She is a part-time professor at San Jose State University and manager of the Older Adult division at the Santa Clara County Mental health Department. She is also the mental Health Department Disaster Coordinator. In this role she directs all disaster recovery efforts, planning and preparedness activities in a federally declared disaster, and locally, in critical incidents emergency response. Not strong advocates for access to services Latinos need more information and education to capitalize on the consumer-driven system and how to utilize it. System lacks sufficient bilingual and bicultural health care providers and staff.
Primary problem is language barrier to communicate and access resources.
System is fragmented and impersonal. Latinos do better in organizations which respect and value their cultural strengths and beliefs. If providers in managed care systems want to attract the Latino consumer, they must require of its membership increased knowledge and skills about how Latinos define health, mental health in particular.