Whom We Serve
Since its founding in 1989, Esperanza Health Center has served thousands of individuals and families from the predominantly Latino community of North Philadelphia, incluidng the neighborhoods of Upper Kensington, Fairhill/St. Hugh, Harrowgate, Hunting Park and Juniata Park. Accordint to the U.S. Census Bureau, approximately 125,000 people live Esperanza's
North Philadelphia community, and three quarters (74%) of the population are either Latino or Black. The Latino community in North Philadelphia is largely Puerto Rican, and after New York is one of the largest concentration of Puerto Ricans in the United States. In recent years greater numbers of Latinos have also migrated from other countries, including the Dominican Republic, Colombia, and Mexico. An excellent article on the history of Latinos in Phildelphia, "Building El Barrio: Latinos Transform Postwar Philadelphia," can be accessed at http://www.hsp.org/default.aspx?id=490
During the first severeal decades of the twentieth century, North Philadelphia was a central hub of factories and working class neighborhoods, and the city was often referred to as the "Workshop of the World." The departure of the majority of industries from Philadephia during the second half of the century led to a significant decline in economic conditions and a deteriorating inner city infrastructure with numerous abandoned homes and factories. This community continues to face entrenched poverty and lack of economic opportunity: unemployment rates exceed the city and state averages, 43% of households in this community live at or below 100% of the Federal poverty level, and eight of the ten poorest U.S. Census tracts in Philadelphia are located in Esperanza's service area.
The people of this community also face significant health disparities - public health data for this part of the city show higher than average rates of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, depression, cancer and sexually-transmitted diseases, such as HIV/AIDS. Esperanza's service area has also been designated by the Federal government as both a medically-underserved area (MUA) and a health professional shortage area (HPSA), with a low number of primary care providers relative to the population. Economic, cultural and/or linguistic barriers to primary medical care services all contribute to the designation as a medically-underserved community. For example, an estimated 23 percent (approximately 17,000) of the Latino population in this community is uninsured. Linguistic isolation also prevents many individuals and families in this community in households where Spanish is the only language spoken from receiving care; this situation is compounded by the lack of Spanish-speaking clinicians to provide culturally-competent primary care services.
By providing bilingual, culturally-competent primary health care services to all who seek care, regardless of individuals' ability to pay, Esperanza Health Center seeks to overcome the many barriers to care that face the people of North Philadelphia. In addition, the health center's continued vision is to not only provide for the health of individual patients, but to also promote the overall health and welfare of the entire community.