CCM has devoted more than 30 years to addressing the shortage of health care professionals serving the Latino community. In those 30 years, this organization has contributed to the successful emergence of many health services professionals to serve the Latino community.
In 1969, the ratio of Latino health professionals to the overall Latino poulation was less than 1 to 3,000. This compared to the ratio of health services professionals to the general polpulation of 1 to 400 shows the acute disparity within the concomitant implications of poor access to health services for Latinos in California.
In 1969, there were a total of 3 Latinos enrolled int medical schools in California. The work of organizations such as CCM imporved the situation, that by 1980, there were 200. In the last decade and a half, latino medical school enrollment has remained relatively constant while the Latino poulation has grown by 65%. At the rate those students are graduating and actually enteriing the professional arena, it will take until the mid-22nd century (about 2,150) to make up the shortfall.
Working together in a health care partnership, California's medical community leadership and Chicanos for Creative Medicine of East Los Angeles College can begin to turn that trend around and help the severly underserved Latino community move more rapidly toward parity with the general population, thereby contributing in a major way to a healthier outlook for Latinos in particular and California in general. This joint effort will be a sound investment which is bound to pay off major dividends in terms of a healthier future for all Californians.