https://immattersacp.org/archives/2024/01/new-series-on-latinx-health-care-from-an-acp-intern.htm
College Watch | January 2024

New series on Latinx health care from an ACP intern

Four Spanish-language interviews with ACP leaders discuss promoting equity and advocating for the rights of immigrants.

By Stacey Butterfield

ACP recently launched its first interview series in Spanish, covering some challenging clinical and political issues facing internal medicine, thanks to the efforts of a single summer intern.

When Lorett Alarcon, who was born in Mexico and is now a senior at Amherst College in Massachusetts, arrived at the College as one of 10 participants in the 2023 Ryan Mire, MD, Summer Internship Program, she knew she wanted to work on improving health care for undocumented patients in the U.S.

Four Spanish-speaking ACP leaders were interviewed in a series to bring more attention to Latinx health Image by phaitoon
Four Spanish-speaking ACP leaders were interviewed in a series to bring more attention to Latinx health. Image by phaitoon.

“I live in Florida, and right now we're going through some really hard times with the governor and the laws he's imposing. I'm very close to the undocumented community and so I know how the new laws are causing people to be afraid to go to the doctor,” said Ms. Alarcon.

She found a kindred spirit when she met Miguel Paniagua, MD, FACP, ACP Vice President for Medical Education and her internship mentor. “We had a good talk in the very first meeting about Latino health and what is ACP's role in promoting equity and advocating for the rights of immigrants, even the undocumented, and addressing disparities as well as some of the socioeconomic and cultural barriers to getting care,” said Dr. Paniagua.

They debated how Ms. Alarcon could work to bring attention to these issues in her time at ACP and settled on producing a series of interviews. “That sounded kind of crazy in the moment because I only had eight weeks,” she said.

There was expertise and equipment on hand, in the form of the relatively new video production studio and specialist in ACP's Medical Education Division, Emily Delucia, but no pre-existing blueprint for the project. “I had listened to some podcasts, but this was a new thing for all of us,” said Ms. Alarcon.

Adding to the novelty and challenge, the team decided to do the series in Spanish, with English translations. “I thought that would be really very important in broadening the reach of the College to a group of folks that we might not otherwise target intentionally,” said Dr. Paniagua.

For the first episode of the series, which is titled “Perspectivas sobre la Salud Latina” and came out on ACP's website in late September 2023, Ms. Alarcon interviewed Ricardo Correa, MD, FACP, Chair of ACP's Council of Early Career Physicians, about navigating health care challenges for undocumented immigrants in Florida.

The result is intended for both patients and physicians to listen to and learn from. “I think it'll be educational for everyone, especially patients, but also physicians because in some of the interviews, we have direct advice about how to better help their Latino patients,” said Ms. Alarcon.

During her summer internship, Ms. Alarcon ended up recording four hour-long interviews with physicians in Spanish. “We expected her to do one!” noted Dr. Paniagua.

The second episode, released in November 2023, features Alejandro Moreno, MBBS, JD, MPH, MACP, Governor for ACP's Texas Southern Chapter, on the historical context and impact of immigration laws on health care. Subsequent ones feature conversations with Irma Luisa Ceja-Martínez, MD, FACP, Governor for the Mexico Chapter, on challenges in Mexican health care, including gender roles, and Eric Ulloa Isaza, MD, FACP, Governor for Central America, on health care in Central America.

Completing all four episodes was more work than could be accomplished in an eight-week internship, especially given the challenge of providing them in two languages. “I'm dedicating all my free time now to translating. … I finished the transcript for the first one,” Ms. Alarcon said in an interview shortly before the end of her summer break.

She has no plans to wrap up her focus on health care and immigration issues, though. “As someone who's pursuing medicine, [this experience] made me want to become a more open-minded and attentive doctor who would always want to educate myself on the issues,” said Ms. Alarcon. “This is a very scary time to be a patient, especially if you're not a U.S. citizen, and that made me want to be a more understanding, compassionate doctor.”

She also hopes to continue teaching physicians to do the same. “I don't think medical education would be as great as it is if we don't have people like me representing the minority populations,” Ms. Alarcon said. “I realized after ACP's internship that I want to go into medical education in some way.”

Dr. Paniagua also sees the series as just a start for ACP, with potentially more Spanish-language products in the offing. “The opportunity to reach bilingual clinicians in our membership and beyond has untapped potential … those that are in Latin American countries and in states where there's a big population of Latino patients and a lot of their care is being done primarily in Spanish,” he said.