I need general data on:

A number or percent (or other demographic data) on non-English
speaking elderly people living in US cities, especially the medically
underserved

Elderly meaning over 65 years old

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Request for Question Clarification by mvguy-ga on 17 Mar 2003 16:04 PST

Are you looking for the number in each of the cities, or a national total?  Thanks.

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Clarification of Question by raggedyrush-ga on 17 Mar 2003 17:40 PST

Either one.

I'm looking for this information to address the need for improved
health measures among elderly immigrants in the US who cannot speak
English.  I'm assuming that many elderly immigrants have a language
barrier in terms of accessing health services.  I'm looking for
statements that affirm this situation with demographic statistics. 
So...any leads on this are appreciated.

There are several problems finding an accurate number (or pecent).
Some communities of less than 1000 are considerd cities, while others
up to 100,000 are unincorporated, towns or other designations. You
don't want to include rural and semi rural or subburban? Another
problem: Is a person who knows a few hundred words of English
non-English speaking?  There are a small number of people living in
the USA all their lives (not immigrants) who know only a few words of
English and are now over 65. Do you want to include or exclude illegal
immigrants over age 65? Why do you want to draw the line at 65 insread
of 62 or age 55? Some know (read) thousands of words, but their accent
and/or grammer makes communication difficult. A few speak, but don't
understand; perhaps as many understand but rarely speak. Some imigrant
seniors used to communicate marginally well in English, but don't now
due to several mild medical reasons such as alsheimers.  Why not just
pick a reasonable number such as "More than 2% of USA seniors have
great difficulty communicating in English."?   Neil