"Nadie estaba preparado para poder ofrecer información correcta a nuestra comunidad sobre este virus de una manera eficaz y verdadera en nuestros idiomas: mixteco, zapoteco, purépecha, entre otros", explica en primera persona un líder comunitario.
Health Insurance and Costs
“More workers have died from COVID-19 in the last 18 months in the meat and poultry industry, than died from all work-related causes in the industry in the past 15 years,” as one expert testified.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic pain and heart issues now plague David Chenault and he is required to see a list of specialists, but none of them are in that part of the Delta.
Before Ben Gilmore was a senator, he lived in the Delta in southeast Arkansas and witnessed firsthand the region's struggles with health care, infrastructure, education and more.
Dr. Valencia Andrew-Pirtle began working in Blytheville more than 20 years ago as a family medicine specialist and, over time, she has learned the most dangerous disease Mississippi County faces is one she wouldn't have thought about decades ago.
This story as part of the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism’s 2021 California Fellowship.
The Central and Northwest metropolitan areas of Arkansas have grown in population over the past decade, but towns in the Delta — with the exception of Jonesboro — lost people in large numbers.
To put the Delta on the same playing field as other parts of the state for business growth, there needs to be a large-scale investment in infrastructure, health care, school systems and more, medical experts said.
The meatpacking plants have pulled in thousands of immigrant workers over the past two decades. They’re the economic center of the town, employing around 3,000 workers.
This project was produced as part of the 2021 National Fellowship with USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism....