This Latino Health Access Toolkit is a Web site designed as a “quick read” resource for community professionals and health care providers to gain an understanding about the culture and health status of the new Latino immigrants coming to Tennessee and to learn about the barriers to health access facing these immigrants. Specific tools developed by the five-year Latino Health Access Coalition of Bedford and Coffee Counties are available to assist community educators and health care professionals to better serve their Latino clientele. Latino health resource links have been researched and placed on this one site to assist you in finding Spanish-language health publications and educational resources.

The New Immigrants: Latinos in Tennessee

The Latino population is growing faster in much of the Southeast than anywhere in the United States. Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee have registered very fast rates of Latino population growth between the censuses of 1990 and 2000 and continue to out pace the national average in the most recent census estimates. Tennessee has experienced a 35% increase since 2000 (Census 2000, 2004).

This rapid influx of Spanish-speaking immigrants is impacting the health resources of communities, especially rural counties in Tennessee. These new immigrants are most often employed in farm work, construction, service occupations, nurseries and food processing. Few of these immigrants speak English; likewise, few Extension professionals or health care providers speak Spanish. Language barriers limit access to health services. Access to health information and health care is important for new immigrants to stay healthy and be productive workers in Tennessee rural economies.