Medical Community Reaches Out to Latino Doctors

A month ago, Rigoberto Flores was an out-of-work Latino doctor. Having gone through a succession of bad jobs, his dream of becoming a licensed U.S. physician had soured to the point that he was about to return to Mexico.

Now he’s working in a doctor’s office in Fullerton and looking forward to eventually taking the state’s nursing examination.

“I’m happy now. I can study for the nursing exam, which I want to use as a stepping stone to eventually get licensed here as a medical doctor,” Flores said.

Flores, who was highlighted in a View story published in mid-December, was part of a growing number of foreign-trained Latino doctors who have found themselves in economic limbo after spending years earning medical degrees.

Many doctors left Mexico or other Central American countries fed up with their governments’ chaotic economies, but now find themselves among Southern California’s unemployed or underemployed because they lack the language skills and money to take courses and exams necessary to obtain licensing here.

Flores was unemployed, while many of the Latino doctors interviewed were working in low-paying jobs as parts assemblers, truck drivers, waiters and dishwashers.

After the story was published, more than a dozen new job offers were extended to Latino doctors through Enrique Zuniga, a counselor at Fullerton College. Zuniga and Rolando Castillo, an assistant clinical professor of medicine at the medical school at UC Irvine, were organizing a group to help the physicians.

Four doctors, including Flores, have found work as doctor’s assistants and medical evaluators in medical offices. Flores said he now earns $9 an hour. Another doctor is now earning about $15 an hour helping to counsel teen-aged mothers on child development.

At least a dozen other doctors have been contacted by medical companies and area professionals about employment. In addition, the doctors have formed the Consortium of Physicians from Latin America and have set up offices in Anaheim.

Last week, more than 70 Spanish-speaking doctors from Orange and Los Angeles counties were given a tour of Clinica Medica Familiar, an East Los Angeles corporation that operates two hospitals and eight medical clinics in predominantly Latino neighborhoods. Part of the tour included a talk on the need for more Spanish-speaking medical professionals in Southern California’s low-income Latino communities.

Meanwhile, Zuniga said that members of a local community group, Los Amigos de Anaheim, have donated money to help pay rent for the office.

“Our biggest problem right now is finding enough people to help out with the office. We need bilingual volunteers who can help answer the telephone,” said Zuniga, adding that in the span of one month, the organization’s membership has gone from 35 to more than 100 doctors.

“We have received telephone calls from Latino doctors in San Francisco eager to travel to Orange County and find out how to start a similar organization. Another group of doctors has expressed the same interest in San Jose and San Diego,” he said.

In addition, Zuniga has held meetings with the provost for the North Orange County Community College District adult education program, who has agreed to create an advanced medical terminology class. It is to start next month.

For those who would like to volunteer or want more information, the Consortium of Physicians from Latin America is at 2035 E. Ball Road in Anaheim.