Cultural Barriers In Health Care

Immigrant health issues, including: lack of access to health care, lack of insurance, lack of education, language barriers and fear of prejudice all have an effect on our communities, the United States as a whole and how we deliver proper treatment to those individuals. The main issue that I will talk about is the communication barrier, its issues and some solutions. The high level of immigrants without insurance is partially explained by the lack of or low levels of education. With low education levels this means immigrants often have jobs that do not provide insurance and their lower incomes commonly make insurance unaffordable. Many immigrants are also limited in speaking English. This barrier will affect the satisfaction with their treatment …show more content…
Of course, none of this is easy or will ever be easy. This is exactly the case with what the Lee family experienced and their journey with their daughter, Lia, in the book The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. With the large surge of Hmong moving into the town of Merced the hospital experienced a new wave of individuals, their beliefs and a huge language barrier. Although many Hmong did not use the hospital, the ones who did, required a lot of time and attention. The Merced Community Medical Center (MCMC) budget didn’t allow for them to hire interpreters. (pg. 25) On some occasions doctors resorted to families children to help transfer information. This language barrier made communication with the Hmong patients next to …show more content…
They believed that good health is dependent upon the soul living in each individual. With the belief of Lia’s soul loss, Lia’s parents would have involved the use of a shaman to retrieve her soul and the practice of soul calling during ceremonies. Other treatments may have include cupping, coining and animal sacrifices. Lia was prescribed with numerous different amounts of medication for her seizures, but Foua and Nao Kao left the hospital not knowing what to do with them. The Lee’s were unable to read the labels on the medication and were told to give Lia certain dosages at different times throughout the day and evening. Eventually, Lia was not getting the correct amount of medication and ultimately turning into getting none at all. The Lee’s had a different idea of what Lia’s healing process should encompass. The Lee’s would have preferred using their own herbal remedies and turned to the help of a txiv