LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Norton Healthcare has Louisville’s first Spanish-English bilingual clinic that empowers patients to get the most from their health care.
Norton Healthcare bridges the gap in the Latinx community with bilingual medical services. La Clinica Preston opened in 2021. Supervisor Heili Leiva says she wished there was a clinic like this when she and her family came to the United States from Cuba.
“I couldn’t communicate to other people what I was needing. So it was just basically like showing them, pinpointing what I was needing. And it was just hard. So knowing the struggle, knowing that I’m doing something positive that we’re here for them, that they heard that taking care of it just means a lot,” said Leiva.
La Clinica Preston is 100% bilingual from the staff, nurses and doctors. Leiva says language should never be a barrier to quality care.
“Coming from other countries where they don’t have that, variety of health care and they can have it here, and having that language barrier helps a lot with their, environment and being able to say what they really need in the medical field,” said Leiva.
Nurse practitioner Jessica Perez says the Hispanic population is growing in Louisville, and this clinic helps them start a new life here in the U.S.
“A lot of these patients have not seen any type of medical provider since they last left their home countries, and a lot of them are very chronically ill patients,” said Perez.
Norton Healthcare facilities have always had translation services available, but Perez says it makes a difference to have an office equipped with employees to bridge the language barrier.
“They do feel so much more comfortable being able to talk to us in their native language and, you know, say things that may not even translate well with an interpreter,” said Perez.
“I’ve had people come in here that didn’t know that we were 100% bilingual. And we’re greeting them in their native language, and they’re just impressed and so happy. ‘Oh my gosh, I live right around the corner. I didn’t know you guys were here.’ Now can talk in Spanish and, you know, be understood. So that means a lot to me,” said Leiva.
Leiva says La Clinica is here for everyone from general exams to all preventative care measures. Norton Healthcare La Clinica Preston is a primary care office that accepts all patients.