As a part of the Lead Walk Talk campaign, Ventura County Public Health (VCPH) is focusing on being a leader in our community by advocating for health equity. Leading means, among other things, providing solutions to remove any potential barriers to health that people might face.
Over the last few years, the Office of Vital Records (OVR), a department of VCPH, noticed a high number of requests for birth certificate amendments coming from the Mixteco community of Ventura County. These amendments were correcting mistakes made during the process of registering for birth certificates—like misspelled names, incorrect birth dates, etc. Mistakes of this sort might have been avoided if the families had sufficient time and information before they registered.
Maria Macias, manager of the OVR, credits Rosalba Herrera and former manager Lauri Plunkett with identifying the gap in understanding. Registering for birth certificates is very complex, and some of the Mixteco population have limited Spanish fluency with little to no knowledge of English. Correcting mistakes on a birth certificate takes time and often requires permissions from a court. Even then, amendments complicate matters by adding pages to the child's official birth certificate, a legal document the child will carry the rest of his or her life. Under Macias' supervision, the OVR connected with the Mixteco Indigena Community Organizing Project (MICOP) to resolve the problem.
From this collaboration, the OVR and MICOP developed an informational, practice application, which they distributed to hospitals and other health care providers. Informed and equipped, these providers can better aid members of the Mixteco community. This application is now a resource for families preparing for the birth of their children. At the core of this solution is the OVR's goal to give every child the opportunity to have a one-page medical document, without any unnecessary amendments.
VCPH's Office of Vital Records is leading by providing support to Ventura County's Mixteco community—giving families the opportunity to obtain accurate birth certificates without the difficulty of applying for amendments.