NPR’s Michel Martin speaks to Dr. Efrain Talamantes, a primary care physician in Los Angeles, about how the pandemic is impacting the Latino community in the city at a tremendously greater rate.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
We’re going to begin with another appearance at how and why COVID-19 is impacting some individuals in some neighborhoods a lot more seriously than others. And our focus today is the Latino community in what has ended up being the center of the pandemic in the U.S. in current months, Los Angeles.
According to public health authorities in LA County, which includes the city of Los Angeles, as of late last month, COVID-related deaths amongst Latinos there had soared by almost 1,000%since November. Latinos in LA likewise have a death rate from COVID that is much higher than that of any other market group. And regardless of a current decrease in case numbers and increased access to vaccines, infection rates amongst Latinos are still well above their pre-surge levels.
We wanted to know more about why and how this is happening, as we stated, so we have actually called Dr. Efrain Talamantes. He is a primary care physician and the chief running officer of AltaMed Health Solutions in Boyle Heights. That is a majority-Latino neighborhood in East Los Angeles.
Dr. Talamantes, welcome. Thank you so much for joining us.
EFRAIN TALAMANTES: Thank you a lot for the opportunity.
MARTIN: Why do you think there’s been such a spike amongst Latinos in LA County? I indicate, why do you believe your – the clients that you serve have been so hard-hit?
TALAMANTES: Well, one is that our neighborhoods have never ever had an option. They have actually been the first in line to take on the hardest tasks, have the least of access to health care services, typically not safeguarded by their employers because, you understand, they take on tasks that do not pay as much.
And a lot of the communities that we serve are really much – you know, a lot of the real estate complexes are really close to each other.
MARTIN: Without compromising anyone’s privacy, can you just perhaps describe one or two of the scenarios that you’ve seen?
TALAMANTES: Definitely. The number of call volumes usually approximate, you understand, let’s say about 5,000 for all the clients we serve, about 300,000 here in Southern California.
However as the vaccines have rolled out, you understand, early in December, we keep informing individuals they’re coming, they’re coming. And for us not to be able to immunize them up until recently is another example where, you know, we have actually been prepared.
And there’s a great deal of doubt. I believe the doubt is, are we actually going to get the assistance we need, given that we’ve been through the worst?
MARTIN: Well, how about that? I was going to ask you about that – that, you know, LA County has rolled out mass vaccination efforts – like, there’s one at Dodger Stadium.
TALAMANTES: Yeah.
MARTIN: Can people get to those? Is that assisting at all?
TALAMANTES: Well, you understand, the neighborhoods we serve – I indicate, in community health centers where we’re located – we remain in a few of the most underserved locations in the country – they do not have access to transportation. Undoubtedly, there’s some fear around getting the transport that – despite the fact that we’ve done our finest to ensure people that public transportation is safe, people still are challenged by that.
And when they do feature us, they’re asking all of us the concerns. And when we address their concerns, they’ll say, doc, I’m all set. You understand, I’m prepared for the vaccine. And I’ll say, well, you’ve got to get online, and you’ve got to register. And here, let me help you. And it resembles, well, who’s going to take me there? You know, my household – they work. They have multiple tasks.
Those are the real barriers, is that if we don’t pertain to our patients where they work, where they live and where they spend their time, then we’re going to miss a lot of people. And these are the very same individuals, again, that have been devastated by this pandemic.
MARTIN: So can’t – why can’t you immunize them where you are …
TALAMANTES: Well, you know …
MARTIN: … I imply, at your location?
TALAMANTES: Yeah. It’s been a real challenge to get the federal government and the state to coincide on their push to get vaccines to neighborhood health centers and community suppliers.
I mean, a lot of us have actually been vaccinating families for decades, and we’ve constructed trust, and they want to concern us. However the quantity of vaccine that has actually been shared with us has been very little. And we see that as not just continued exacerbation of injustices, but really that the structure, the healthcare structure, actually does prefer those that have greater access to health care systems that may be much better positioned – that, you know, are business, that are not underinsured or uninsured.
So we have actually been doing a lot of union building and interacting with neighborhood, our partners around these problems. But it’s falling on deaf ears. We continue to hear, yeah, it’s coming. Just wait your turn.
MARTIN: But prior to we let you go, you understand, I wished to ask you about the whole question of what – apart from the vaccines, like, what should happen now in regards to the entire picture of handling this? I indicate, the state of California raised its statewide stay-at-home order recently, but LA County is still grappling with the repercussions of this substantial rise these past number of months.
I don’t wish to put this on you to figure out the whole photo, however the reality is, those are an associated phenomenon. Therefore if you feel comfy saying, do you have a viewpoint about this? I imply, do you think raising those limitations is the ideal thing to do or not?
TALAMANTES: When we lift these constraints, I indicate, the people that have to go out are the very same individuals that have actually been the hardest struck. And they’re going to bring the COVID and – or any other alternative now that we’re stressed over back home. And so unless we do more in the community, there’s going to be a substantial difficulty as we take a look at what’s to come. Therefore we can’t let down our guard.
MARTIN: That was Dr. Efrain Talamantes.
Dr. Talamantes, thank you a lot for your hard work. And thank you so much for talking with us today.
TALAMANTES: Of course. Thank you a lot.
Copyright © 2021 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our site terms of usage and permissions pages at www.npr.org for additional details.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR professional, and produced utilizing an exclusive transcription procedure developed with NPR. This text may not remain in its last kind and might be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability might vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s shows is the audio record.
Comments
Post a Comment