Doctors from Mexico filling holes in California farmworker health care

SALINAS, Calif. (KION-TV): Doctors from Mexico at the Clinica de Salud del Valle de Salinas continue filling a gap in providing health care services to local farmworkers.

It's a program approved back in the early 2000s that just last year started helping people and health care is what every family wants on the Central Coast, especially a farm working family.

Some families would facing language barriers more than others while seeking treatment, but this program has helped remedy that.

"A lot of us Latinos don't speak English, and we're comfortable with the new doctors because there's more communication." said Juana Blanco, who lives in Salinas.

Dr. Nadia Arias, a pediatrician from Mexicali, Mexico, is a doctor in a program providing farmworker families health care services in Salinas.

She said she sees about 30 patients a day and operate out of Clinica de Salud del Valle de. Salinas.

"Bringing more doctors, it will just like, help to give more access to medicine to care for these families." said Dr. Arias.

Dr. Arias said Mexican doctors are not limited on what they prescribe to their patients when they're working in the golden state. She also said anyone can get health care services through the program at La Clinica de Salud del Valle de Salinas.

"They don't need anything in specific, they don't need to have insurance, they don't need to have paperwork, like immigration thing, nothing." said Dr. Arias.

For people like Blanco, she's grateful to have Dr. Arias as her kids pediatrician and hopes there's more program like these.

"Dr. Arias, I can talk nothing but wonderful things about her. i've known her for 3 months; she's helped me a lot with my children." said Blanco.

Dr. Arias started working in California last year and will leave in two years. Dr. Arias said they plan to expand the program so more Mexican Doctors come assist Latino communities.