Rhianna

Barrientos
Technical Writing 3315
Professor French
09/26/2017
Center of the Heart

I. Introduction

In this day, there are so many clinics, hospitals, and health facilities around our area in

Houston. So just imagine when you get sick you won't have an issue finding a place. All

you have to do is make sure to have your insurance card and your wallet. Though not

everyone has the option of carrying those two items. Many Hispanics in our Houston

community work hard everyday just to get a little bit of money to take care of their

family. Sometimes they don't have enough money for them to go to a hospital or a clinic

because the services are outrageously expensive. This means that they are unable to

afford an insurance card to help the services become a little bit cheaper. This is why

many Hispanics don't have the health care that they need because it just isn't in their

budget. Many of them don't even have citizenship, which makes them even more nervous

to even go to a facility because they believe that they are going to be deported. Others

don't go because the facilities don't have many people or none that speak Spanish. Which

in most cases the Hispanics is there only language that they know. One of the

fundamental duties of health care professionals is communication (Pelci, G., Aberle, N.,

Pelci, G., et al, 2012). Health care is supposed to be a safe haven for people to not feel

ashamed of there status, culture, or financial stability. Though there arent that many

places that can help with this situation or have the support system to make them greater.

Researchers have reported a number of causal factors including discrimination, cultural

differences, environmental factors and health care system-related factors (Ahmed, S.,

Shommu, N.S., Rumana, N. et al. J Immigrant Minority Health (2016). This is why I

want to introduce you to the non-profit organization called El Centro de Corazon.

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 Rhianna Barrientos
Technical Writing 3315
Professor French
09/26/2017
II. Background

El Centro de Corazon was founded in 1994 in Houstons impoverished East end

Community as a social service non-profit organization with an initial focus on early

childhood development (el Centro de Corazon, n.d.). Over the years, El Centro began to

grow its health care to adults and children of the East end area of Houston. They have

health centers that include: pediatric and adult primary care, women's health services,

pediatric and adult dental care, and behavioral health services. One of the main things

that they are known for is that they have all of their services in Spanish and English.

A crucial channel through which the health of immigrants is affected during their

residence in the host country is the acquisition of the destination language (Clarke, A.,

and Isphording, I. E. (2017). They also take anyone that doesnt have insurance or not

financially stable. They take what the patient is able to give to them because they believe

no person should be turned down by status/ stability. The one main issue that El Centro is

having is that they are only located in the east side of Houston. So they need to expand

their locations to more places within Houston. This will help a lot of other Hispanics

around Houston to receive the medical attention that they need. Another obstacle they are

having is that they need more volunteers to help at the clinics. El Centro doesn't have a

very good marketing system to spread the awareness that help is needed. With an

expansion of this organization they will need more doctors, nurses and medical assistants.

They will need to promote them selves more on social media and marketing strategies to

receive the attention they need to make this organization stand out more.

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 Rhianna Barrientos
Technical Writing 3315
Professor French
09/26/2017
III. Preliminary Suppositions and Implications

They need an expansion of El Centro de Corazon. This will help the Hispanic race in

many ways. Many people of this culture are afraid to seek medical advice in a hospital or

family physician office due to their citizenship status and/or lack of finances. With the

first non-profit organization set up, it has attracted many Hispanics that were afraid to

seek help before. The success of the clinic proved that it achieved its purpose. I have

personally witnessed physicians unwilling to help due to an individual's lack of finances.

Most hospitals and clinics are revenue-based and only care if the patient is seeking help

and paying the provider/site. Expanding this non-profit organization will not only provide

hope for the Hispanic race, but also unify people in a way that helps them see that there

are other people willing to help. There are resources available to each and every person of

different origin and status. Money should not be the driven force as to whether or not we

help a person. My proposal will help many people in need of care that is unable to receive

due to their financial status. Expanding this brand will also help motivate other races and

classes of people to contribute their time to their community and their people. El Centro

could benefit more people in the community by improving their marketing strategies on

social media. Social media makes up a large portion of society today in that many people

receive their news through the Internet. Improving their presence, would allow more

people to hear about El Centros affordable services and recruit volunteers for the facility.

El Centro has a current Facebook website that is set up, but does not have adequate

information regarding the facility and its services. Charity advertising seeks to motivate

donors to give either time or money, two resources that donors view as quite different

from each other (Kim, N. (2014)

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 Rhianna Barrientos
Technical Writing 3315
Professor French
09/26/2017

IV. Conclusion



El Centro prides itself on being a nonprofit organization that has served the community

through healthcare for the past 22 years. However, this organization could be more

beneficial to the Hispanic community in Houston with the opening of more locations near

lower income communities, improve marketing strategies to spread the word and possibly

accept sponsors, and hiring more staff and volunteers to support the facility. With these

improvements, El Centro could improve the health care system in providing more

opportunities for people with different backgrounds.

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 Rhianna Barrientos
Technical Writing 3315
Professor French
09/26/2017


V. Citations


About Us. (n.d.). Retrieved September 23, 2017, from
http://www.elcentrodecorazon.org/about-us/

Ahmed, S., Shommu, N.S., Rumana, N. et al. J Immigrant Minority Health (2016) 18:
1522. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-015-0276-z

Clarke, A., and Isphording, I. E. (2017) Language Barriers and Immigrant Health. Health
Econ., 26: 765778. doi: 10.1002/hec.3358.

Kim, N. (2014). Advertising strategies for charities. International Journal Of Advertising,

33(4), 707-724.

Little, H. (1999). Volunteers: How to get them, how to keep them. Naperville, Ill:
Panacea Press.doi:10.2501/IJA-33-4-707-724

Pelci, G., Aberle, N., Pelci, G., Vlasi-Cicvari, I., Kraguljac, D., Benci, I., &
.Karaci, S. (2012). Croatian children's views towards importance of health care
information. Collegium Antropologicum, 36(2), 543-548.