Do it.
policies in healthcare that require providers to ask for Identification when a client is checking in
I currently work closely with individuals living with HIV and work with many undocumented individuals who I interpret on behalf of, connect to resources and advocate for. Often times, I accompany our undocumented clients and escort them to other services on the hospital grounds (e.g. X-ray centers). During these accompaniments, more often than not, the receptionists request to see ID prior to providing a client a service. I calmly explain that they do not have identification and that we have walked over with orders from our provider to utilize the specified service. And many times, receptionists become irate, and swear on everything they believe in that they cannot provide any services with out Identification and also state they cannot comprehend how someone does not have an Identification, if other foreign clients have proof of identification.
And this is the part when I want to jump the counter and slap some sense into them. In a nation that is currently working through immigration issues, and continuously placing barriers between the success of our undocumented persons living and working in the U.S. I would have thought people, especially people working in healthcare,who serve people in need would understand and be open to the variations of individuals we provide services for.
