Disrupting Immigrant and Pediatric Care

It is a core tenet of a physician’s mission to provide care to anyone regardless of race, religion, nationality, or gender ideology. Thus, to have the ability to provide the best available healthcare impeded by a government policy and its effect on a significant sector of a physician’s patient base, is bound to wear on them emotionally.

“Every missed appointment hurts,” Dr. Chinnadurai said. “When a child doesn’t show up, or a parent calls from the parking lot, too afraid to come inside, our teams feel it. We see fear and uncertainty come between our patients and us, and there is only so much we can do to bridge the gap.”

Moreover, as is true across the country, many members of the staff at Children’s Minnesota are immigrants themselves or the children of immigrants. “They arrive each day balancing the responsibility of caring for others’ children while quietly carrying concerns about their own safety and the security of their families,” Dr. Chinnadurai said. “Tomorrow, like every day this month, many members of our team will get ready for work. And before they head out the door, [they] check to make sure they have their keys, their wallet, and their passport.”

Linda Kossoff is a medical journalist based in Los Angeles.