LOS ANGELES — There is a Mexican import that is so good for overall health it can actually be life changing. And it’s not avocados or berries.

Mexican doctors are having a major impact in the Golden State’s farming communities. California has been struggling with a shortage of Spanish-speaking doctors for decades, but an innovative program is trying to reverse that trend. LA Times metro reporter Melissa Gomez joined Lisa McRee on “LA Times Today” with the story.

Gomez explained that while 40% of Californians are Latino, only 6% of physicians are Latino, which leads to diminished care for some Spanish-speaking patients. She discussed how a state bill from two decades ago allowed doctors from Mexico to fill those gaps.

“Rural places often struggle to retain and attract doctors. This program... There was a lot of opposition to it. I talked to one of the advocates, the CEO of the clinic that we visited. He said there was just a lot of opposition to this idea of bringing in doctors into rural counties. And part of that opposition was from the California Medical Association, who believed that they would be creating a two-tier system of care by bringing in these doctors... For a long time, this program kind of just went quiet and went dormant,” Gomez said.  

Gomez explained how the program works. 

“There are 24 Mexican doctors now through this program who are serving patients across 13 clinics [in Monterey County]. And there are even clinics in other counties that have brought in the Mexican doctors,” Gomez said. “They are working at what are called federally qualified health centers. So these are community health clinics that are federally funded to serve uninsured and low-income residents. Often these are the patients they’re seeing are farmworkers — the folks who are putting food on the table for a lot of us.”

Gomez spoke about the importance of patients receiving care from doctors who they can understand and ask questions of.

“It’s so fascinating to have been in those clinic rooms and understand how life changing and it’s not just for the doctors, but also the patients,” she said. “They would walk away from visits with their other doctors, not understanding what their doctor was saying or feeling like maybe their doctor did not understand them. Even when a translator was in their room. Sometimes accents get in the way or there’s sort of that barrier. So having a doctor who speaks Spanish helps them feel understood.”

Doctors can stay in the U.S. to treat patients for three years before they must return to Mexico.

Click the arrow above to watch the full interview.

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