Public News Service

By: Katherine Davis-Young

Cities in Utah and nationwide this month are promoting health care in Latin American communities. The American health-care system is complicated and can seem even more so for people new to the country or who don’t speak English. Yehemy Zavala Orosco, preventive-health manager for Comunidades Unidas, said the Latin American Weeks of Health events are aimed at clearing up some of the confusion around health care and making sure people are getting the services they need. “What we do is to provide efforts to ensure that our underserved communities have access to different health services, education, and also they have services in regards to civic engagement as well,” she said.

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Orosco said these types of events are especially important for families with children. Research from Georgetown University has shown that Latino children nationwide are less likely to have health coverage than other kids, and Utah is among the states with the highest number of uninsured Latino children. “It’s not just because the parents don’t want to enroll, or because they don’t know they can enroll their children into health care,” she said, “but it’s because the access to get enrolled sometimes is difficult for our community. This will be the tenth year of the Latin American Weeks of Health. Orosco said the Salt Lake City events have served thousands of people each year.

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