Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
PARK CITY — Marcelina Hernandez smiled as her 7-year-old son, Edwin, chose several books Saturday from one of the booths set up by health and community organizations in a hall at St. Mary of the Assumption Catholic Church.
"My children are in school and I am working," Hernandez explained when asked about attending the kickoff event for the Consulate of Mexico's Latin American Weeks of Health.
Her two older sons, Jonathan and Kevin Rodriquez, translated the rest of the conversation with their mother, describing her as "a great worker" who came to Utah from Mexico years ago to give her family more opportunity.
Now working multiple jobs, including as a cashier, Hernandez said through her sons that she'd like to go back to school herself someday but for now she wants to encourage her young son's love of reading.
"Yeah, I like to read," the second-grader said, pointing out the English-language mysteries he'd chosen from a selection provided by KUED. "Because I can learn some stuff, maybe. To discover elephants, bears, tigers."
The free event also offered health care screenings as well as information on a variety of health and other services available to the Spanish-speaking residents of the resort city and neighboring communities.
"They have a lot of problems. They don't know what to do," Javier Chagoya, the Salt Lake City-based counsel of Mexico, said after announcing the start of the Mexican government's annual effort to help former residents across the United States.
Supporters of the fair included The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Intermountain Healthcare, Communidades Unidas and Health Choice Utah. Similar events are scheduled in Provo and St. George later this month.
Past fairs were held in Salt Lake City, but Alejandra Palomino, preventive health program manager for Communidades Unidas, said as a resident of Park City, she recognized the need to offer assistance there.
Palomino said one of the goals of the fair is to help families often supported by service industry jobs in the costly resort town take better care of their health. Many families, she said, include members who are undocumented residents.
For the People's Health Clinic in Park City, the fair was an opportunity to tout a long list of services available to the uninsured in Summit and Wasatch counties at low or no cost, community outreach coordinator Rachel Barnett said.
"What is means is we catch those people who may be new to the area and haven't heard about our clinic," Barnett said. The clinic's clients are mainly Spanish-speakers who have come to the area for tourism-related service jobs, she said.
Last year, there were just under 8,500 total visits to the clinic, Barnett said.
"They're all working," Barnett said, many holding two or more jobs at a time, and looking for help with everything from a sick child to stopping smoking. "These aren't lazy people."
Edna Sanchez said her family came to the fair to get flu shots as well as to learn more about screening for skin cancer and other health issues.
"It's great they do it," said Sanchez, who found out about the fair at the preschool where she works and brought her parents, brothers, and 11-month-old baby. "And it's free."
