On Saturday, Sept. 9, the annual Latino Health Fair will take place at the Luther Memorial Church, 1021 University Ave. in Madison. This is a free event for communities and individuals with limited or no health insurance. For over the past 30 years, the Latino Health Council has been organizing this free event to bring health care resources and tools to highly impacted communities.
The available tests and screenings will include: Blood pressure, glucose, skin, eyes, HIV, memory, and more tests; this event is also an opportunity to receive education and resources for navigating health systems here in Madison. Dr. Patricia Tellez-Giron, a Family Medicine Physician a Access Community Health Centers, tells Madison365, “over the years, we have structured the event with the screenings that could be done once a year, so if you get screen at least once a year, then you have a better chance of catching a diagnosed that could be dangerous.”
The central focus is to aid communities in receiving the resources they need, in order to bridge disparities that exist within our Wisconsin healthcare systems. Dr. Tellez-Giron goes on to tell Madison365, “We have a list of clinics that you can access, where you can get follow-up… furthermore, we will send you to the ER, and in that case we will talk with individuals on how to pay the bill, or other resources they will need.”
This event also seeks to build and maintain healthcare networks with the community and physicians, in order to address various needs due to diversity of the Latino/a community.
“We are extremely diverse, we come from different countries, we have people with different documentation statuses, we have people that have been here for 30 years and people just arrived,” Dr. Tellez-Giron said. “All of these things make it challenging to provide, because we are on different levels of access to care.”
For many highly impacted communities, COVID widened the disparities in access to quality healthcare. Dr.Tellez-Giron ended the conversation with Madison365 by saying, “Covid showed that whatever happens to us will happen to the rest, if we get sick others will get sick.” This event is an opportunity to challenge the systems that don’t provide adequate care, especially for essential workers and caregivers.
To register for this event or to learn more about the tests and other resources provided, call (608) 441-9918 between the hours of 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. Or visit the Latino Health Council website for more information provided in Spanish/Español.
