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A Beloved Doctor Bids Adios
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When he moved to Washington, there was a growing Latino population but few health-care facilities where physicians were fluent in Spanish. More important, there were few health-care providers who understood Latino culture and the concerns of many Salvadoran refugees regarding health care and trusting physicians.
"They had interpreters at the door, but not beyond the door," Romagoza said.
At a clinic by Latinos for Latinos, there's an understanding that makes the patient feel more comfortable. "Culture heals," he said.
Rosa Bell, 54, of Mount Rainier, Md., has been coming to the clinic for 10 years. Also a Salvadoran native, Bell says she feels more comfortable at the clinic than she would at a non-Latino doctor's office.
"I like it here. I'm home here," Bell said.
Some Latinos are afraid to seek health care for fear of being deported or not being legal citizens. The word around the District, Maryland and Virginia is that patients don't have to worry about being deported if they go to La Clinica. Romagoza himself became a U.S. citizen in 1989 under political asylum.
Although 98 percent of La Clinica's patients are Latino, it does treat patients from other ethnicities.
The clinic has eight language specialists who are used by hospitals around the city to treat patients from several countries, including Ethiopia, China, Uganda and the Philippines.
In addition to primary health care for adults, the four-story clinic, which houses a chapel, provides HIV and AIDS services, as well as pediatric, substance abuse and mental-health services. The building at 2831 15th St. NW is located squarely in the heart of heavily Latino neighborhoods in Columbia Heights, Mount Pleasant and Adams Morgan.
"We created a refuge for documented and non-documented people. We wanted to create a place where people came to feel safe," Romagoza said. "That will continue, even though I'm not here."
