Latina Women in Adams County, Pennsylvania: Access to Mental Health Care for Depression

Depression has been identified as major health concern for adults in Adams County. Latinos makeup 6.5% of the population in the county and 13% in Gettysburg, yet Latina women often go undiagnosed or untreated. I created and distributed a survey to Latina women in order to understand what barriers prevent them from accessing mental health services in Adams County. The survey results show that women living in poverty, immigrant women, and undocumented women face greater challenges to accessing mental health because of a lack of health insurance, limited transportation, and language barriers. The Latino Services Task Force of Adams County and Wellspan Community Health plan to use results from this survey to initiate a campaign to help people in the Latino community who suffer from depression. I recommend that Wellspan Community Health hires bilingual mental health professionals, and that they create methods to make transportations to their offices easier; they should also widely advertise their health insurance program, and make it clear that it is open to undocumented people and accessible for families living below the federal poverty line