One of the most important pieces of advice Daniel Aguado-Ornelas gives to Mexican immigrants -- both legal and undocumented -- has to do with health care.
"If you're living here, you should get medical insurance," says Aguado-Ornelas, the director of legal affairs for the Mexican consulate in Kansas City. "Get a private one, because you won't be able to get a public one."
But he's not naïve. He knows many can't afford to follow his recommendation.
Working in a local laundry, ironing clothes, Karina Loredo couldn't spare the money to buy a private policy. Since her son, Eduardo, was diagnosed with a serious heart disorder this summer, she's had to rely on the good will of Children's Mercy Hospital, because government health coverage for low income families doesn't apply to the undocumented.
Because of his young age and serious condition, Eduardo Loredo's situation is unique. But it's hardly uncommon.
"He's not the only case, by any means," says Suzanne Gladney, an immigration attorney at Legal Aid of Western Missouri.
State and federal laws ban undocumented immigrants from receiving public benefits, including access to health program like Medicaid. But hospitals and emergency rooms are required to care for anybody who walks in -- regardless of immigration status -- if their life is on the line. That means many undocumented residents with dire health conditions have to wait until they're near death to get treatment.
Gladney says she gets calls frequently about men and women with failing kidneys. Because they're undocumented and have no private health insurance, their chances of getting a transplant are slim. Instead, they hold out as long as they can without the crucial organ cleansing their blood.
"Undocumented people can only get dialysis through the ER, which is the most expensive way to do it," Gladney says. "They just wait and wait and wait until it gets so bad they're nearly dying and then they go in through the emergency room. They get treatment for a week and then last another month. It happens all the time. Essentially, they're dying a little bit every month by doing that."
Aracely Van Kirk sees the same holes in the system in her work as a medical interpreter. A frequent translator for Children's Mercy Hospital, Van Kirk received a call this summer about Eduardo Loredo. "It's very unique, because most of the kids are born in the U.S., and it's the parents that are undocumented," she says. She quickly befriended the family and even organized a fundraiser for Eduardo at La Salsa in early December. She wasn't surprised that Loredo was being asked for a huge sum of money as a down payment on the heart transplant that could save the 14-year-old's life.
"With adults, when I take patients to the hospital, I know they won't do any surgeries unless they give a down-payment," she says. "I had a client who needs a hysterectomy, but doesn't have papers. They told her they wouldn't do it if she didn't bring $10,000 as a down payment. That lady works two jobs at McDonald's. She's a single mom. There's no way she'll have that much money. And I have another client who needs surgery because of his throat. But they're asking for a $500 deposit. They do that all the time, if they have no legal status or medical insurance."
Aguado-Ornelas says he often helps undocumented immigrants facing life-threatening illnesses without the benefit of the U.S. safety net. He can think of several cases off the top of his head: a pregnant woman with partial paralysis, a man with a serious nerve disorder, another man who had been bitten by a venomous snake on a train ride from Phoenix to Kansas City. Most patients, Aguado-Ornelas says, accept the consulate's assistance in returning to Mexico and receiving care in their home country. But some refuse his help.
"Some people prefer to stay," Aguado-Ornelas says. "Some of these people prefer to be homeless in the streets even if they have family in Mexico waiting for them. Even if the hospital is ready, they still prefer to stay here. It's more common than you would think."
Van Kirk sympathizes with immigrants who don't want to return to the difficult situations that forced them across the border in the first place. Even though Aguado-Ornelas is working to get Eduardo on a heart-transplant waiting list in Mexico, Karina Loredo doesn't want to leave Kansas City. Van Kirk understands her fear.
"In Mexico, it's worse," she says. "At least here, [Karina] has a job. In Mexico, they don't have jobs. She can't go back. She doesn't have anybody there."
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That child does live here, in the shadows--and he is a human being just like you. Let's not forget that your ancestors were also immigrants in this country at some point.
Please...
We have enough problems here with our own LEGAL citizens.
Even if we give this Illegal Alien a heart, there is still $3000 to $5000 worth of anti-rejection drugs EACH MONTH that has to be paid for. Who will pay this tab on top of the $500,000 to $1,000,000 needed just to give this Illegal a heart?
How would you feel if your US Born citizen son/daughter needed a transplant and it was snatched away from you and given to an illegal?
Bad enough if you have enough money you can already 'buy' a smaller number on the transplant list. And don't think for a second that you cannot. But to go one step further and take the heart you need and give it to someone who doesn't even live here...
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