is a struggle<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\nOn the episode, Medina and Bentick describe existing pressures on stretched workforces (1:00), bracing for Medicaid changes (18:28), and how immigration policy bleeds into the health care space (10:00).\u00a0<\/p>\n
This <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/commonwealthbeacon.org\/the-codcast\/health-care-workers-struggle-to-navigate-closures-and-immigration-fears\/”>article<\/a> first appeared on <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/commonwealthbeacon.org”>CommonWealth Beacon<\/a> and is republished here under a <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nd\/4.0\/”>Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License<\/a>.<img src=”https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/commonwealthbeacon.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/cropped-Icon_Red-1.png?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1″ style=”width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;”><\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHealth care workers struggle to navigate closures and immigration fears\u00a0<\/p>\n
CommonWealth Beacon staff, CommonWealth Beacon
\nSeptember 22, 2025<\/p>\n
EPISODE INFO<\/p>\n
HOST: Jennifer Smith<\/p>\n
GUEST: Cari\u00a0Medina and Anestine Bentick<\/p>\n
MASSACHUSETTS’S FRONTLINE HEALTH care workers \u2013 doctors, nurses, medical assistants, home health aides, hospital technicians \u2013 are watching their profession buckle under worsening pressure. Existing critical staff shortages are colliding with new uncertainties around immigration enforcement and hospital closures, complicating health workers\u2019 efforts to provide care and seek it themselves.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This week on The Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon reporter Jennifer Smith talked with 1199SEIU Massachusetts\u00a0Executive Vice President Cari Medina and Anestine Bentick, lead medical assistant at South Boston Community Health. The conversation is part of CommonWealth Beacon\u2019s health care access month and its special \u201cCritical Condition\u201d coverage. \u00a0<\/p>\n
The 1199SEIU represents over 85,000 frontline caregivers in Massachusetts hospitals, nursing homes, homecare, clinics, pharmacies, and areas of the healthcare industry. Many of them are women, people of color, and immigrants.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The second Trump administration began with a flood of executive actions aimed at reducing the number of immigrants in the United States. Ongoing attempts to revoke Temporary Protected Status \u2013 which provides temporary immigration protections for migrants from countries experiencing wars, natural disasters, or other “extraordinary and temporary” conditions and lets the immigrants apply for temporary work permits \u2014 could worsen shortages in home health aides.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The feeling in the centers is \u201chorrible,\u201d Bentick said. \u201cI had a couple of our co-workers who are Haitian. They were asked to leave because of their status. We were one of the health centers that provided care for most of our Haitian patients, and they’re no longer here because of what is happening.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ramped up immigration enforcement actions are also impacting people\u2019s willingness to seek care.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one wants to come in to keep their appointments, because they heard rumors that ICE was in the neighborhood, which they were,\u201d she said. \u201cThat’s really frustrating because we have the most vulnerable patients here in the health center in our community. And it’s very sad that they’re not going to keep their appointment because they’re afraid.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Centers like Bentik\u2019s are already trying to do more with less, she said, building out their staff with younger and temporary workers like co-op students while dealing with an increased patient load because of the Carney Hospital closure.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Medina said closings and uncertainty around the Steward Health Care system bankruptcy were an immediate shock to a health care workforce already dealing with high rates of burnout and staff shortages.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe communities were devastated,\u201d Medina said, with a \u201clack of care, no access, especially in rural Neshoba.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The impacts were twofold, Medina said. \u201cCareer-long\u201d health care jobs vanished from the region, with the union hurrying to find its members positions in other hospitals.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBut more importantly, it’s scary because patients have to seek care so far away,\u201d Medina said. \u201cJust even getting prescriptions filled or having a regular doctor’s appointment is a struggle.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
On the episode, Medina and Bentick describe existing pressures on stretched workforces (1:00), bracing for Medicaid changes (18:28), and how immigration policy bleeds into the health care space (10:00).\u00a0<\/p>\n
This article first appeared on CommonWealth Beacon and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.<\/p>\n
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