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BWH’s Spanish Clinic provides medical care to patients from all over Latin America who have one thing in common: the Spanish language. For these patients, being able to speak with their doctor in their native tongue means everything.
“The attention, the medicine and the care I receive at the clinic are very important to me,” said Olimpia Reyes, a patient of the Spanish Clinic for the past 25 years. “I like coming here where I can speak my first language.”
When it opened in 1971, the Spanish Clinic was the only clinic of its kind in New England, and now it is one of only a handful in the country. More than 3,000 patients visited the clinic last year for outpatient services in primary care, psychiatry, social services, counseling, nutrition, preventive medicine and diabetes support and education.
“The Spanish Clinic is a symbol of BWH’s commitment to the Latino community,” said Manuel Guillermo Herrera-Acena, MD, who founded the clinic. “We provide medical care in a culturally congruent atmosphere so patients feel at home.”
The clinic is open three evenings a week; one of the sessions is reserved for walk-in patients. All staff members are bilingual and Spanish is spoken at all times to make patients feel at home, or “en casa.” Two psychiatrists and a social worker provide mental health care on site. When the clinic is closed, patients still have access to services, as primary care physicians are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Patients use an answering service staffed by Spanish speaking operators who will take messages or page their doctor if necessary.
The Spanish Clinic was the forerunner of many measures that BWH has taken to respond to the needs of the growing Latino population in their catchment area, including the provision of bilingual signs, professional interpreter services and the organization of community health centers. Brigham Internal Medical Associates, Brookside and Southern Jamaica Plain health centers provide excellent services to large numbers of Latino families in nearby neighborhoods.
The Spanish Clinic continues to grow. Harvard Medical students work in the Spanish Clinic both before and after they participate in the Latin American exchange program coordinated by Herrera-Acena. Senior medical students who participate in this elective spend two months working in rural Latin America and return trained to function as physicians in two languages and cultures.
“The Spanish Clinic is beneficial for the patients and providers,” Wilder Pinnock-Tooley, Nurse Practitioner, said. “In this environment, everyone feels comfortable and relates with each other.”