OLV SHOTLIST - Oakland, CA - February 25, 20131. International Blvd. street sign2. woman enters non-descript building housing the clinic3. mural greets visitors at entrance of clinic4. "Welcome" sign in different languages5. exam room wide shot with different languages6. doctor examines Mongolian woman7. eye and throat exam8. doctor checks breathing9. nurse puts blood pressure cuff on10. blood pressure cuff close11. SOUNDBITE: Laura Lopez - Street Level Health Project Executive Director"So basically that's how we started Street Level but at the same time we see health not only doctor and medicine. Health is a bigger component of life. It's also food, housing, something to eat. So basically that's how we started Street Level but at the same time we see health not only doctor and medicine. Health is a bigger component of life. It's also food, housing, something to eat. It's not only male Latino immigrants we see here but also we sometimes see refugees come in. Today you see some Asian community come in for the food. We have people from different parts, like Mongolia was another big population that started coming to us. It's about trust. The people are going to ask you 'I don't have my papers but my son is legal so what do I do?' So it's very sensitive cases that we need to figure out how we're going to help, not only for the people who are undocumented but also for the culture. Sometimes people don't ask questions. I can give an example of my mother. She can go to the doctor. She sign out. She doesn't ask 'what is this for?' or 'how am I going to use?' She's like 'thank you' and 'bye.' So it's going to be a lot of questions not only how to get it but also how to use the services."12. medical pamphlets in Chinese and Spanish13. Arabic and Russian signs14. SOUNDBITE: Laura Lopez - Street Level Health Project Executive Director"There's a lot of questions like if you're on eligible for Medi-Cal and you're sometimes eligible for this change, how is that transaction going to be, especially if you don't speak the language? One time you're going to be Medi-Cal then you make more money, now you're going to be in Cover California or you don't make enough money then you're back in Medi-Cal. How is that transaction going to be for people who don't speak English? I guess health care reform for me is really a big step to big changes in our community. We're seeing that health care is not a privilege. It's something that every human being needs to have. So yes, we're starting with people who are legal and all that but I hope one day in the future it's for every single one because it benefits every single one."15. patient gets blood pressure checked16. nurse cutaway--------------------APTN SHOTLIST - Oakland, CA - February 25, 20131. Oakland street where Street Level Health Project is located2. International Blvd. street sign3. woman enters non-descript building housing the clinic4. mural greets visitors at entrance of clinic5. "Welcome" sign in different languages6. SOUNDBITE: Laura Lopez - Street Level Health Project Executive Director"When you're an immigrant, you don't think about your health. When you're an immigrant, you think about 'I need to work and I need to send money home.' That's the two things you have in your head. That's what you need to think."7. medical pamphlets in Chinese and Spanish8. SOUNDBITE: Laura Lopez - Street Level Health Project Executive Director"So basically that's how we started Street Level but at the same time we see health not only doctor and medicine. Health is a bigger component of life. It's also food, housing, something to eat."9. Arabic and Russian signs10. exam room wide shot with different languages11. SOUNDBITE: Laura Lopez - Street Level Health Project Executive Director"It's not only male Latino immigrants we see here but also we sometimes see refugees come in. Today you see some Asian community come in for the food. We have people from different parts, like Mongolia was another big population that started coming to us."12. doctor examines Mongolian woman13. SOUNDBITE: Laura Lopez - Street Level Health Project Executive Director"When you talk about health care reform, it's a lot of stuff to understand and learn. Still for me, my first language is not English, but it's still so complicated."14. eye and throat exam15. SOUNDBITE: Laura Lopez - Street Level Health Project Executive Director"It's about trust. The people are going to ask you 'I don't have my papers but my son is legal so what do I do?' So it's very sensitive cases that we need to figure out how we're going to help, not only for the people who are undocumented but also for the culture. Sometimes people don't ask questions. I can give an example of my mother. She can go to the doctor. She sign out. She doesn't ask 'what is this for?' or 'how am I going to use?' She's like 'thank you' and 'bye.' So it's going to be a lot of questions not only how to get it but also how to use the services."16. nurse takes patients blood pressure17. nurse face close18. SOUNDBITE: Laura Lopez - Street Level Health Project Executive Director"There's a lot of questions like if you're on eligible for Medi-Cal and you're sometimes eligible for this change, how is that transaction going to be, especially if you don't speak the language? One time you're going to be Medi-Cal then you make more money, now you're going to be in Cover California or you don't make enough money then you're back in Medi-Cal. How is that transaction going to be for people who don't speak English?"19. blood pressure cuff close20. blood pressure cuff wide21. SOUNDBITE: Laura Lopez - Street Level Health Project Executive Director"I guess health care reform for me is really a big step to big changes in our community. We're seeing that health care is not a privilege. It's something that every human being needs to have. So yes, we're starting with people who are legal and all that but I hope one day in the future it's for every single one because it benefits every single one."-----------------------------------Hard time understanding health reform law? Try figuring it out in Tagalog, Hmong or Vietnamese By GARANCE BURKE and JUDY LIN Associated Press OAKLAND, Calif.Set on a gritty corner of Oakland's International Boulevard, the nonprofit Street Level Health Project offers free checkups to patients who speak 22 languages, from recent Mongolian immigrants seeking a doctor to Burmese refugees in need of a basic dental exam.It also provides a window into one of the challenges for state officials who are trying to implement the Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama's sweeping health care overhaul.Understanding the law is a challenge even for governors, state lawmakers and agency officials, but delivering its message to non-English speakers who can benefit from it is shaping up as a special complication. That is especially true in states with large and diverse immigrant populations.For Zaya Jaden, a 35-year-old from Mongolia, getting free care for her sister's persistent migraine was a much higher priority than considering how the expansion of the nation's social safety net through the Affordable Care Act might benefit her.The sisters crammed into the clinic's waiting room, sandwiched between families chatting in the indigenous Guatemalan language Mam, and discussed whether enrolling in Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act would work for the family's finances."It was a good idea that Obama had, but I don't know if it will work for me," said Jaden, who gets private insurance for her family through her job as a laundress at an Oakland hotel and currently makes too much money to qualify for Medicaid. "If I make less than what I make to try to qualify for the government program, how could I pay my rent?"Jaden's ambivalence demonstrates the cultural and language hurdles that California and several other states are facing as they build exchanges _ or health insurance marketplaces _and try to expanded coverage to ethnic and hard-to-reach populations.California has the largest minority population of any state, about 22.3 million people. That's followed by Texas with 13.7 million, New York with 8.1 million, Florida with 7.9 million and Illinois with 4.7 million.In Illinois, where nearly 1.2 million residents don't speak English well, the task of translating information about the health care overhaul into other languages has fallen to nonprofit groups and community organizations."So far it's fallen to us, and we don't know what (the state's) capacity will be to go beyond Spanish," said Stephanie Altman of Health & Disability Advocates.The state plans to submit an outreach plan to the federal government this spring. Illinois officials expect federal grant money eventually will be available to help reach non-English speakers, said Mike Claffey, a spokesman for Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn.The U.S. Census estimates that more than 55 million people speak a language other than English at home. Nearly 63 percent of those are Spanish-speakers, with the highest concentrations in Texas, California and New Mexico. Chinese was the third most commonly spoken language, with large populations in California, New York, Hawaii and Massachusetts.Five other languages have at least 1 million speakers: Tagalog, French, Vietnamese, German and Korean.In California, two-thirds of the estimated 2.6 million adults who will be eligible for federal subsidies in the health care exchange will be people of color, while roughly 1 million will speak English less than very well, according to a joint study by the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network and the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and the University of California, Berkeley Labor Center.With such diversity in cultures and language, the authors said the success of health care reform "hinges in large part on how well the state conducts culturally and linguistically competent outreach and enrollment efforts.""If the exchange did no targeted outreach, there could be 110,000 fewer limited-English proficient individuals enrolled," said Cary Sanders, director of policy analysis for CPEHN, an Oakland-based multicultural health advocacy group.Even the relatively mundane task of developing a brand for California's new health care exchange has prompted some angst.The exchange's staff tried to come up with a name that signified health insurance and would translate well into Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese and other languages commonly used in California.The exchange's five-member board settled on "Covered California" and is currently testing tag lines to see which words resonate best in focus groups. Advocates disappointed by the name are hoping the board selects a tag line that will be simple to understand and translate.Jaden, for instance, said she had no idea how "Covered California" would translate to Mongolian.More importantly, they want Covered California to launch an inclusive marketing and outreach campaign in a place where a majority of the population is not white and nearly 7 million residents speak limited English."'Covered California' translates to California Cubierto in Spanish, but what exactly does it mean?" said Laura Lopez, Street Level Health Project's executive director, who immigrated to the United States from Peru years ago. "It's not just providing a piece of paper that says this is what is covered. It's really having people on the ground talking with the community."California's exchange isn't shying away from the challenges.Its executive director, Peter Lee, recently announced that new federal funding will be used to support a multi-language campaign, build a network of community-based assistants who can guide people to the right health plan and multilingual call centers.The exchange is making $43 million available for community-based organizations, faith-based groups, nonprofits and local governments to compete for outreach and education grants."California is unique from every other state not only geographically because our population is spread out, but you have multiple ethnic populations that are traditionally hard to reach and they need their own custom way to be reached," said Oscar Hidalgo, the exchange's communications director.The exchange estimates that 5.6 million Californians are without health insurance, or 16 percent of the population under age 65. Of that number, 4.6 million are eligible for coverage under the Affordable Care Act, while the rest are not because of their immigration status.Advocates say California should refine its efforts to reach non-English speakers.Doreena Wong, who promotes health access for immigrants at the Los Angeles-based Asian Pacific American Legal Center, is among those urging the exchange to build a website that is not just in English and Spanish, but to offer translations in other languages prevalent throughout the state: Arabic, Armenian, Chinese, Farsi (Persian), Hmong, Khmer (Cambodian), Korean, Russian, Tagalog and Vietnamese.According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights, organizations that receive federal funding have to provide written notices in English, Spanish and other languages spoken by 10 percent or more of the households in the area they serve.Wong recently told the board that many people eligible for the exchange aren't proficient in English, have limited education or have never had health care insurance. Other groups have requested the exchange, at a minimum, add Chinese.Hidalgo said the state's health exchange website, www.coveredca.com , is being created in such a way more languages can be added later. He said the exchange first needs to launch an introductory website where consumers can learn about impending health care changes, such as federal subsidies for working families and tax credits for small businesses."It's very challenging to put together a website that's consumer friendly in English, and then to do it in 13 languages is a very, very big task," he said. "I think what's important for us is to take a step in English and Spanish and figure out what the feedback is. ... We don't have all the answers at this moment, but we're going to find them."