A city of 710,000 struggles to cope with 40,000 migrant arrivals

Steven Federico, a pediatrician and chief of government and community affairs at Denver Health [and associate professor of pediatrics at CU School of Medicine], said the hospital has reached out to state and federal agencies for help. “I think it’s been an unheeded call so far in terms of who’s going to be responsible for the health care of this population,” Federico told NBC News. “In the meantime, it falls on safety net hospitals like Denver Health.”

Another pediatrician getting ready to work the late shift in the emergency room, Kristi Rodrigues, [associate professor of pediatrics at CU School of Medicine] said she worries about what care migrants will be able to access once they leave the ER. The hospital is required to cover anyone who comes in for emergency care, regardless of their immigration status or ability to pay, but Rodrigues worries that patients won’t be able to have checkups or get medication for illnesses that are sometimes life-threatening.