorship. So I grabbed suitcases and came,” said Victoria Contreras, a cardiologist by profession.
Although not everything went as she wanted –because as foreigners they cannot practice their medical degree in the United States– Contreras found a new vocation not too far from her university degree and trained as an educator for health education in the community she serves. upon graduating from Community Health Wolkers.
“I already assumed that here my role is different and I have to educate. The factors that you must attack, things that you must modify and how to prevent is a very beautiful job and it is one more chapter of the medicine that I am practicing here, ”she added.
However, both she and the group of doctors who are part of the organization needed a boost and a voice to recognize the role they had in Azalea Park as members of that community.
“Every time I met more doctors they told me: ‘I lost everything, I have nothing.’ And I remember that I told them no, that they had not lost anything because they are still intelligent, educated and trained to do a great work in the community and they are still doctors. Do not say that you have nothing, that you have a lot,” Rodríguez said.
Now, they guide “those people who come without knowing English or health insurance. We connect them with medical resources. We give them the opportunity and we facilitate the steps because one arrives lost and we help them and, likewise, we connect them with medical services, they care for them without documentation”, acknowledged Silvia Estrada, one of the doctors who works in Azalea Park.
IMMIGRATION MEASURE COULD PROVOKE FEAR IN VISITING FLORIDA HOSPITALS
With the approval of the immigration law by the Florida legislature, the fear of some immigrants to go to hospitals could increase because certain health centers will be required to collect information on the immigration status of patients on admission or registration forms.
This bill has already been approved by the Florida Congress and only needs the signature of Governor Ron DeSantis to become law.
1683573619
#Migrants #Give #Medical #Degrees #Health #Educators #Florida #NBC #Orlando