Vulnerable Immigrant Populations in the New York Metropolitan Area and COVID-19: Lessons Learned in the Epicenter of the Crisis
Vulnerable Immigrant Populations in the New York Metropolitan Area and COVID-19: Lessons Learned in the Epicenter of the Crisis
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DOI：
10.1097/acm.0000000000003518
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发表时间：
2020-12-01
影响因子：
7.4
通讯作者：
Silva, Nicole A.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Behbahani, Sara;Smith, Cynthia A.;Silva, Nicole A.
自2020年3月17日以来的COVID-19危机中心--纽约大都市区--是美国一些最大的拉丁裔移民社区的所在地。这些社区长期以来一直面临着获得医疗保健的障碍、移民身份带来的挑战以及财务和劳动力不稳定。COVID-19大流行加剧了这个脆弱、往往被遗忘的移民社区的这些现有问题。这一人群很难获得有关COVID-19检测、治疗和援助计划的公共信息，因为这些信息很少用西班牙语传播，用葡萄牙语传播的频率更低。虽然长期解决办法需要时间和政策的改变，但一些短期措施可以缓解目前的局势。作者分享了他们在新泽西纽瓦克的经验，在那里，公共和私人社区组织（CBO）的合作伙伴关系成功地在医疗保健系统和恐惧的拉丁裔社区之间建立了信任。位于新泽西纽瓦克的罗格斯新泽西医学院的学生团体Ironbound Initiative与位于纽瓦克的巴西CBO Mantena Global Care合作，以促进COVID-19相关信息的传播。医学生志愿者从临床职责中解脱出来，充当虚拟患者导航员，利用社交媒体联系社区成员，目的是提高对大流行期间应采取的预防措施的认识，并增加获得所需医疗服务的机会。这些学生与其他学科的同事合作，为因移民身份而害怕寻求护理的社区成员提供必要的法律的指导。作者敦促全国各地的其他学术机构招募多学科团队的医疗，卫生专业和法律学生投资于当地社区，并授权学生与社区组织，移民社区领袖，信仰组织，医院和地方当局合作，在这场危机中支持这些脆弱的社区。
The epicenter of the COVID-19 crisis since March 17, 2020-the New York metropolitan area-is home to some of the largest Latino immigrant communities in the nation. These communities have long faced barriers to health care access, challenges due to immigration status, and financial and labor instability. The COVID-19 pandemic has aggravated these existing issues in a vulnerable, often forgotten, immigrant community. It has been challenging for this population to access public information regarding COVID-19 testing, treatment, and assistance programs because this information has seldom been disseminated in Spanish and even less frequently in Portuguese. While long-term solutions will require time and changes to policy, some short-term measures can mitigate the current situation. The authors share their experience from Newark, New Jersey, where partnerships of public and private community-based organizations (CBOs) have been successful in establishing trust between the health care system and a fearful Latino community. The Ironbound Initiative, a student group at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School in Newark, New Jersey, has partnered with Mantena Global Care, a Brazilian CBO in Newark, to facilitate dissemination of COVID-19-relevant information. Medical student volunteers, removed from their clinical duties, serve as virtual patient navigators, using social media to reach community members with the goals of improving awareness of precautions to take during the pandemic and of increasing access to needed medical care. These students have collaborated with colleagues in other disciplines to provide necessary legal guidance to community members fearful of seeking care because of their immigration status. The authors urge other academic institutions across the country to recruit multidisciplinary teams of medical, health professions, and law students invested in their local communities and to empower students to partner with CBOs, immigrant community leaders, faithbased organizations, hospitals, and local authorities to support these vulnerable communities during this crisis.