The Washington Post: Prof. Sprague Martinez in “Covid-19 Proves Especially Lethal to Younger Latinos”
In an article published by The Washington Post, BU School of Social associate professor Linda Sprague Martinez explains why community health organizations have been a lifeline for Latino communities ravaged by Covid-19.
Excerpted from “Death in the prime of life: Covid-19 proves especially lethal to younger Latinos” (The Washington Post) by Akila Johnson:
A medical assistant who used to work at a pain management clinic, Lesly Quintero said she believes she contracted the virus from a patient in June and brought it home, where it spread.
“If I had been tested earlier, I could have prevented passing it on to my partner,” she said. She was sick for a month and lost her job after she recovered, so she joined her mother as a promotora de salud with Visión y Compromiso.
“They are the safety net,” said Linda Sprague Martinez, a professor at Boston University’s School of Social Work who conducts community health research with adolescents and young adults. “They’re able to translate information from institutions to the community in a way that’s meaningful because they know personally mediated racism and how that plays out. They see people. They see neighbors. They see friends.
“Whereas systems don’t see you,” Sprague Martinez said, “they see a number. They see a chart.” […]