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Growing Old, Sick and Latino in
the South Without Papers
by
Johanes Rosello, New America Media
March 16, 2012
Image Credit:
newamericamedia.org
Leonila
Flores had to knock more doors to obtain
health services to treat her colorectal
cancer. Photo provided courtesy of Flores
family.
ATLANTA--As the years go by, it
is more probable that an illness knocks
at an older person’s door unexpectedly,
not only hitting one’s health, but also
a senior’s finances. A worst-case
scenario comes when the elder lacks
proper immigration status.
That happened to Antonio
Dávalos, 63, an undocumented
Mexican, who has a chronic renal
disease, making him dependant on kidney
dialysis treatments.
“Only God knows how many years
he will let me live yet. It’s
hard--there are no jobs. If I have an
emergency and get sick, it’ll be
harder”.
Dávalos was a truck
driver, and more than 20 years ago his
health began to get deteriorate. But he
never got health treatment, even though
the doctors told him that he needed
dialysis in order to live.
Fighting
to Survive
Only four years ago he started
his treatment at Grady Memorial Hospital
in Atlanta, one of the largest public
medical centers in the United States.
But, that institution closed its
dialysis clinic two years ago.
After a legal battle with
Dávalos and 21 other undocumented
patients, Grady was required to provide
them health treatment, at least until
September 2014. Because of their
immigration status, Dávalos and
the others don’t have access to public
health services as Medicaid or Medicare,
so they must cover costs of treatments
and medications out of pocket.
Like Dávalos, many
undocumented elders fight to survive,
according to Dorothy Leone-Glasser,
president of Advocates for Responsible
Care.
“As people get older, it is
much harder for them to understand what
doctors are telling them. It’s harder
for them to get to the resources they
need in order to stay as well as they
can and in order to get the care they
need--particularly these undocumented
patients,” said Leone-Glasser.
The problem that this group
confronts gets worse in the Southeastern
United States, according to
Leone-Glasser.
“Patients in the Northeast or
on the West Coast generally do a little
better. And I feel, as someone who
originally comes from the Northeast, it
is because we have a different
perception about healthcare. We’re in
the same country, but the views are so
different,” she observed.
According to Leone-Glasser, in
Georgia it is harder for those patients
because of the rejection of undocumented
people in the state. “In Georgia, they
don’t feel it’s their responsibility to
help these people. To me that is
unbelievable because it is our
responsibility to help others no matter
their status is,” she added.
Not only health gets affected
among undocumented seniors. According to
Felipe Lobelo, epidemiologist at the
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, many
families, such as Dávalos’, ended
going into debt and become impoverished.
“Chronic illnesses takes people
into poverty,” he said.
According to Kerstin Gerst,
professor of gerontology at the
University of Georgia, at Athens, “Older
undocumented immigrants have the added
problem of being ineligible for public
benefits. Often a single health event,
like a hospitalization, can result in
major financial crisis for a family.”
That was the case of Leonila
Flores, 63, an undocumented Mexican. In
2008, she was diagnosed with colorectal
cancer, which made her exhaust her
modest savings on tests and treatments.
“I spent all the money I saved
and my children’s money. It was a lot of
money, and we are still paying,” said
Flores.
Knocking
on Many Doors for Help
Later, Flores received health
services from Grady Hospital even though
it cost her great effort. She said that
an undocumented patient has to knock on
more doors than other patients, even to
face discrimination in order to survive.
“If I only had my papers, I
would not have suffered many things--the
uncaring people, who do not consider you
and tell you that you have no business
being here and you should go back to
your country,” said Flores.
But leaving Georgia is not that
easy, said Leone-Glasser, who helped
many renal patients at Grady to
repatriate or move with the hopes of
getting treatment.
“How are they going to do
that,” she asked. “The only families
they have are here with them in Georgia.
Do you expect an entire family with
children and all to go to another state,
where they don’t have anybody? Besides,
they will be in the same situation, they
will have to go to the emergency room
until they live in that state long
enough to be able to get some care,” she
said.
Leone-Glasser and her
colleagues at Advocates for Responsible
Care are trying to help undocumented ill
people living in Georgia and also to
change the negative perceptions
regarding undocumented immigrants.
“We need to take care of each
other. If we can go back in medicine to
realizing that and to operating that way
we wouldn’t have this problem. We need
to learn to put all of those differences
aside to embrace each other’s cultural
differences and learn from it. We are
never going to be the nation that we
want to be until we understand that
principle,” commented the doctor.
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