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Dr. Cornelius Hopper
Neurologist
The care of people in these [black and brown and immigrant] communities needs to reach a higher state of priorities nationally.
Q: People of color and immigrants will suffer if they have to travel many miles to get to a hospital. How can we prevent this?
I could give you a simplistic answer and say that the care of people in these kinds of communities needs to reach a higher state of priorities nationally. You know at this point in time that Medicaid is going to be cut. To give the Board of Supervisors in this county some credit, they're having to deal and have had to deal with an extremely difficult budgetary situation. The pie, the amount of moneys available for them to do their job in terms of providing care for underserved populations, has been shrinking.
Q: What advice do you have then to folk in these communities who are trying to rally to save these institutions?
I think first of all, in these communities, the people have got to start to understand what is good health care and demand it. I think in this situation, in south central Los Angeles, when patients have run into the kind of problems they have at the King/Drew Medical Center, the community organization should be saying we demand the same quality of care for our patients and community that they're receiving at Harbor, that they're receiving at Big County, that they're receiving at outstanding county hospitals.
Q: Why do Latinos who are born in the U.S. often end up having more health challenges and crises than their parents who are immigrants?
What happens is that people come from traditions of community in which the whole community takes the health of the individual into account. People are there with generations of their family, so that aunts and uncles and grandparents are able to help people understand how to remain healthy. People come to this country and they're separated too often from the extended family that often is a source of the information that helps us to stay healthy.
In 20 years with the University of California, neurologist Cornelius Hopper has organized statewide research programs in AIDS, tobacco-related diseases and breast cancer. Hopper sits on the trustee board of Meharry Medical College and chairs the steering committee on the future of L.A.'s King/Drew Medical Center.
Related Articles
Related Episode
Recommended Web Sites
The Institute for the Advancement of Multicultural & Minority Medicine (IAMMM) focuses primarily on eliminating health disparities.
The The Office of Minority Health is charged with reducing health disparities among Americans of all racial and ethnic backgrounds.
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Published: September 15, 2005
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