Hispanic public relations pro Jorge Plasencia, Chairman and CEO of Miami-based advertising and public relations Republica, has been named Vice Chairman of NCLR (the National Council of La Raza).
Plasencia is among five other individuals named as the newest members of the Board of Directors of NCLR, the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States.
New members confirmed at the June 2010 NCLR Board of Directors meeting in San Antonio include Julie Abrams, Chief Executive Officer of Women’s Initiative for Self Employment in San Francisco, CA; Beatriz Olvera Stotzer, Chief Executive Officer of NEWCapital, LLC in Los Angeles, CA; Ernest “Gene” Ortega, President of Rural Housing Inc. in Albuquerque, NM; Laura Rodriguez, Principal at The Raben Group in Los Angeles, CA; and J. Walter Tejada, Arlington County Board Member in Arlington, VA.
In addition to Plasencia, the Board also held elections to choose current members to serve as officers and at-large members of the Executive Committee. Dr. Juan Sánchez, El Presidente/CEO and Founder of Southwest Key Programs, Inc. was elected Secretary; and Anselmo Villarreal, President and CEO of La Casa de Esperanza, was elected Treasurer. Newly elected at-large members include Linda Mazon Gutierrez, President and CEO of Hispanic Women’s Corporation; James Padilla, Retired President and COO of Ford Motor Company; Nilda Ruiz, President and CEO of Asociación Puertorriqueños en Marcha; and RenataSoto, Executive Director of Conexión Américas.
“I am excited to welcome new members to NCLR’s Board of Directors and look forward to collaborating with those who have taken on a new role in the Executive Committee. They have all shown a deep commitment to the Latino community and visionary leadership in areas that are at the forefront for NCLR’s advocacy and programs. Their contributions will be invaluable as the Board works to guide NCLR during a time of great national change,” said Daniel R. Ortega, Jr., NCLR Board Chair and attorney at the law offices of Roush, McCracken, Guerrero, Miller & Ortega in Phoenix, Arizona. Mr. Ortega has served on the NCLR Board of Directors since 2003. He was elected as Chair in 2009 and unanimously reelected as Chair at the June Board meeting.
“NCLR will benefit from the broad experience of these accomplished leaders as our community navigates through times of economic uncertainty and growing political clout. NCLR meets many opportunities and challenges, and we look forward to a continued close relationship with our Board as we work to improve opportunities for Hispanic Americans,” said Janet Murguía, NCLR President and CEO.
NCLR’s Board currently has 21 members including elected officials and representatives of community-based organizations, the corporate sector, and academia. Board members reflect the diversity of Hispanic nationality groups and the geographic distribution of the Hispanic population, and the bylaws stipulate that the Board include equal representation of men and women.
I am sharing the Ibarra story with everyone I can hoping others will join me in advocating for this family and others. Changes need to be made in order to prevent senseless tragedies such as this and policies implemented to allow for recourse.
December and Christmas is approaching rapidly and with it the first anniversary of a tragic event in the lives of the Ibarra family. Mr. and Mrs. Ibarra have three children ages seven, nine, and fifteen and they are legal residents which makes this senseless tragedy all the more confusing.
Mr. Ibarra worked for one of the largest companies of its kind in the United States whose earnings extend into billions of dollars per year. Mr. Ibarra was a dues paying union member, which proudly proclaims on its web site that all medical services are provided in the United States of America. However, to the left of this bold proclamation is a link for their Mexico PPO plan. The company, the union and its third party administrator STRONGLY encourage the nine hundred or so Hispanics who make up this work community, all of whom are legal residents, to use their Mexico PPO plan. The Mexico PPO is much cheaper for the employees but more importantly, much cheaper for the company and their associates. Mr. Ibarra opted to use the Mexico PPO plan in December of 2009, a choice that resulted in devastating consequences.
Mr. Ibarra was pre-certified by a United States insurance plan to have what should have been a simple laparoscopic procedure. I will not go into detail about what went wrong almost immediately, suffice it to say the Mexican doctor “accidently” cut a cardiac artery which resulted in serious internal bleeding. The “hospital,” approved by a United States insurance plan, put Mr. Ibarra into an ambulance and drove him to the Yuma border which was 45 minutes away. Needless to say by the time he arrived at the hospital in Yuma Mr. Ibarra had lost a lot of blood and they had to resuscitate him. He survived but suffered a serious anoxic brain injury.
Mr. Ibarra now requires round-the-clock care. The Arizona Long Term Care System provides care for a limited number of hours each week and he receives a small amount of Social Security. Mrs. Ibarra has to work in order to make ends meet and the three children, whose names Mr. Ibarra cannot remember, frequently have to babysit their father. My total disdain for this situation stems from the following:
• A health plan based in the United States approved a Mexican hospital and doctor to perform this procedure
• This company and their associates encourage their Hispanic employees to utilize their Mexico PPO plan vs. their local plan, knowing one cannot sue a hospital or doctor in Mexico for malpractice
• Mrs. Ibarra has diligently sought a means of recourse but has found none – no one is being held accountable for what happened
• Mr. Ibarra will require constant care for the rest of his life and the State of Arizona and the Federal Government will be footing the bill
• Arizonan’s complain about the money we spend on health care for the illegal’s yet say nothing about Arizona paying the costs for the egregious medical blunders inflicted upon legal residents by doctors and hospitals in Mexico approved by a United States employer and union
I do not understand how we can simply turn our backs on the Ibarra family and their situation. Mr. Ibarra worked hard to support his family and provide them with health care insurance. Mr. Ibarra will never work again and he and his family’s health care will be paid for by us and not those who should be held responsible. I believe it is appalling to willfully and knowingly encourage Hispanics to use a health plan outside of the United States knowing if something goes wrong there is no recourse and no accountability. What do you think?