LOL!
Posted on 07/24/2006 9:10:55 AM PDT by LouAvul
Tulsa - Some patients in Tulsa area hospitals are saying they are not getting the help they need all because of a language barrier. And, the problem is only going to get worse. Tulsa's Latino population is expected to grow by several thousand over the next five years. And, some worry the hospitals are not keeping up. NewsChannel 8's Abby Ross found hospitals with very few resources available.
In the emergency room at St. John Medical Center recently, a couple walked in who could not speak English. An employee paged an interpreter, but no one came. In the end, reporter Abby Ross had to interpret. People in the Latino community tell us they run into situations like that far too often, not just here in Tulsa, but everywhere.
It's one of Tulsa's largest hospitals. But, when Alfredo Sampayo went to Saint Francis Hospital looking for an interpreting job...
"They told me they don't have a position like that," Sampayo says. "There's not a position for an interpreter."
No one from St. Francis would go on camera, but a representative told us the hospital usually calls a language line if they need a translation. They say they have staff members who speak Spanish, but sometimes they aren't available.
Alfredo worries that could put some Latino patients' lives in jeopardy.
"Let's say you're having a heart attack and they can't understand you and you don't have anyone to call, what are you going to do," Sampayo says. "That person is going to die."
Across town at St. John Medical Center, interpreters are readily available. They tell us they have 28 interpreters at the hospital -- two to three of them work every shift. We asked if we could speak to one of them.
Sure enough, on a Sunday afternoon, Carmen Perez was working in the dining room, ready to speak Spanish if anyone needed it.
But, all of the interpreters are volunteer. Alfredo says that's why many hospitals still don't have enough.
"They say it's too expensive and that they don't have the budget for it," Sampayo says. "But, the Hispanic community keeps growing."
St. Francis wouldn't comment about if they were going to recruit more interpreters. St. John says with the way the Latino population is growing, they may have to. Tulsa's Hispanic Chamber of Commerce reports there are more than 75-thousand Latinos in the Tulsa metro area. By 2010, they predict there will be more than 90-thousand.
Simple solution. First. Any medical care facility should be allowed/required to confirm citizenship status of the patient before administering care.
Second. After confirming citizenship status, require these foreigners to learn our language. Nobody freaking invited them! Why should we be required to conform to their demands?
Third. It's time to seal the borders and declare a moratorium on immigration. 90,000 of these people in Tulsa??!!
Gee, How's all that "cheap" labor working out for everybody?
America is made up of immigrants with a hundred thousand different original languages and dialects. They all learned English. No excuses, amigo.
So what happens if a german walks in. Does the hospital have to hire interpreters for every language on the face of the eartjh. ? When you come to live in American learn to speak English, If you dont want to GTF out.
In 2003, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the creation of a new Customs and Border Protection Officer (CBPO) position and the “One Face at the Border” initiative. Under this plan, a new position, the CBPO, would combine the duties of legacy inspectors from Customs, the Immigration and Nationalization Service (INS) and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) into a single front-line border security position. With 41,000 employees, CBP is in control of 317 official ports-of-entry for travelers and cargo.
Essentially, the “One Face at the Border” initiative was aimed at unifying the inspection process that travelers entering the United States have to go through. Instead of making three stops – an Immigration Inspector, a Customs Inspector and an Agriculture Inspector – travelers would meet with a single primary inspections officer who was specially trained to do the job of all three.
Consolidating these three organizations has caused logistical and institutional chaos and has taken attention away from critical homeland security priorities. It is true that all three of these organizations deal with front line border and port security, but they do so in very different capacities.
Please email your Members of Congress asking them to oppose the "One Face at the Border" initiative and support a detailed, independent review of the proposal.
I live an hour away from Tulsa. Yes the concentration of non-English speaking residents have exploded here. The US Government and local government is doing little/nothing to alleviate any problems that are being caused in the infrastructure. Illegals have no insurance (as a rule) and when you have an accident YOU better have underinsured motorist on YOUR insurance to pick up their tab. Everyone here has some tale of woe but it doesn't seem to matter.
LOL!
Perhaps Alfredo could commune with his community and have that community pay for the services that only it, and no one else, uses.
Get ready for hospitals to shut down, Tulsa. They'll crush you just like SoCal if your laws require you to serve whoever walks in the emergency room door.
Since more Americans are a net drain on tax dollars, and those coming here illegaly are a net drain on tax dollars, even if they are working, how again are they supposed to be good for the economy?
Hokkien - Malay - Thai - Cantonese - Urdu or Klingon
In the end, you will have to have an interpreter for each language, otherwise you will be discriminating against those who don't speak English or Spanish
Here's the problem:
Illegals come here and work cheaper than americans will based on living standards.
As the illegals will live 10 to a hotel room, as they do not want to leave here and buy a home.
They then go back to mexico with the bulk of their money and not spending on the local economy.
The illegals then get hurt and expect a hospital to care for them, using taxpaying dollars that they are paying, because, surprise, they are illegal.
When will it end?
yeah, they better learn to speak english so their free, government sponsored welfare health care won't go to waste!
What happens if a patient is in a coma? Do we treat first or hire an interpreter?
"Some patients in Tulsa area hospitals are saying they are not getting the help they need all because of a language barrier."
If they are so concerned about this, maybe some bi-lingual illegals could volunteer their time at the local hospital instead of demanding that they hire an interpreter.
After all volunteering is the American way.....
That's federal law, no? Federal law requires ERs to treat anybody who walks in.
Up until last year I lived in Kalifornia. I saw several hospital ERs shut down because of the crimigrant invasion.
Third worlders, 95% from mexicant, would treat the ER as their primary care provider. They'd bring in all their brats for colds and flu shots.
ERs are a money losing proposition for hospitals, anyway. They have ERs for the number of patients who will be admitted. That's where hospitals make their money.
But when the feds demand hospitals treat these invaders even though said invaders lie about a) their names b) their addresses and c) give phoney SS numbers, then hospitals are going to continue to shut down.
Sorry, but “One Face at the Border” isn't going away.
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