Migrants in cities across the US may need medical care. It's not that easy to find
Migrants who have crossed the U.S.-Mexico border and travel to cities around the country are running into a disjointed health care systems when they need treatment
All the chairs in the waiting room were filled by dozens of newly arrived migrants waiting to be seen by a Cook County health worker at a clinic in Chicago. Julio Figuera, 43, was among them.
He didn’t want to talk much about traveling to Chicago from Venezuela, where a social, political and economic crisis has pushed millions into poverty and led 7 million to flee, Figuera and three of his kids included.
But somewhere along the way, he’d gotten pneumonia.
Figuera, who was living with hundreds of other asylum-seekers at O’Hare International Airport while waiting for more permanent shelter, returned for follow-up care at the county clinic. The stubborn cough came back, so he did, too. The staff checked his vitals, listened to his chest and gave him a hepatitis vaccine.
