Latino health officials play down swine flu

Latino health experts: no reason to overreact to swine flu
by Dawn Rhodes, Medvill, April 30, 2009

Dr. Alejandro Clavier of Centro de Salud Esperanza discusses how Latinos can avoid contracting and spreading the swine flu virus Thursday at the Pilsen Wellness Center. Clavier said simple precautions such as frequently washing hands will go a long way in staying healthy.

Latino community health officials urged residents on Thursday not to panic over the swine flu epidemic, and pledged to educate patients how to reduce their risk of illness.

"This is not something people should get overly worried about," Dan Fulwiler, CEO of Centro de Salud Esperanza in Little Village, said during a news conference at Pilsen Wellness Center. "The public health authorities are doing a great job getting all the resources in gear that we need in gear."

Dr. Alejandro Clavier, medical director of Centro de Salud Esperanza, said he has seen an influx of patients to the clinic who are concerned they may have early symptoms of the swine flu. He said Latinos must understand what their conditions really mean.

"If you only have a runny nose, then it shouldn’t be the swine flu," he said. "If you have a fever, difficulty breathing, sore throat, cough, bellyache, then it is important to seek medical attention."

The wellness center and its nine satellite clinics will begin giving their patients bilingual pamphlets explaining what the virus is, how it spreads, what its symptoms are, and what to do once someone has gotten sick. The center and its clinics serve predominantly Latino communities in Chicago, Cicero, Melrose Park and Stone Park.

"We need to really provide reliable information so that people do not panic," said Francisco Cisneros, president and CEO of Pilsen Wellness Center. "We are finding that throughout the sites some patients that we have are really panicking, really taking extreme actions: not going to school, not really going to work."

All the information in the pamphlets was provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC recommends basic precautions to avoid spreading the virus, such as covering a cough, frequently washing hands with soap and water, staying away from ill people, and not touching the eyes, nose or mouth.

Eddy Borrayo, director of the wellness center’s Division of Substance Abuse, said it was just as important to quell misconceptions about symptoms of the virus as well as about who is at risk of catching it.

"Right now, one of the things we want to prevent is the stereotyping that this epidemic is caused by a person who is [of] Hispanic descent, primarily Mexican," he said. "One of the things that we see is that any time there is something associated within the Latino community that our clients stop coming to receive services. This is a disease that goes beyond color and ethnicity."