NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The SW Bricktown Neighborhood and Hutch in Harmony along with the Hutchinson Clinic are hosting the first Hispanic Health and Resource Fair this weekend in the Salt City.
"The event will be at Memorial Hall, thanks to the support from the City of Hutchinson," said Esmerelda Tovar-Mora with Hutch in Harmony. "We will also have a mobile consulate as a resource coming to Hutchinson. A mobile consulate is a space where people may come to renew their passports, their consulate IDs and ask questions without needing to travel all the way to Kansas City for that information since the nearest consulate is there. The estimated attendance for mobile consulates are in the 350 to 400 plus range as everyone has to register two weeks in advance for every location, and this is the first time that it's happening in Hutchinson."
The ability to translate is so important to making sure people get the care that they need, so there will be multiple volunteers to make sure that the English to Spanish barrier is overcome.
"It's really difficult to be able to translate it from a formal to informal to conversational, right? Conversational Spanish is different than if you are reading medical terminology in Spanish. And so being able to not only understand what is being said to you, when it is translated from English to Spanish, or when you're a small business and you're translating it from Spanish to English, you want to make sure you get that middle person to be able to read it and say, hey, does this make sense?"
There will be many health services at the event.
"There will be stroke education with two bilingual helpers with handouts, SANE nurses, which is the sexual assault nurse examiners, dieticians with consultations and bilingual handouts over appropriate diets that our population commonly faces. We will also have the pharmacy with home medication lists and pill organizers. Hutchinson Regional Physicians Network will be having family practice there. Hutchinson Regional Physicians Network will also have obstetrics and gynecology there. The Regional Medical Center will have a lactation specialist, and imaging will also be providing carotid ultrasound screenings. There will be lipid testing. There will be depression and anxiety screenings through Horizons. The Reno County Health Department will be there with resources on their WIC program, smoking cessation, family programs, maternal child health, all the good things, including two bilingual nurses and one interpreter."
The event is Saturday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from 8 a.m. to noon.