Posted on 12/17/2001 3:56:55 AM PST by Brownie74
Texas health care providers are on the hunt for employees who speak both Spanish and English.
"I think it is starting to get a little bit more prevalent in the Dallas market," said Grant Fithian, a senior consultant with the health care recruiting firm Martin, Fletcher ( www.martinfletcher.com) in Irving. "However, we do a lot of advanced-practice nursing work down in South Texas, and it's very prevalent down there."
The need is fueled by the boom in the Hispanic population. Hispanics, many of them recent immigrants from Mexico who prefer to use Spanish, now make up 32 percent of Texas' population, and health care providers are competing for their business.
But overall shortages in many health care professions are hampering bilingual recruitment efforts, industry experts say.
"When you find that perfect person, it's kind of hard to turn them down" even if they don't speak Spanish, Mr. Fithian said.
And bilingual skills don't, as yet, mean higher pay among health care workers, he said.
"But I think we're going to probably see it factor in a lot more, especially getting down into the southern part of Texas," he said.
For some firms, language skills are a must in recruits.
Universal Health Services in Fort Worth, for example, is a home health care and hospice provider that specializes in bilingual services.
"To develop trust, they want to see someone of their own ethnicity," said Dr. Kathy Walls, owner and operator of UHS ( www.universal-health.com).
"There are just some biases like that that do exist."
Dr. Walls said that roughly 20 percent of Universal's 150 employees are Hispanic.
Dr. Walls said most of her bilingual job applicants are found through employee referrals rather than traditional advertising.
Denise Gardner, assistant dean of continuing and workforce education at El Centro College ( www.dcccd.edu), said many Spanish-speaking health care workers also don't have the necessary medical training.
"Some of the concerns ... are that when a person comes from a Latin country and they come to the United States, their credentials do not necessarily transfer to the health profession that they used to do," Ms. Gardner said. "So then they have to start all over again."
El Centro, based in downtown Dallas, has begun offering Spanish courses for medical workers.
And they call us racist. These people come here and want to bleed the Unites States dry and then they want to patronize someone of their own ethnicity. So much for assimilation!!
Prefer to use Spanish?
32% of Texas population? What are we going to do when it reaches 62% - 72% - 82%? Sheesh!!
Tough sh*t...speak English, or go back to where you came from...and that goes for ALL immigrants.
FMCDH
"There are just some biases like that that do exist."
They call it bias when it applies to them and racism when it applies to us. There are two set of standards and laws. One for them and one for us. We are on the short end of the stick!!
Also, most people know a vocabulary for their work. In Africa, even those fluent in English and who had studied university level in English might not know the technical terms such as "blocked coronary artery".
Finally, elderly people have trouble in the language as they get older and only tend to mix with those who speak their own languages. I've had to have translators for many languages in the US: including Polish, Yiddish, Chippewa, Chinese, Filippino, Sioux, Hungarian, and Italian. Usually there is a staff person who speaks the language, even if it is the janitor.
Most Mexican workers bring a translator, mainly their kids. But I worked in one big city hospital in a Puerto Rican neighborhood that had no official or unofficial translator. How stupid. I use Spanish, but not the PuetoRican dialect, so often had to try to explain things myself.
And if they are thinking that "El Centro" is going to provide an education to them that will allow them to impart instructions beyond "sit down, stand up, breath deep," they are in for a real shocker. Of course, when they "graduate" from El Centro, they will "feel" educated and will be "empowered" with their new-found "education."
When I blew my back out, I didn't tell my Doctor that I blew L2-L3, L3-L4, L4-L5, I just told him I hurt my back. I let him diagnose me and tell me what was wrong and how he intended to fix it. Even when he told me what he had to do, I didn't understand completely.
Answer: they learn English and assimilate. And damn quickly too. Why? Because they have no pathetic, socially and educationally retarding bilingual education (this has been proven) or other language crutches to coddle them along. Understandably, the proximity to Mexico makes Spanish a major concern, but why are speakers of other languages, like Urdu or Tagalong, not given, nor require, the same biligual assistance in other parts of the country?
I have several very literate Hispanic friends that are completely embarrassed by how this makes their people look. And I can't blame them. And Spanish is far more similar to English than say, Chinese. Yet, the Chinese are not coddled, and they quickly learn to speak and read English, even with a greater obstacle to overcome.
Isn't it time for the Hispanic population in this country to stand up and say "we are not stupid. We can learn as well as any other race, and we will!"
I live for the day.
But that would COMPLETELY knock the wind out of the sails of the Aztlanista Supremacy Movement!
dinsdale....
And of this 32 percent, what percentage legal vs. illegal? If they're legal, no problemo.
New democrats.
Oh really???? What would happen if you and I said that?
"I really don't want that Mexican to touch my food, Mr. Restaurant Manager. You understand, some biases like this do exist. I want to see someone of my own ethnicity."
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