Decibel
How Las Promotoras de Salud are keeping their neighbors healthy
Clip | 6m 36sVideo has Closed Captions
Medical complications took her husband’s life. She ensures her neighbors don’t go through it too.
Teresa Rivera never saw herself in the medical field. For 22 years, she sold intricate hand-made tie dye clothing at craft fairs around Texas. But when tragedy struck her family, her life was upended. Now she works to make sure her Rundberg neighbors can see a doctor, so they don’t have to go through what she did.
Decibel is a local public television program presented by Austin PBS
Funding for Decibel is provided in part by Texas Mutual and Roxanne Elder & Scott Borders
Decibel
How Las Promotoras de Salud are keeping their neighbors healthy
Clip | 6m 36sVideo has Closed Captions
Teresa Rivera never saw herself in the medical field. For 22 years, she sold intricate hand-made tie dye clothing at craft fairs around Texas. But when tragedy struck her family, her life was upended. Now she works to make sure her Rundberg neighbors can see a doctor, so they don’t have to go through what she did.
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(waves crash) (boy screams) - My husband would always think that we're gonna be together forever and we're gonna grow very old, but yeah.
You never know when life is gonna change.
(somber music) I'm gonna be helping with application, okay?
Do you have any coverage right now?
- [Applicant] No ma'am.
- Okay.
We laughed because they said, "Thank you, Doctor."
And we're like, "We're not doctors."
(laughing) (speaks foreign language) We are a group of promotoras.
We help the community with MAP insurance.
That way, they can go to the community clinics, like community care, Lonestar, People's Community.
(speaks foreign language) It is a very low pay for people with low income.
(light music) - [Co-Worker] I can help you.
(people chattering) - Texas needs help connecting people to their healthcare systems and in North Austin around the Rundberg, St. John area specifically.
The promotoras are amazing because they are part of the communities that they serve.
They're trusted messengers.
I'm Julie Weeks.
I'm with Austin Voices for Education and Youth and I'm the Director of Family Resource Centers.
We realize that there's a lot to do to connect families to the medical access program, called MAP, and so, we just started building insurance clinics through our family resource centers and our promotoras, our community health workers, are the ones that we trained through Central Health to be able to help people apply for MAP.
(light music) (people chattering) For those residents in Austin who don't qualify for Medicaid, they may qualify for the MAP program.
It's not insurance, but it is a discount program that does give access to the healthcare system.
(light music) Because Texas doesn't have Medicaid expansion, many low income adults, that is the way that they access the healthcare system in Austin.
(upbeat music) - The size of the uninsured population in the state is I think around 20%, 21%.
Studies have shown in Texas that people have more like eligibility to enroll in different types of healthcare coverage.
So those would be things like Medicaid, ACA, Affordable Care Act.
But part of the issue is really about knowing what their choices are.
One of the biggest issues that we've identified through that is trust in the system.
So, having a community health worker who is ya know, of the community, is just an incredible resource.
(light music) (people chattering) - It is a little hard for some of them.
But they can see that oh, okay, so I know you from the community.
So, it's like we are equal, you know?
And they can talk more to us.
Hola, hello.
(speaks foreign language) Okay, that's fine, you can, we can-- I never thought that I was going to do something like this.
I was doing tie dyes for 22 years.
I will sell my T-shirts, my dresses, everything, all the clothes.
I just stopped because my son was little and my husband got sick.
(somber music) He was being with diabetes.
He was having only 25% working his kidneys.
He went to do his dialysis and they come in six o'clock and he has a heart attack.
After my husband passed away, it's like I had to live the day by day.
We were not prepared for that.
(somber music) (phone rings) - [Operator] Your call has been forwarded to an automatic voice message system.
(speaks in foreign language) - I feel like we're working all the time.
We don't prioritize, I guess, the time to go having all this check-up.
I feel like that's what happened to my husband.
(phone rings) - [Phone] Hello?
- Hi, my name is Teresa Rivera.
With my experience, I tell people.
Like yeah, don't wait.
Just go to your doctor, get to, go to your clinic.
They need to know before they're at that point.
(speaking in foreign language) (giggles) I feel like, like I'm doing something good for so many people and I love it when they see us on their schools, outside, and they will say thank you to you.
One, he later on came by to say thank you so much because y'all saved my life.
I think that's what he say.
(light music) That's why it's important to me.
I'm doing something good for the community.
I can help you now.
Okay, let me start.
(light music)
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