Health Care Barriers

Other remedies besides herbal ones are amulets that can be worn on bracelets and necklaces, pictures and statues of saints, candles, holy oils and incense are all remedies that are meant to protect a person from negativities and “lost soul” illnesses, i.e. mental illnesses(14).
Barriers:
Barriers to health care adversely affect people’s lives and causes delays in appropriate care, limited preventative services and unnecessary hospitalization.
The older generation of Mexican-Americans face many systemic, social and cultural barriers when it comes to their health care needs. The systemic ones are more challenging as many are due to policies and the complexity of the US health care system (16), however, can be improved with knowledge and cultural

Communication is vital to a healthy physician – patient relationship, increased use of services, delivery of care and follow-ups. A breakdown in communication could lead to diagnostic, treatment and medication errors, affect the quality of care negatively and cause harm to the patient (18, 19). Even though many older Mexican-Americans have Medicare and Medicaid coverage, they have lower access to health care due to language barriers and lack of information and complexity of the system (18, 20). Many also reside in states such as Texas and Florida that have restrictive Medicaid rules and have shown resistance to Medicaid expansion (18,

It is not advisable to seek assistance from family members to translate as they might not be proficient themselves in English or the older patient might be hesitant to talk about breast, gynecological, or sometimes gastrointestinal issues in front of younger members of their families, especially males, according to case histories(22).The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Office for Civil Rights considers inadequate interpretation as a form of discrimination.
Culturally, older Mexican-Americans often expect health care personnel to be warm and personal and start the visit with pleasant small talk before taking medical history or start examining the patient. This will put them at ease, create trust in the care provider and increase patient satisfaction and patient compliance(9, 21). Ask questions about alternative care and herbal medicines. Having knowledge of these practices and home remedies will signal acceptance of their health beliefs and the patient will open up to you and give you the information that many times will prevent patient