Monday, August 15, 2016

REFUGEES - Complex Health Needs

"Syrian refugees adjusting to U.S. bring complex health needs" PBS NewsHour 8/8/2016

Need I say, Trump's solution would be to send them to the 'work camps' (aka gas chambers).  He just knows (NOT!) that ALL refugees are terrorists.

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Refugees arriving in upstate New York in recent years have increasingly come from active conflict zones, including Syria and Iraq -- many fleeing with injuries of war and deep emotional scars.  As the refugee populations in places like Buffalo change, the health care systems and cultures of these cities have been changing, too.  Special correspondent Sarah Varney reports.

GWEN IFILL (NewsHour):  President Obama has pledged to accept 10,000 Syrian refugees by October, despite resistance playing out in many communities.

Refugees, many of them rootless for years, often arrive with significant medical problems and psychological trauma.

Special correspondent Sarah Varney brings us this report about how one city — Buffalo, New York — is adapting.  Her story was produced in collaboration with our partner Kaiser Health News.

SARAH VARNEY, Kaiser Health News:  Since Murhaf, Ghenwa, and their children moved here from Syria, even mundane tasks like cooking and homework have become more complicated.

MAN:  They have 10 airplanes.

SARAH VARNEY:  Unaccustomed to this new life, the family relies on help from Hassan Alishaqi, from a local resettlement agency called Journey's End.

Refugee agencies help families like this one find housing and jobs, get medical care and health insurance and enroll in English classes and schools.

They fled Syria after civil war erupted there in 2011, unleashing an exodus of more than four million refugees.  The destruction and violence came close to Murhaf's family during one of their last nights in the city of Homs.

MURHAF, Syrian Refugee (through translator):  Some bullets came to my house through the window.  And I was afraid for the safety of my kids.  They never sleep because of — it's just very hard for them to sleep.

SARAH VARNEY:  After a year in Cairo and exhaustive security checks, the family arrived in Buffalo, a quiet city on the edge of Lake Erie.  And like many new arrivals here, they're struggling with the aftermath of their horrific journey as they attempt to build healthier lives in their new home.

More than 90 percent of the refugees who resettle to New York live in upstate New York.  The city of Buffalo has become a welcoming haven for many of them.  But over the last 15 years, the countries and conflicts they come from have changed.  And the health care needs of refugees are changing, too.

Jericho Road is a community health center in Buffalo that has long treated refugees from some of the world's poorest countries, including Myanmar, Bhutan, Sudan and Somalia.  The clinic is a crossroads of languages and customs.

New refugees receive free medical assistance from the federal government for eight months.  Then they can buy private insurance or enroll in Medicaid.



REMINDER from the plaque on our Statue of Liberty:

"New Colossus" by Emma Lazarus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles.  From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips.  "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

No comments: