A Bilingual Forum to discuss Health Policy and Latino Health Disparities
Event date: Wednesday March 7, 2018
Chicago, IL—Raising awareness of the importance of Latino health issues and aiming to maximize the voting power of the Hispanic/Latino community, the Medical Organization for Latino Advancement (MOLA) hosted and moderate a debate and discussion among candidates aspiring to represent this community in Congress.
All four candidates including, Democratic candidates—Sol Flores, Jesús “Chuy” García, and Richard González—and Republican candidate—Mark Wayne Lorch—enthusiastically participated in the debate on the evening of Wednesday, March 7th, 2018, in anticipation of the March 20th election.
Each candidate had the opportunity to present their overall views for health policy issues in Congress and to respond to specific questions that were derived from MOLA members and community questions that were emailed to the event organizers in advance. The debate was moderated by MOLA’s president, Dr. Pilar Ortega.
In addition to candidate opening and closing statements, the event’s questions centered around three main topics in health policy: Mental health stigma and funding, Latino Health disparities, and Violence and access to firearms as a public health crisis. Within their responses, several candidates also brought up issues related to health care for all, the Affordable Care Act, Medicare for all, and reproductive and women’s rights.
More about the 4th District of Illinois
On November 7th, 2017, Luis Gutiérrez announced that he would retire from Congress upon completion of his current term. Mr. Gutiérrez has been the United States Representative for Illinois’ 4th district since 1993.
With over 695,000 people, of which almost 70% identify as Hispanic/Latino, the 4th district includes the community of Brighton park as well as portions of Hermosa, Lower West Side, Gage Park, Albany Park, Irving Park, Avondale, Logan Square, West Town, Humboldt Park, Austin, McKinley Park, South Lawndale, New City, Archer Heights, Belmont Cragin, Bridge Port, North Center, Lincoln Park, Berwyn, Brookfield, Cicero, Riverside, Melrose Park, and Lyons.
More about MOLA’s Mission and Advocacy Role
MOLA is a non-profit medical association of Chicagoland Hispanic/Latino physicians working for linguistic and cultural competency, personal wellness, and
reduced health disparities for the entire Hispanic/Latino community. MOLA is partnering with the Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center to host this discussion on health care policy in order to raise awareness and promote increased discussion among diverse groups including health professionals, the community at large, and congressional hopefuls about what is needed in health policy and how it will impact the Latino community.
Questions or ideas about future MOLA Advocacy Program activities are welcomed, and should be directed to [email protected]
Watch the debate!