[News] Cuban Doctors to Help Patients in South Side Chicago

[Anti-Imperialist News]

https://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Cuban-Doctors-to-Help-Patients-in-South-Side-Chicago-20180117-0018.html 



  Cuban Doctors to Help Patients in South Side Chicago

Published 17 January 2018
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With no solution in sight regarding infant mortalities, residents of 
Chicago's South Side, home to numerous predominantly Black 
neighborhoods, have resorted to mentors from the Cuban Ministry of 
Public Health for help.

    *RELATED: *
    Cuba Selects Former FARC Rebels to Train as Doctor
    <https://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Cuba-Selects-Former-FARC-Rebels-to-Train-as-Doctors-as-Pledged-20170820-0011.html>

Why? The small socialist island, though it has endured a half-century 
economic blockade imposed by the United States, has an infant mortality 
rate (4.3 per 1,000 people) lower than its neighbor to the north (5.7 
per 1,000 people), according to the World Health Organization.

In fact, Cuba's infant mortality rate is significantly lower than some 
of the poorest parts of the United States. A good example is the 
neighborhood of Englewood. With an infant mortality rate of 14.5 babies 
per 1,000, its statistics mirrors that of war-torn Syria.

“Cuba is not a rich country,” said Dr. Jose Armando Arronte-Villamarin, 
one of the Cuban doctors helping the people of Chicago's South Side. 
“(Therefore) we have to develop the human resources, at the primary 
health care level.”

Even health workers at the prestigious University of Illinois at Chicago 
are adopting Cuban health surveys during home visits in Englewood.

“Sometimes the answers are in the most unexpected places,” 
Tossas-Milligan said, adding that “sometimes it’s hard for us to face 
the reality that, as much as we spend, we have somehow not been 
successful at keeping our babies alive.”

A health partnership signed between the University of Illinois Cancer 
Center and the Cuban Ministry of Public Health has teamed up three Cuban 
doctors and a nurse with their U.S. counterparts during home visits to 
50 women of reproductive age in Englewood, according to Kaiser Health News.

In exchange for a US$50 stipend, the women respond to a questionnaire 
that includes questions such as: “In the last 12 months, have you had 
any problems with any bug infestations, rodents or mold?” or “Have you 
ever had teeth removed or crowned because of a cavity?”

The questions cover a range of topics, including emotional well-being to 
condition of one's residence.

Kathy Tossas-Milligan, an epidemiologist working on the program, said 
the women who are classified as being at a higher risk for miscarriage 
will be recommended for additional home visits. She said the idea is to 
attend to women's medical issues at home and at an early stage in order 
to prevent the high cost of hospital bills.

    /*RELATED:
    Why Cuba Has a Higher Life Expectancy - the Tattered US Healthcare
    System
    <http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/Why-Cuba-Has-a-Higher-Life-Expectancy---the-Tattered-US-Healthcare-System-20170903-0016.html>*/

She went on to state that “what we are hoping to discover is issues in 
Englewood that truly impact health, that are not being collected” and 
that “doctors cannot see when they come and see (a) woman, and prescribe 
her one pill.”

In 2017, Cuba’s infant mortality rate was 4.1 per 1,000 live births, the 
lowest in the history of the Caribbean socialist country.

"This is a milestone that reflects the integration of the entire health 
care system in the country, which is about lives saved, quality of life, 
happiness and satisfaction for our people," said the Minister of Public 
Health, Roberto Morales.

Apart from sending their medical expertise to the United States, Cuba's 
Latin American School of Medicine, popularly known as ELAM, has trained 
young students from poor communities, mainly in Latin America and 
Caribbean countries, to become doctors free of charge. The school, which 
was founded in 1999, even accepts students from economically 
disadvantaged backgrounds in the United States, as well as several 
African nations.

-- 
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