Bilingual Providers: Building Trust With Kids

Growing up in a Spanish-speaking household in Truckee, California, Marcos Cota watched families struggle to navigate a healthcare system that didn't speak their language. Now a bilingual Physicians Assistant serving kids and families at Community Health Alliance, a federally qualified health center in Reno, Nevada, Marcos talks candidly about what changes when a provider can meet a patient in their own language and culture. There is less friction, more trust, and better follow-through on care. He also gets real about the gaps that still exist in pediatric mental health access, and why primary care providers are increasingly the ones holding the line for kids who can't get to a specialist. He is now training in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry through UC Irvine's TNT program to build the capacity to address the mental health needs that primary care providers are being left to manage alone.