Latinos From New Jersey Sign Up for the 'Affordable Care Act' Through Bilingual Fairs

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On Saturday, the West New York's middle school was filled with balloon animals and children with painted faces. A DJ was spinning great sounds that made the venue livelier. Overall, the place appeared to be like a carnival but it was not.

According to NJ.com, the event started from 10 a.m. and lasted until 3 p.m. It was held to help Latinos in New Jersey sign up for the Affordable Care Act before its due date, which was scheduled on Jan. 31. The fair health was sponsored by the New Jersey based non-profit organization, Save Latin America.

Save Latin America is an advocate for the Hispanic community of the Metropolitan areas of Northern New Jersey and New York City. The organization was established in 1990 with the goal of providing educational counseling, health, and social services and expanding the economic and employment opportunities for the Hispanic community. They organize health fairs to achieve their goals and among it was their event last Saturday.

The event was successful and it attracted a largely first-generation immigrants.

The health fair that targeted Latinos was important and helpful because the area has 78 percent, Latino residents. Latinos are less insured in the U.S. compared to other minorities, even if their uninsured rate has declined by 11.5 percent since 2013, according to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Per the report, about 30 percent of Latinos do not have health insurance compared with 8 percent of Caucasians and 12 percent of African-Americans.

"The hospital sometimes intimidates these people," said Save Latin American Executive Director Johnny Torres. "When we do this, they know for sure that they're going to be able to speak Spanish."

On Friday, a similar event was organized by the Holy Name Medical Center's Familia y Salud initiative. U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, who was present at the event, was very supportive of it and explained, "we can't allow cultural and language barriers to stand in the way of our loved ones and neighbors getting the health care they need."

Among the 100 people who attended the event in West New York was Aurora Celeste Munoz De Alvarado, 64, who immigrated from the Dominican Republic two years ago. She signed for an insurance plan in 30 minutes.

According to U.S. officials, the lack of preventative health culture and nutrition issues from food insecurity in Latin America caused resulted in some serious damage.

"We've done 90 health fairs in 14 cities in New Jersey. We've been to Paterson, Passaic, Plainfield, Elizabeth," Torres said. "We have screened over 135,000 people in the last 18 years (for HIV, blood pressure, diabetes, breast cancer), and saved God knows how many lives."