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Speaker 1: Dear listener, Just a quick note here. Due to safety

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Speaker 1: measures during this time, we're continuing to record interviews, but

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Speaker 1: asking the people we called to record themselves as best

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Speaker 1: they can. They're not in a studio, so bear with us.

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Speaker 2: Marines.

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Speaker 1: On a recent weekday night, I called up Maria Magagna,

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Speaker 1: a domestic worker in Chicago. Maria, what did you do today? Well?

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Speaker 3: Just today, I don't have to work because the family

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Speaker 3: can sel for today. Just walk my little dogs, cook,

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Speaker 3: you know, keeping inside anyway, it's called outside.

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Speaker 1: She was hanging out at home with her dogs and

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Speaker 1: her pet lovebirds. Maria is originally from Mexico City. She's

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Speaker 1: been in the United States for about thirty years, and

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Speaker 1: I called her because they wanted to see how she

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Speaker 1: was doing. What's going on? How are you feeling? We

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Speaker 1: spoke in both English and Spanish.

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Speaker 2: It's maybien, bien bien.

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Speaker 1: But she told me she was doing pretty okay, but

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Speaker 1: that she was a little bit worried about COVID nineteen.

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Speaker 1: She's forty eight years old, and she's got this inherently

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Speaker 1: optimistic energy. Even when she was telling me that one

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Speaker 1: of her cleaning gigs got canceled today, she said she

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Speaker 1: was going to make the most of it and spent

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Speaker 1: her unexpected day off with her pets. What kind of

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Speaker 1: dogs are they?

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Speaker 3: Chitu, Oh, little chitus. They are very very cute dogs.

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Speaker 3: With this pandemia and my little trouble makers, I have

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Speaker 3: a fulkhint.

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Speaker 1: She works six days a week cleaning houses for several families.

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Speaker 1: She told me she's been losing a lot of other

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Speaker 1: cleaning gigs as well, all because of fear around cat

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Speaker 1: the novel coronavirus. What's the situation with your work and

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Speaker 1: do you have money saved?

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Speaker 3: Well, I have a little you know, a little man

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Speaker 3: of savings. But it's a little hard for me right

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Speaker 3: now because a couple of people have to concen for

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Speaker 3: this situation. And I understand they want to protect their

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Speaker 3: families and protect me.

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Speaker 2: They are elder people.

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Speaker 3: I understand that they be scary about what's going on

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Speaker 3: because I'm maybe I catch it when I travel and

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Speaker 3: take the bus, train or whatever.

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Speaker 1: You know, I have to understand that. From Futuro Media,

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Speaker 1: It's Latino Usa. I'm Maria Inojosa. We first met Maria

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Speaker 1: Magagna at a free health clinic in Chicago called Community Health,

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Speaker 1: and several months ago let you Know USA aired a

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Speaker 1: story when we spent seventy two hours meeting patients and

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Speaker 1: doctors at the clinic. The clinic only serves people without

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Speaker 1: health insurance, and most of their patients are low income immigrants,

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Speaker 1: some of whom are also undocumented. The communities that they

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Speaker 1: serve include older, people with chronic conditions and people who

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Speaker 1: can't stay home from work, which of course are people

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Speaker 1: who are particularly at risk for coronavirus. When we met

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Speaker 1: Maria at the clinic, she told us that she didn't

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Speaker 1: have health insurance simply because she couldn't afford it.

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Speaker 2: Who I was so expensive?

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Speaker 3: Say, okay, I paid the insurance, so I paid my rent.

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Speaker 1: And she was going to the clinic to check in

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Speaker 1: on her chronic issues, like her diabetes.

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Speaker 3: So the eret is Formidana.

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Speaker 1: When I caught up with her recently, Maria told me

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Speaker 1: that she wasn't really worried about her health at this

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Speaker 1: exact moment, but that her city felt really strange.

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Speaker 3: I feel a little worried about what's going on in

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Speaker 3: Chicago because all restaurants have to close, the public schools

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Speaker 3: is closed to Isn't it scary because when you go

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Speaker 3: to store and you don't found nothing. People isn't panic.

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Speaker 3: I don't know how long we have to keep it

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Speaker 3: in in the house. You know, it's worried, really, it's

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Speaker 3: really really worried. Right now here is laya ghost down.

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Speaker 3: You know, nobody is outside.

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Speaker 1: While the streets were deserted, ICE agents were still being

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Speaker 1: seen making the rounds in Chicago. Maria has a green card,

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Speaker 1: but her husband and other family members and friends are undocumented.

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Speaker 3: I'm much a preocupacion mase and el barrio Mexicano.

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Speaker 1: She told me. People were worried, especially in the Mexican barrios,

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Speaker 1: because she says there were recently some raids.

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Speaker 3: La polisia de migracio and estado innesos barrios Eicho.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, a, so people feel like it could happen again

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Speaker 1: tomorrow or the day after.

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Speaker 2: Yes, in the people lease worry about that.

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Speaker 1: The day after we spoke with Maria, ICE officials announced

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Speaker 1: that agents will temporarily postpone most arrests because of the

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Speaker 1: coronavirus pandemic. But Maria said in her community, people don't

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Speaker 1: trust ICE to keep their word, and that means that

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Speaker 1: people are scared not only from the virus, but they're

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Speaker 1: scared about ice exactly. Yes, in terms of her health.

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Speaker 1: For now, she's trying to take precautions. She's eating healthy

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Speaker 1: and washing her hands. And I asked her what she

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Speaker 1: would do if this pandemic lasts for more than a

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Speaker 1: couple of months.

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Speaker 2: It's a temple lower that no.

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Speaker 1: But she told me she wasn't thinking that far ahead.

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Speaker 3: I don't want to thinking about that for a long time.

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Speaker 2: But who knows.

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Speaker 1: Maria has been going to the free community Health clinic

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Speaker 1: since the mid nineteen nineties, so actually she's not that

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Speaker 1: worried about getting treatment if she needed it.

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Speaker 3: You start with the high fever coffee and you can breathe.

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Speaker 3: You have to go to the hospital because it's a

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Speaker 3: very very bad situation.

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Speaker 1: All in all, Maria seems to be trying to take

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Speaker 1: this moment of crisis in stride. Why are you so calm, Maria.

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Speaker 3: Well, I can do nothing. Just wait, you know, stay peaceful,

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Speaker 3: don't be worried. I worried, but you have to go

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Speaker 3: out and have to work. You can do nothing. You're

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Speaker 3: trying to be in safe. That's it, and we have

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Speaker 3: a hope like this situation don't take a long time.

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Speaker 2: A weeks, months, I hope not.

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Speaker 1: What are you doing to stay hopeful?

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Speaker 3: Abierta porque, She tells me she holds on to her

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Speaker 3: faith because there's nothing else she can do.

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Speaker 1: Then she adds if an opportunity for work comes up,

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Speaker 1: she'll take it, which, of course I tell her is

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Speaker 1: a very Mexican thing to say. Coming up on Latino USA,

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Speaker 1: places like the free health clinic in Chicago that Maria

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Speaker 1: goes to are now on the front lines of where

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Speaker 1: low income, uninsured immigrants can go to get cared during

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Speaker 1: this pandemic. We go back and check in with the

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Speaker 1: clinic after this break. Stay with us, Yes, hey, we're back.

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Speaker 1: In the first part of this episode, we heard from Mariamagagna,

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Speaker 1: who might not have health insurance, but she isn't afraid

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Speaker 1: to seek health caare in this time of crisis, and

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Speaker 1: that's partially because she goes to the largest free health

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Speaker 1: clinic in the United States. We heard a story about

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Speaker 1: Community Health last year, which only serves people without health insurance.

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Speaker 1: As the number of coronavirus cases continues to rise and

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Speaker 1: other clinics on the front lines are facing shortages of

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Speaker 1: supplies or even closing, we wanted to check back in

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Speaker 1: on Community Health, So we called up their CEO. Hey, Stephanie,

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Speaker 1: how are you.

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Speaker 4: I'm doing well?

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Speaker 2: How are you well?

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Speaker 1: You know, as good as we can be in these

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Speaker 1: difficult times and in.

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Speaker 5: A new time that we're all experiencing.

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Speaker 1: A note that we spoke to her on the phone

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Speaker 1: in mid March, a few days before the number of

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Speaker 1: coronavirus cases in Illinois broke a hundred. Stephanie Wilding, Welcome

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Speaker 1: to Latin USA.

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Speaker 4: Thank you.

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Speaker 1: I'm wondering, Stephanie, was there a moment when you realized

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Speaker 1: that this outbreak was going to be something really serious?

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Speaker 4: Yeah?

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Speaker 5: About this time last week, I was returning from my honeymoon,

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Speaker 5: and before I left for my honeymoon, I wrote down

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Speaker 5: three big picture items for community Health that would expand

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Speaker 5: access to care, build our reputation, further, grow our roots

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Speaker 5: even deeper within the communities we serve. And I returned

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Speaker 5: from my honeymoon to the office a day earlier, and

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Speaker 5: I sat down in the chair I'm sitting in right now,

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Speaker 5: next to my desk, and I sat there and I

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Speaker 5: looked at those three items on my whiteboard for probably

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Speaker 5: longer than I should and then I stood up. I

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Speaker 5: walked over and I erased them because the only thing

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Speaker 5: that we have to focus on right now is staying

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Speaker 5: open for our patients, for our community, and keeping our

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Speaker 5: staff and our lunteer safe.

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Speaker 4: The other things don't matter right now.

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Speaker 1: So the situation now is that you're about to start

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Speaker 1: canceling appointments or are you telling people to only come

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Speaker 1: in if they're sick.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, So we have a specific set of guidelines around that.

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Speaker 5: If someone's sick, we're asking them not to present to

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Speaker 5: our health center and if it becomes critical that they

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Speaker 5: should go to their.

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Speaker 4: Local emergency department.

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Speaker 5: And that's in line with the CDC guidelines. In terms

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Speaker 5: of our day to day appointments, we're continuing to provide

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Speaker 5: care to as many patients as we can, and we're

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Speaker 5: doing that in a few ways. All non essential services

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Speaker 5: are either being canceled, such as surgeries or procedures, and

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Speaker 5: then where we can, we're moving visits to telephone or

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Speaker 5: video conferencing when possible, but mostly telephone so that we

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Speaker 5: can limit the movement of people on public transportation and

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Speaker 5: limit potential to exposure to COVID nineteen.

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Speaker 1: So have any patients that you've seen, have they tested positive?

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Speaker 1: And if anybody does show up with symptoms, you're basically

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Speaker 1: saying you can't test them. You've got to send them

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Speaker 1: to the er.

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Speaker 5: We are able to do the testing on site, but

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Speaker 5: it is very limited. So none of our patients have

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Speaker 5: tested positive for COVID nineteen. We have had patients test

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Speaker 5: positive for flu, and in fact, if we suspect COVID nineteen,

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Speaker 5: we shouldn't be sending that person to the emergency room

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Speaker 5: unless absolutely necessary, because we don't want to expose more people.

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Speaker 1: Wow, there's such a shortage of tests, and yet your

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Speaker 1: free clinic has them.

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Speaker 5: We have ten, to be clear, but I will say, yes,

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Speaker 5: we're lucky that we have the ability to test ten patients.

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Speaker 5: A lot of places do not have that capacity.

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Speaker 1: Right now, what is it that's going to make you say, Okay,

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Speaker 1: this person gets one of those ten tests.

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Speaker 5: That person with body aches, fever, shortness of breath, a

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Speaker 5: dry cough, if that's all they're presenting with, we're not

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Speaker 5: going to give them a test for COVID nineteen because

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Speaker 5: testing is still so limited. We will give them a

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Speaker 5: rapid flu test to determine if they have the flu.

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Speaker 4: That's why it's so important for people.

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Speaker 5: To stay home during this time because not only US

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Speaker 5: as a safety net provider, but even hospitals they're not

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Speaker 5: going to be providing that test given the criteria we're

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Speaker 5: using at this time.

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Speaker 1: One of the things we're hearing a lot about is

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Speaker 1: the concern around shortages. Do you have the supplies that

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Speaker 1: you need?

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Speaker 5: The shortage on personal productive equipment is very real. Part

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Speaker 5: of the reason we had to move to, for example,

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Speaker 5: in dental only doing urgent dental procedures is because we

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Speaker 5: are concerned about running out of surgical masks.

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Speaker 1: But these are not the same things that people are

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Speaker 1: using on the streets.

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Speaker 4: Right Oh, they absolutely are.

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Speaker 1: So you're saying that if people went online and they

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Speaker 1: bought surgical masks just to be walking around, that meant

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Speaker 1: that you and your clinic are facing a shortage of

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Speaker 1: those surgical masks in a kind of medical setting. How

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Speaker 1: are you dealing with that.

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Speaker 5: We went through and we took an exact count of

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Speaker 5: all of our masks, and then we had to lock

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Speaker 5: all of our masks up because we have had supplies

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Speaker 5: being stolen during this time, and then we began to

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Speaker 5: track and trend how many masks we use every single

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Speaker 5: day under normal operations. And make some difficult decisions about

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Speaker 5: what services to scale back in order.

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Speaker 4: To preserve some of our masks so that.

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Speaker 5: We can continue to provide the basic essential health care.

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Speaker 5: And that has given us a general sense of how

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Speaker 5: many days of masks we have. But at this time

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Speaker 5: there are no more masks coming. Our order is indefinitely delayed.

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Speaker 5: I have reached out to our hospital partners, most of

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Speaker 5: whom have turned me down because they don't have them either.

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Speaker 5: One hospital, I will say it, donated one hundred masks,

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Speaker 5: but that lasts us about six days.

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Speaker 1: They were disappearing. Who's taking them?

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Speaker 4: We don't know.

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Speaker 5: I had heard about this happening, and I had hoped

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Speaker 5: we wouldn't be experiencing that we had masks, hand sanitizer,

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Speaker 5: and toilet paper still one from our site in the

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Speaker 5: last two weeks, and so we've gone and had to

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Speaker 5: lock up all of our supplies at all times.

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Speaker 1: So in some ways, Steph, you're seeing like the best

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Speaker 1: in humans, but you're also seeing the worst of people.

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Speaker 1: What's the morale been like?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, morale it ebbs and flows.

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Speaker 5: We learned that our schools were going to be closing,

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Speaker 5: that restaurants and bars were going to be closing, and

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Speaker 5: everyone's here at work and they're worried for their families,

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Speaker 5: and they're worried for our patients. And what has really

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Speaker 5: evolved from that through our volunteers and also through our

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Speaker 5: staff is you know, we're all placing an emphasis on

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Speaker 5: self care and new ways and going out of our

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Speaker 5: way to share a funny story of something that happened.

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Speaker 4: Morel is tough.

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Speaker 5: Right now, we're making every effort to maintain joy in

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Speaker 5: our work, making sure that they are taking care of

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Speaker 5: themselves and taking care of each other because this is

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Speaker 5: going to be a potentially long lasting situation.

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Speaker 1: So right now, you're currently open to service the community.

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Speaker 1: And actually the majority of the people who work in

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Speaker 1: your clinic they're all volunteers, right. I mean, these are

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Speaker 1: people who are like retired nurses and doctors. They donate

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Speaker 1: their time. Even your interpreters are volunteers. So are they

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Speaker 1: still coming in?

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Speaker 5: Yes, The majority of the way that we provide care

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Speaker 5: is through volunteers. Probably sixty to seventy percent of our

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Speaker 5: volunteer base is intact.

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Speaker 4: Which is a big hit.

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Speaker 5: I would say the two primary reasons for losing volunteers

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Speaker 5: right now is folks need to be at the hospital.

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Speaker 5: And then the other is that we rely on retire

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Speaker 5: providers who fit a high risk population for older adults

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Speaker 5: and for any of those volunteers who obviously are staying home.

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Speaker 4: We're certainly supportive of that.

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Speaker 1: So, you know, when people talk about vulnerable communities in

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Speaker 1: the midst of a pandemic, mostly right now, I think

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Speaker 1: people are thinking about people who have compromised lungs, autoimmune diseases,

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Speaker 1: and people who are older. But when you think of

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Speaker 1: vulnerable populations in a pandemic, what does that vulnerable population

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Speaker 1: actually look like to you?

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Speaker 4: I think about our patients.

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Speaker 5: I think about patients with limited English proficiency. That's a

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Speaker 5: high risk group right now, they're unable to access services

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Speaker 5: and resources and accurate information in a language that they need.

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Speaker 5: I think about our undocumented communities, who, before this pandemic occurred,

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Speaker 5: were already living in fear and experiencing unprecedented amounts of

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Speaker 5: reasons to stay home and not to seek out care

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Speaker 5: because they've been putting off care due.

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Speaker 4: To fear, And now it's going to.

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Speaker 5: Be even harder to try to bring them into our

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Speaker 5: centers and to ensure that they're getting medications. The proper

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Speaker 5: examinations they need, and in the event that they've become sick,

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Speaker 5: do they know what to do during unprecedented times?

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Speaker 1: When you step back for a moment and you take

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Speaker 1: a pause, what's the thing that's keeping you up at night.

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Speaker 5: I know we're making the right decision to be open,

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Speaker 5: will always be open, But I'm asking my staff to

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Speaker 5: potentially put themselves at risk and our volunteers, and that

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Speaker 5: keeps me up at night.

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Speaker 4: But I know we're doing the right thing, and I.

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Speaker 5: Know that access to care, especially during this time, is

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Speaker 5: the right decision, and that we've made all the right

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Speaker 5: decisions around safety and protocols and processes.

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Speaker 1: Do you have any sense at all what your city

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Speaker 1: or your clinic will look like in the coming weeks,

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Speaker 1: just how bad this could get.

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Speaker 5: I'm hoping that our city remains on a partial or

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Speaker 5: full lockdown so that we can flatten the curve, as

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Speaker 5: everyone's heard how important that is, and that my clinic

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Speaker 5: Community Health is open for essential health care services, is

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Speaker 5: open for urgent dental appointments and urgent behavioral health appointments,

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Speaker 5: and has a pharmacy that is fully running and providing

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Speaker 5: medications to our patients.

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Speaker 4: Do I think that what I.

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Speaker 5: Just described is likely going to be what we're experiencing

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Speaker 5: in two weeks.

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Speaker 4: No.

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Speaker 5: I remain hopeful that we will be in the same

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Speaker 5: position two weeks from now that we're in today.

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Speaker 4: But do I think it's likely.

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Speaker 1: No. That was Stephanie Wilding, CEO of Community Health. Since

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Speaker 1: recording this interview, the number of coronavirus cases in Illinois

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Speaker 1: has reached into the thousands, and the state has issued

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Speaker 1: us stay at home order asking that only essential businesses

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Speaker 1: stay open. As of this taping, the clinic has suspended

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Speaker 1: all dental services for safety, but they remain open for

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Speaker 1: critical services. They told us they have now tested their

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Speaker 1: first patient for the coronavirus and are awaiting the results.

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Speaker 1: This episode was produced by Alissa Scarce and Joanneluna, and

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Speaker 1: edited Sophia Palisaka and Luis Dreyes. The Latino USA team

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Speaker 1: includes Miel Massias, Antoya see, Jiro, Janes Jamoca, and Alejandra Salassa.

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Speaker 1: BacT checking by Julia Neeses Parsa. Our engineers are Stephanie

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Speaker 1: Lebou and Julia Caruso. Additional engineering this week by Lea Shaw.

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Speaker 1: Special thanks to Rol Berees. Our production manager is Natalia Fiedeljoz.

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Speaker 1: Our digital editor is Amandel Canterra. Our intern is Julia Rocha.

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Speaker 1: Our theme music was composed by Senna Rubinos. If you

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Speaker 1: like the music you heard on this episode, stop by

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Speaker 1: Latinousa dot org and check out our weekly Spotify playlist.

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Speaker 1: I'm your host and executive producer Mariao Krosa. Join us

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Speaker 1: again on our next episode, and in the meantime, look

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Speaker 1: for us on all of your social media. Stay inside,

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Speaker 1: stay safe, and we'll see you next time.

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Speaker 3: Joe Funding for Latino USA is coverage of a culture

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Speaker 3: of health is made possible in part by a grant

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Speaker 3: from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Latino USA is made

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Speaker 3: possible in part by the Annie E.

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Speaker 2: Casey Foundation.

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Speaker 3: Creates a brighter future for the nation's children by strengthening families,

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Speaker 3: building greater economic opportunity, and transforming communities.

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Speaker 2: And New York Women's Foundation. The New York Women's Foundation

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Speaker 2: funding women leaders that build solutions in their communities and

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