LITTLE ROCK (AP) - When a Hispanic patient at a free health screening showed a blood sugar level five times the normal limit, Cesar Compadre knew the man needed medical care.
But one clinic turned the man away because it had too many clients, Compadre said, with another rejecting him because the man, who spoke poor English, didn't have a translator. The patient later ended up in a hospital emergency room, the place he tried to avoid because of the high cost of care.
"There's a lack of communication because the language barrier is a major, major problem," said Compadre, who runs the La Casa Health Network in Little Rock. "This is a problem because there are very few doctors and places that speak Spanish."
Across Arkansas, statistics compiled by the state Department of Health and Human Services show Hispanic patients accounted for only 2 percent of all hospital discharges in the last five years - while comprising at least 4.7 percent of the state's population. Scholars and health officials say language barriers, financial constraints, their younger age and better health may be keeping Hispanics out of hospitals nationwide.
Hispanics also are receiving a proportionally larger share of maternity and childcare support from the state. Since 2002, Hispanics accounted for 12 percent of all users of the state's Women, Infants and Children program, which provides food and education to mothers. Overall, Hispanics represented 18 percent of all maternity patients served by the state so far this year.
Across the nation, studies also have suggested youth, better health and lack of insurance contribute to Hispanics receiving less health care than others. Nationwide, one-third of Hispanics are uninsured, according to an October study by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.
A November study by the RAND Corp. conducted in Los Angeles County suggested that illegal immigrants overall are healthier and younger than average Americans. Better health keeps Hispanics from needing medical care, the report said.
In Arkansas, hospital discharge figures show that of the nearly 1.8 million discharges in the last five years, Hispanics accounted for about 37,000. The figures don't include emergency room care - and that's a point of contention for critics of illegal immigration who claim those without citizenship receive a disproportionate amount of free care in emergency rooms.
Neither the state nor the federal government compile statistics on race of those in emergency rooms, which by law cannot turn patients away for being unable to pay.
Some Arkansas hospitals contacted by The Associated Press said they did not compile racial information, while others said the data was scattered amid all of their patient forms.
But at hospitals that offered statistics, Hispanics represented small portions of all visits:
The emergency room at CHRISTUS St. Michael Health System in Texarkana, Texas, treated 50,526 patients last year. Of those visits, only 1,048 - or 2 percent - of those visits came from Hispanics.
In the last four years, the emergency room at Little Rock's University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences hospital treated 101,577 patients. Of those patients, 2,732 - or 2.6 percent - were Hispanic.
At Washington Regional Medical Center in Fayetteville, there were 48,500 emergency room visits last year, with 5.5 percent of patients reported as Hispanic.
So far this year, Hispanics accounted for 1.5 percent of the 26,565 visits to the Baptist Health Medical Center's emergency room in Little Rock.
Compadre, who helps Hispanics obtain medical services, said he wasn't surprised by the numbers. Most Hispanics he meets have no health insurance. That, coupled with not being able to receive care in their native language, causes many to wait for treatment until they return to Mexico on trips, he said.
"A lot of people aren't seeking medical attention. They're toughing it out," Compadre said.
U.S. Census Bureau statistics show at least 130,000 Hispanics live in Arkansas, which has one of the fastest growing Hispanic populations in the country. But demographers and state officials believe that number may be much higher, as illegal immigrants typically shy away from Census counters.
Though Arkansas state legislators have argued about illegal immigrants' access to health care, there has been no uniform study done on its effect. State Sen. Jim Holt, who campaigned on illegal immigration issues during his failed bid to become lieutenant governor, has pushed for a ban on giving "public benefits" to illegal immigrants.
Holt leaves office in January and says he hopes to continue his fight, regardless of how many illegal immigrants are using state resources.
"It doesn't change the fact if it is a big percentage or a small percentage," said Holt, R-Springdale. "It's still not legal and it's still not right."
Pediatrician Eddie Ochoa, who practices at Arkansas Children's Hospital, said the state's Hispanic population mirrors what national statistics and studies find.
"On the one hand you have a young population that's fairly healthy," said Ochoa, who also teaches at UAMS. "But on the other hand, when other issues come up, payment is going to be a preventive barrier ... when they are not 'emergency-room' sick."
But health care providers can do more to make Hispanics comfortable. At Arkansas Children's Hospital, Ochoa said there are eight Spanish interpreters on staff during business hours. That, coupled with offering discounted services to poor families, has attributed to the hospital seeing its Hispanic patient population jump from 0.75 percent in 1996 to 5.7 percent last year, he said.
"The hospital's philosophy is something like immigration status shouldn't stand in the way of good health," Ochoa said.
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