There was a DJ spinning Latin music, balloon animals and face-painting at the West New York middle school on Saturday. It was a bilingual Obamacare registration event.
WEST NEW YORK -- Balloon animals, kids with painted faces and a DJ spinning Kool & The Gang's "Get Down On It" filled West New York's middle school on Saturday, but the event wasn't exactly a carnival.
The 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. fair was held to help residents in the 78-percent Latino town, and surrounding areas, sign up for the Affordable Care Act before the Jan. 31 deadline.
Sponsored by the New Jersey-based nonprofit Save Latin America, the health fair attracted a largely first-generation immigrant clientele.
"The hospital sometimes intimidates these people," said Save Latin America Executive Director Johnny Torres. "When we do this, they know for sure that they're going to be able to speak Spanish."
Torres, an 87-year-old former interior designer who immigrated to the U.S. from Puerto Rico at age 14, has helped put together preventative health fairs for about 18 years. Save Latin America was founded by Antonio Ibarria, who Torres said is also the CEO of the largest Spanish-speaking newspaper on the east coast, El Especial.
Events like this one, many targeting Latinos, are happening with increasing regulatory in N.J., as the deadline approaches.
On Friday, a similar event was held by the Holy Name Medical Center's Familia y Salud initiative.
U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), who was at that event, said "we can't allow cultural and language barriers to stand in the way of our loved ones and neighbors getting the health care they need."
Latinos are less-insured in the U.S. than other minorities, even though their uninsured rate has declined by 11.5 percent since 2013, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
About 30 percent of Latinos lack health insurance, compared with 8 percent of Caucasians and 12 percent of African-Americans, the federal department reports.
Last-minute surge boosts N.J. Obamacare enrollment
Great to be @HolyNameMedCtr discussing ACA, progress we've made & encouraging Latinos to enroll. #LATISM https://t.co/QsdsKmCgpW
-- Senator Bob Menendez (@SenatorMenendez) January 15, 2016
Discutiendo el exito de ACA en @HolyNameMedCtr, alentando a los latinos a inscribirse! @CuidadoDeSalud #Asegurate https://t.co/QsdsKmCgpW
-- Senator Bob Menendez (@SenatorMenendez) January 15, 2016
Among the roughly 100 people who came to the West New York event was West New York resident Aurora Celeste Munoz De Alvarado, 64, who immigrated from the Dominican Republic two years ago. She works in a clothing factory now.
David Ricz, a Spanish-speaking Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey insurance rep originally from Brazil, signed Munoz De Alvarado up for an insurance plan in 30 minutes.
Prevention, Munoz De Alvarado said, is not common in the Dominican Republic. Her mother's lung cancer, she said, was detected too late.
"It was already in the final stages," she said sadly, as Ricz translated.
The lack of a preventative health culture, sometimes coupled with nutrition issues stemming from food insecurity in Latin America, has resulted in some serious diagnoses in the U.S., officials said.
"We've done 90 health fairs in 14 cities in New Jersey. We've been to Paterson, Passaic, Plainfield, Elizabeth," Torres said. "We have screened over 135,000 people in the last 18 years (for HIV, blood pressure, diabetes, breast cancer), and saved God knows how many lives."
"Many times we have caught people with the blood pressure like 220 over 140, to the point that we have taken them to the hospital," said West New York Mayor Felix Roque, a pain relief doctor from Cuba who works with Save Latin America. "Last time, we saw a diabetic. The blood sugar was over 400."
Town commissioner Susan Colacurcio, a Memorial High School teacher, said the school has a strong health program. The faculty is currently competing in a wellness competition for Dr. Oz, she said.
"Our kids are very into wellness," she said.
Laura Herzog may be reached at lherzog@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @LauraHerzogL. Find NJ.com on Facebook.