Language, Race, and Ethnicity

Language, race, ethnicity. These three components of an individual serve a vital consequence on how he is treated on the society, thus most institutions are accused of having disparities in taking to account their services among their patrons / consumers, specifically the health care services for having been reported of having extensive disparities in handling their patients, mostly in America. Health institutions worked their ways on eliminating disparities in health care by collecting patient’s race, ethnicity, and language use. This is to recognize where the patients come from, in what ethnicity they belong, and what is their preferred language or their level of capacity in speaking English, which will serve as a lingua franca between the health care givers and the patients. This endeavour of the health institutions of collecting data to improve health care services remains elusive to achieve, yet the efforts are greatly outreached to each of the individuals, providing questionnaires or interviews that would not leave any race, ethnicity or language unrecognized.

In 2000, the Department of Human Health Services in America, released its National Standards on Culturally and Linguistically Services, which encourage all health care organizations and individual providers to make their practices more culturally and linguistically accessible, including the use of race, ethnicity, and language data in program assessments and incorporation of these data into health records and organizational management systems. This is laudable. One must deserve the necessary health care without discrimination.

In our country, our medical practitioners are sensitive when it comes to ethnicity, race, and language use. When my father was admitted at Davao Doctors Hospital last 2002, the medical practitioners were accommodating in dealing with the needs of my father by using the language appropriately that is Filipino or English. They know that my father is a Tausug, that is why they are very careful in giving diet to my father. They took into consideration the ethnicity of my father. I was glad also the attendants were so accommodating to our visitors. There was one time that our entire relatives from Boulevard, Davao City went to the room where my father was admitted. My father was shocked because we might be reprimanded, but we were wrong. The nurses just smiled. My father worried that time because the hospital personnel might think that we are so rich because our relatives, specially the ladies went there with the all jewelry in the body, and famous Tausug attire, a sign of wealth and prestige. Tausugs really love jewelry as this is a sign of richness.

The medical practitioners must be sensitive in dealing with the patients by taking into consideration the language, race, and ethnicity as this will help them deliver the necessary health care services.