Two toddlers died in Orange County, California after receiving injections of illegal imported drugs at unlicensed back-room businesses. Reports later revealed both children died of dehydration after receiving poor medical advice. Appropriate medical care from a licensed provider may have recognized the dehydration and saved them. In response to these deaths, the Orange County Health Care Agency developed the Safe Healthcare Project under the direction of the County Board of Supervisors and in collaboration with the Orange County Safe Healthcare Coalition (SHCOC). The Coalition is comprised of community volunteers and health professionals. The Orange County Board of Supervisors directed the SHCOC to develop a countywide five-year plan to build community awareness of legal healthcare and licensed providers.
Many factors are involved which influence people to seek care and medications from backroom clinics and unlicensed pharmacies. A strong cultural component to this issue is that individuals are simply pursuing healthcare in the manner of their country of origin. In Latin America, a sick person may receive care by visiting a pharmacy and purchasing medications without a prescription. Family members, herbalists and botanicas also provide alternative outlets for medications.
As part of the effort by the Orange County Health Care Agency to address these issues, the Safe Healthcare Project sponsored two focus groups to assist in developing a media campaign targeting Latinos. An interesting assortment of responses from two groups provides health professionals with additional insight into how health decisions are made and of various barriers to seeking safe and legitimate healthcare.
See www.oc.ca.gov/hca/public/safehealth.htm
Learning Objectives: At the end of the session, participants will be able to: 1) identify how health decisions are made in the monolingual Latino Community from the responses of the two focus groups. 2)identify various barriers to seeking safe and legitimate healthcare from the responses of the two focus groups. 3)construct the process by which the Public Health Department used to collaborate with the target communities. 4)list examples of the types of alternative health care and the challenges faced by this immigrant community.
Keywords: Access to Health Care, Social Marketing
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.