Latest news with #MariaGomez
Yahoo
21-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
PHOTO ESSAY: A Texas town's residents stay inside -- even when they need medical care
WESLACO, Texas (AP) — As President Donald Trump intensifies deportation activity around the country, some immigrants — including many who have lived in Texas's southern tip for decades — are unwilling to leave their homes, even for necessary medical care. 'He waited and waited because he felt the pain but was too scared to go to the hospital.' — 82-year-old Maria Isabel de Perez said of her son, whose appendix exploded earlier this year. It feels like we're living in a combat area. Even people like me who have status, I don't want to go out either, we're scared. They're looking for any excuse. If they see you have brown skin or you're Latino, they'll take you.' — Maria Gomez, a community health worker for Holy Family Services, Inc. said in Spanish, through an interpreter. People here are among the most medically needy in the country. Nearly half the population is obese. Women are more likely to be diagnosed with cervical cancer and elderly people are more likely to develop dementia. Bladder cancers can be more aggressive. One out of every four people live with diabetes. As much as a third of the population here doesn't have health insurance to cover those ailments. And a quarter of people live in poverty, more than double the national average. Now, many in this region are on a path to develop worse health outcomes as they skip doctors appointments out of fear, said Dr. Stanley Fisch, a pediatrician who helped open Driscoll Children's Hospital in the region last year. White House officials have directed federal agents to leave no location, including hospitals and churches, unchecked in their drive to remove 1 million immigrants by year's end. Those agents are even combing through one of the federal government's largest medical record databases to search for immigrants who may be in the United States illegally. Federal agents' raids began reaching deeper into everyday life across the Rio Grande Valley in June, just as the area's 1.4 million residents began their summer ritual of enduring the suffocating heat. This working-class stretch of Texas solidly backed Trump in the 2024 election, despite campaign promises to ruthlessly pursue mass deportations. People here, who once moved regularly from the U.S. to Mexico to visit relatives or get cheap dental care, say they didn't realize his deportation campaign would focus on their neighbors. It feels like we're living in a combat area. Even people like me who have status, I don't want to go out either, we're scared. They're looking for any excuse. If they see you have brown skin or you're Latino, they'll take you.' — Maria Gomez, a community health worker for Holy Family Services, Inc. said in Spanish, through an interpreter. 'Every day, I pray that the president will have a change of heart.' — Maria, a mother who is married to an American in south Texas. 'What did we do to them?' — Ofelia, a 73-year-old grandmother in Hidalgo County who is the sole caretaker of several grandchildren. This is a documentary photo story curated by AP photo editors. Text from the APNews story, As Trump's raids ramp up, a Texas region's residents stay inside — even when they need medical care, by Amanda Seitz and Jacquelyn Martin. Solve the daily Crossword
Hamilton Spectator
21-07-2025
- Health
- Hamilton Spectator
PHOTO ESSAY: A Texas town's residents stay inside — even when they need medical care
WESLACO, Texas (AP) — As President Donald Trump intensifies deportation activity around the country, some immigrants — including many who have lived in Texas's southern tip for decades — are unwilling to leave their homes, even for necessary medical care. 'He waited and waited because he felt the pain but was too scared to go to the hospital.' — 82-year-old Maria Isabel de Perez said of her son, whose appendix exploded earlier this year. It feels like we're living in a combat area. Even people like me who have status, I don't want to go out either, we're scared. They're looking for any excuse. If they see you have brown skin or you're Latino, they'll take you.' — Maria Gomez, a community health worker for Holy Family Services, Inc. said in Spanish, through an interpreter. People here are among the most medically needy in the country. Nearly half the population is obese . Women are more likely to be diagnosed with cervical cancer and elderly people are more likely to develop dementia . Bladder cancers can be more aggressive . One out of every four people live with diabetes . As much as a third of the population here doesn't have health insurance to cover those ailments. And a quarter of people live in poverty, more than double the national average. Now, many in this region are on a path to develop worse health outcomes as they skip doctors appointments out of fear, said Dr. Stanley Fisch, a pediatrician who helped open Driscoll Children's Hospital in the region last year. White House officials have directed federal agents to leave no location, including hospitals and churches, unchecked in their drive to remove 1 million immigrants by year's end . Those agents are even combing through one of the federal government's largest medical record databases to search for immigrants who may be in the United States illegally. Federal agents' raids began reaching deeper into everyday life across the Rio Grande Valley in June, just as the area's 1.4 million residents began their summer ritual of enduring the suffocating heat. This working-class stretch of Texas solidly backed Trump in the 2024 election, despite campaign promises to ruthlessly pursue mass deportations. People here, who once moved regularly from the U.S. to Mexico to visit relatives or get cheap dental care, say they didn't realize his deportation campaign would focus on their neighbors. It feels like we're living in a combat area. Even people like me who have status, I don't want to go out either, we're scared. They're looking for any excuse. If they see you have brown skin or you're Latino, they'll take you.' — Maria Gomez, a community health worker for Holy Family Services, Inc. said in Spanish, through an interpreter. 'Every day, I pray that the president will have a change of heart.' — Maria, a mother who is married to an American in south Texas. 'What did we do to them?' — Ofelia, a 73-year-old grandmother in Hidalgo County who is the sole caretaker of several grandchildren. This is a documentary photo story curated by AP photo editors. Text from the APNews story, As Trump's raids ramp up, a Texas region's residents stay inside — even when they need medical care , by Amanda Seitz and Jacquelyn Martin.
Yahoo
31-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Search underway for 15-year-old girl who plunged into East River on Roosevelt Island: police
Cops and firefighters are scouring the East River for a missing 15-year-old girl who bystanders said plunged into the current after dropping her phone in the water Friday afternoon. Police responded to a 911 call on Roosevelt Island shortly after noon on reports of a missing teen — and found the missing girl's distraught pal next to the water, according to authorities and witnesses. 'I'm in shock,' bystander Maria Gomez told The Post. 'This never happens here. Everyone knows the dangers that's on [the East River], that current. It's sad.' The missing teen's friend sat nearby with police as the search continued into the afternoon. Two books, a bag, sneakers and some clothing sat on the hood of an NYPD squad car — the missing girl's belongings, police at the scene confirmed. Cops said the girl was wearing a bathing suit with flowers on it when she went into the water. 'My friend told me [she saw] a little girl fall in,' a man who asked to be identified only as Joel said. 'She saw her going over the railing. She hopped the fence, she slipped on the rocks. That's what I heard. She was on the rocks, she slipped and fell in.' Meanwhile, NYPD and FDNY boats continued to search the river near the scene, which is alongside the Roosevelt Island Bridge near 688 Main Street, police said. Cops did not confirm why the girl went into the water. But bystanders said it is believed she dropped her phone in and may have gone after it before she was allegedly caught in the strong East River currents.
