When Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance claimed that Haitian immigrants were causing a surge in infectious diseases in Springfield, Ohio, local Health Commissioner Chris Cook checked the records.
For example, it showed that in 2023, there were four busy cases of tuberculosis in Clark County, which includes Springfield, compared to three in 2022. HIV cases increased, but sexually transmitted diseases decreased overall.
“I wouldn’t call it a surge,” Cook said. “You hear the rhetoric. “But overall, the number of communicable diseases reportable to the health department is declining.”
Tensions are high in this industrial city of about 58,000 people. Bomb threats closed schools and public buildings after Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump falsely claimed that Haitian immigrants – who he believed were there illegally – were stealing and eating pets. City and county officials are disputing claims the former president made during a Sept. 10 debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, his Democratic opponent.
Trump amplified the comments made by Vance that – along with his claims about immigration status this population – have been widely recognized as false. When asked in an interview with CNN about the debunked pet-eating rumor, Vance, a U.S. senator from Ohio, admitted that the image he created was not based on facts but on “first-hand accounts from my constituents.” He said he is willing to “create” stories that will focus attention on how immigration can take over communities.
But Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, also a Republican, said immigrants were an economic boon to Springfield. Many began to arrive because businesses in the city, which had seen its population decline, needed labor.
Largely lost in the political rancor is how Springfield and the surrounding area responded to the influx of Haitian immigrants. Local health care institutions tried to meet the needs of a novel population that lacked basic public health care such as vaccinations and often did not understand the American health care system.
This city is a microcosm of how immigration is changing communities across the United States. In the Springfield area, Catholic Charities, other philanthropic organizations, volunteers and county agencies have come together over the past three to four years to address the challenge and ensure that immigrants who have critical health needs have access to providers and care.
For example, a local health center has hired Haitian Creole translators. The district health department opened a refugee health screening clinic to provide vaccinations and basic screenings on such a shoestring budget that it is only open two days a week.
About two years ago, a coalition of Haitian community outreach groups was formed to identify and respond to the needs of the immigrant community. The group meets once a month and has approximately 55 or 60 participants. On September 18, about a week after Trump caused a stir in the debate, a record 138 participants joined.
“We all learned the need to work together,” said Casey Rollins, principal of St. Vincent de Paul in Springfield, a Catholic social welfare nonprofit that has been a lifesaver for many of the city’s Haitian immigrants. “There are many medical needs. Many people have high blood pressure or are often diabetic.”
Several factors led Haitians to leave their Caribbean country for the United States, including the devastating 2010 earthquake, political unrest following the assassination of Haiti’s president in 2021, and ongoing gang violence. Even if health care facilities in the country are open, it may be too perilous for Haitians to travel for treatment.
“Gangs usually leave us alone, but that’s not a guarantee,” said Paul Glover, who helps oversee Saint Center Wincenty for disabled children in Haiti. “We had a 3,000-square-foot clinic. It was destroyed. It was similar with the X-ray machine. People are putting off health care.”
Officials say between 12,000 and 15,000 Haitian immigrants live in Clark County. In 2022, there were approximately 700,000 Haitian immigrants living in the United States Data from the US Census.
Those who have settled in Springfield of this area are generally in the country legally under a federal program that city officials say allows foreign nationals to temporarily enter and remain in the United States under certain circumstances, such as urgent humanitarian reasons.
The influx of immigrants has created a learning curve for Springfield’s hospitals and primary care providers, as well as for the newcomers themselves. In Haiti, people often go directly to hospitals to get facilitate for all kinds of ailments, and district officials and advocacy groups have said many immigrants are unfamiliar with the U.S. system of having to see a primary care doctor or make an appointment for treatment first.
Many sought care from Rocking Horse Community Health CenterA federally qualified nonprofit health center that provides mental health, primary care, and preventive care to individuals regardless of insurance status or ability to pay. Federally qualified health centers serve underserved areas and populations.
According to Nettie Carter-Smith, director of community relations at the center, the center treated 410 Haitian patients in 2022, an raise of more than 250% from 115 in 2021. Because patients needed translators, visits often took longer twice.
Rocking Horse has hired patient navigators who are fluent in Haitian Creole, one of Haiti’s two official languages. The moving purple bus provides on-site preventive examinations, vaccinations and treatment of chronic diseases. This school year, he is running a $2 million health clinic at Springfield High.
Many Haitians in Springfield have reported threats since Trump and Vance focused on their city. Community organizations were unable to identify immigrants willing to be interviewed for this story.
Hospitals also felt the effects. Spokeswoman Jennifer Robinson said Mercy Health Regional Medical Center in Springfield also saw a rapid influx of patients, with ponderous exploit of acute care, primary care and women’s health services.
There have also been several readmissions to hospitals this year of newborns struggling to thrive as some novel mothers had trouble breastfeeding or obtaining additional formula, county officials said. One reason: New Haitian immigrants must wait six to eight weeks to get into a program that provides extra food for low-income pregnant, breastfeeding or postpartum women, as well as for children and infants.
At Kettering Health Springfield, Haitian immigrants present to the emergency department for non-emergency care. The nurses are working on two related projects: one focusing on staff cultural awareness and the other exploring ways to improve communication with Haitian immigrants during discharge and scheduling follow-up visits.
Many immigrants can obtain health insurance. Generally, participants from Haiti qualify for Medicaidstate-federal program for low-income people and people with disabilities. For hospitals, this means lower reimbursement rates than customary insurance.
In 2023, 60,494 people in Clark County were on Medicaid, approximately 25% of whom were Black, according to state data. This is up from 50,112 in 2017, when 17% of registrants were black. This raise coincides with Haiti’s population growth.
In September, DeWine donated $2.5 million to facilitate health centers and the county health department meet the needs of Haiti and the broader community. The Republican governor rejected the city’s recent national focus, saying spreading false rumors is harmful to the community.
Ken Gordon, a spokesman for the Ohio Department of Health, acknowledged that health care systems in Springfield are struggling and said the department is monitoring the situation to prevent potential outbreaks of measles, whooping cough and even polio.
According to data from the state Department of Health, the number of people diagnosed with HIV in the county increased from 142 residents in 2018 to 178 in 2022. Cook, the Clark County health commissioner, said the data is delayed by about 1.5 years .
But Cook said that “overall, the number of infections reportable to the health department is not increasing.” He added that no one died of tuberculosis last year. “But 42 people died of covid.”
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