Archive for the ‘PTSD’ Category
Posted by Christopher Coen on January 21, 2012
Refugees with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) need specialized and competent care at mental health centers to get back on their feet (why the federal refugee resettlement program doesn’t mandate mental health screening for refugees makes little sense to me). A specialist at a center in Kent, in Washington state, has found that focusing on a patient’s physical symptoms is useful in helping refugee clients. An article at KUOW tells the story of an Iraqi refugee struggling to survive with PTSD (he didn’t get a proper referral until he tried to jump off a roof):
The Kuba family lives in a small ground–floor apartment in Kent…
…But there’s a lot more space here than they had a few weeks ago, when they were living in their car.
Amer Kuba: “I leave my home. And all my stuff in the street cause I don’t have money for truck.”
This is Amer Kuba. He is a refugee from Iraq. At his first apartment, rent was $735. But he only got $560 in refugee cash assistance. It caught up with him, and he was evicted.
Kuba: “I take just my clothes and I sleep in my car almost three month. I drive in night, and my family sleep in car.”
…Amer, his pregnant wife and their young son came to Seattle in April 2010.
Amer says he didn’t leave the house for the first six months. He was afraid al–Qaida would find him here.
Kuba: “And I have psychological problem. And I can’t speak with anybody and confuse all the time and I still inside my house, I don’t go outside because I afraid.”…
…Beth Farmer runs the International Counseling Service, a community mental health center. Almost all of her clientele are refugees from Africa, the former Soviet Union and the Middle East.
Farmer: “If you are already having post–traumatic stress disorder symptoms, you are really poised to fall through the cracks.”
That’s because there is no standardized way to make sure refugees with severe mental health problems are funneled into treatment as soon as they arrive.
Amer didn’t get sent to Beth’s clinic until he attempted suicide. He tried to jump off the roof of the Department of Social and Health Services building in Downtown Seattle.
Overall, Beth says refugees are 10 times more likely to have PTSD than the general population. But it can be hard to get patients like Amer into treatment.
Many refugees with PTSD share his fear of going outside. And that’s only amplified by how hard it can be to find your way around a new city, especially if you don’t have a car or speak the language.
Even the idea of mental health treatment can be scary.
Farmer: “For a long time, people didn’t think that they could address mental health issues because the stigma in the refugee community was so high.”
Getting counseling or psychiatric treatment might be seen as selfish or wimpy, or even dangerous. For some refugees, mental hospitals are a place where political dissidents are sent.
Beth has found that focusing on physical symptoms gets the best results. She starts by asking a patient how they’re sleeping… Read more here
Posted in Iraqi, Kent, PTSD | Tagged: Iraqi, Post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD, refugees, resettlement | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on November 29, 2011
Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, is covered in an article in Crosscurrents:
Over the past decade, California has resettled more Middle Eastern refugees than any other state in the country. In Northern California, Santa Clara County in the South Bay is a resettlement hub for Middle Eastern refugees – more than 1,300 moved there since 2006. About one out of three of those refugees are from Iraq. And most have seen or suffered through violence related to the war.
- JASMINE: What happened will remain like a scar inside yourself. Especially like we saw a lot of stuff not normal. Like dead people in the street. People killed in front of your eye. I don’t believe like I’m going to forget them.
Iraqi refugee Jasmine asked that we not use her full name for this story. After two years in the U.S., she’s been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, and she’s receiving therapy for it. But Iraqi culture, like many others, often considers mental health problems shameful, and Jasmine is concerned about embarrassing her family. Reporter Shuka Kalantari shares Jasmine’s story…
…Jasmine’s social worker recommended she see a therapist and referred her to the Center for Survivors of Torture. Doctor James Livingston is a psychologist at the center. He says just the experience of having to flee your home country is usually enough to cause post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.
- JAMES LIVINGSTON: The re-experiencing symptoms are very painful and disruptive because they’re typically accompanied by the kinds of feelings that were experienced in the original situation. And so terror, horror, all sorts of very painful emotions…
- …LIVINGSTON: We get people who were professionals in their home countries who are very intelligent and very educated and find themselves unable to learn because they’re traumatized…. Read more here
Posted in Iraqi, PTSD, San Jose, women | Tagged: Center for Survivors of Torture, Iraqi, mental health, Post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD, refugees, resettlement, San Jose, traumatization | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on November 21, 2011
The US Department of State and the International Institute of Akron are resettling about 350 refugees annually in Akron. Secondary migration from other areas of the US is significant, with 350 more refugees arriving annually. Adult refugees here face the usual barriers to medical care, such as transportation issues, the language barrier, and cultural differences that hinder understanding and communication between medical staff and patients. Medical workers treat refugees for parasites, hepatitis, tuberculosis, dental problems, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other health issues. Although most refugee children are in good health when they arrive, some have medical concerns not typically seen in American-born children — e.g., hepatitis, latent tuberculosis, anemia, failure to thrive, parasites, chronic ear infections and certain oral health problems. An article in the Beacon Journal has more:
…Each year, about 350 refugees from Myanmar, Nepal, Iraq and other countries arrive in the Akron area with the help of the International Institute of Akron, according to Kate Sass, the institute’s director of refugee resettlement. Another 350 refugees who have been living in other cities throughout the United States also relocate to the region in a typical year…
...Cultural differencesAlong with the obvious language barrier, things such as transportation issues and cultural differences create challenges, Van Nostran said. Some patients also struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder from their past experiences.
The staff has learned, for example, that it is considered rude in some cultures to only use one hand instead of two to give patients their prescriptions or other paperwork.
In another case, Van Nostran said, hospital staff were concerned that a refugee couple were ignoring their newborn shortly after birth. The staff later learned this was the custom in the family’s native culture, which believes doting on a newborn will draw the attention of “evil spirits.”
“It has challenged us not to make assumptions but to ask specifically about cultures,” she said…
…When refugees arrive, they must have an initial health exam within 30 days for parasites, hepatitis, tuberculosis, dental problems and other health issues.
Some refugees have latent tuberculosis, which isn’t active or contagious but still must be treated with a nine-month course of antibiotics to avoid an active infection in the future, she said.
“You learn a lot,” Erme said. “Health-care providers who take care of refugee patients need to be open to learning and realize that what we were taught in our medical professional education may not always apply to this population.”…
…Caring for children
…Although the majority of children are in good health when they arrive, he said, refugees have some medical concerns that typically aren’t seen in American-born children — things such as oral health problems, latent tuberculosis, parasites, anemia, failure to thrive, chronic ear infections and hepatitis… Read more here
I think that the International Institute of Akron resettling refugees into crowded housing with rats and roaches also must not have been particularly healthful for refugees in Akron.
Posted in health, housing, substandard, housing, overcrowding, secondary migration, refugee, children, PTSD, cultural adjustment, language, RMA (Refugee Medical Assistance), Akron, International Institute of Akron | Tagged: refugees, resettlement, International Institute, PTSD, language barrier, Akron, hepatitis, latent tuberculosis, anemia, failure to thrive | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on October 22, 2011
Wouldn’t you think that the US, which has now been resettling large numbers of refugees here from around the world since the end of World War ll, would have figured out how to screen refugees for mental health problems? After all, we screen every refugee for physical health conditions, supposedly within 30 days of their arrival. It turns out that our resettlement program still hasn’t worked out the nuts and bolts of the screening process — let alone treating them for these conditions — though we have long known that many of these people are survivors of torture, abuse, deprivation, dislocation and other hardships associated with the process of becoming refugees. Minnesota Public Radio News has an article discussing the (still disorganized) process of directing refugees to the basic mental health care that many of them so desperately need. An emerging theory is that we should use community health workers to screen refugees.
According to the Minnesota Department of Human Services, our state is home to more than 70,000 refugees.
Refugees arrive here from countries wracked by political violence. Torture is used intentionally in their homelands to silence opposition and transform cultures through fear. So it isn’t surprising that refugees aren’t comfortable speaking about the atrocities they survived.
Resettlement programs seek to integrate refugees into our communities and to help them achieve economic self-sufficiency. But unless we address their traumatic experiences, we condemn many to live in silence with undiagnosed and misunderstood symptoms of major depression and post traumatic stress disorder.
The real tragedy is that their symptoms are treatable.
Refugees arriving in the United States typically receive a health exam to identify physical problems, but they are not screened systematically for mental health problems…
…The Center for Victims of Torture (CVT) often receives referrals of refugees who are torture survivors after an eight- to 10-year period of difficult resettlement due to undiagnosed and untreated mental health symptoms. Those symptoms make it difficult for refugees to learn English, adjust to community life, learn a new culture and support their families.
Health clinics often tell us they know how to treat trauma, but they lack the language and cultural knowledge. Refugee leaders and groups often tell us they have the cultural knowledge but don’t know how to treat trauma…
…more must be done to include mental health screening along with the required medical exam. CVT is currently collaborating with the University of Minnesota, the Minnesota Department of Health and four refugee groups to develop a culturally appropriate mental health questionnaire for refugees coming to our state. Simple questions in the refugee’s language will identify those who might benefit from mental health services, and allow the health care screeners to refer them to the best resource in the community.
One such resource emerging in Minnesota is community health workers. They are bicultural and bilingual health workers who help link vulnerable populations to the health care system and could be used when larger numbers of refugees are screened and identified for mental health concerns… Read more here
Apparently no one has thought to ask why refugee resettlement agencies aren’t already screening refugees for major depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental stress related conditions. Why would refugee resettlement case workers, who do nothing but work with refugees every day, not already be educated in recognizing these illnesses? Resettlement agency case workers are supposedly bicultural and bilingual, and in contact with every resettled refugee already. Aren’t they the refugee experts?
Posted in disabled refugees, Major depression, mental health, Minnesota, PTSD, sexual and gender-based violence - refugees fleeing | Tagged: Center for Victims of Torture, community health workers, health screening, major depression, mental health, Post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD, refugees, resettlement, torture | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on September 26, 2011
Diyar al-Bayati, 24, died last week of unknown causes after living as a refugee in Utah for three years. Before his death, he struggled with physical and emotional issues directly tied to his service during the Iraq War, including PTSD and the loss of both legs and the use of one arm in a 2006 roadside explosion in Iraq. An article in the Deseret News first told about Diyar’s arrival in the US in 2008:
By the time his plane landed in Salt Lake City late on the night of April 11 [2008], things weren’t going very well for Diyar al-Bayati. His motorized wheelchair had been mangled on the flight from Jordan to New Jersey, and then his luggage was lost. Still, al-Bayati was optimistic about one thing: that he would be greeted in Salt Lake City by Americans who were happy to see him.
After all, hadn’t he lost both his legs while working as an interpreter for the U.S. Army in Baghdad?
But there were no grateful soldiers at the airport that night. Instead there was one Somali refugee, sent by Catholic Community Services. The man insisted on speaking Arabic, in an accent al-Bayati couldn’t understand, and he wanted to take al-Bayati to the home of another Somali refugee.
“I said, ‘no, dude,’” remembers al-Bayati, who had perfected his American slang during his 200 combat missions with the 4th Infantry Division in 2005 and 2006. When Catholic Community Services then wanted to put him in a cheap hotel — “with the drugs dealers,” says al-Bayati — he said “no” again… Read more here
Now an article in the Salt Lake Tribune details Diyar’s last days:
…Still in his mid-20s, [Diyar Al-Bayati] left life last week, seated in his chair, neatly groomed for a dental appointment, his hairbrush in his hand…
…”As a soldier, interpreter, he was one of the most courageous people, soldier or Iraqi, I’ve ever worked with,” his Army commander, Dan Makay, said Saturday from Afghanistan. “He was a patriot, not just for Iraq but for America.”
Here in Utah, though, Al-Bayati lived alone in an apartment, said Debi Clark, a clinical social worker who was working with war trauma survivors when she met him in 2008….
…Injury-related night tremors and post-traumatic stress robbed him of sleep
But for years, Al-Bayati kept his “bright spirit” alive, Clark said, despite many more surgeries, infections and the pain medications that ultimately led to addiction.
“He was an amazing young man,” she said. “The first time I met him, I was just so worried. ‘What am I going to say to this young kid after having his life totally altered helping the military while we were invading his country?’ But he had such a good heart, and he was willing to help everyone.”
For a couple of years, Al-Bayati kept his equilibrium, enduring agonizing treatments with courage and optimism, said Ramin Rahimian, a photographer who spent a year making a video about him.
“He was ridiculously strong. He was a fort,” Rahimian said. “I’ve never seen anyone so strong. No one else I knew could go through such a thing.”…
…”He wanted legs, prosthetics. He was a very proud man, energetic. But he couldn’t reach his potential, and I think he felt that every day,” Makay said.
Al-Bayati never got the right prosthetics, and his AIG insurance — he worked for the private L-3 Communications, under contract with the U.S. government — paid less than $500 a month…
…For now, his friends and families can only mourn his passing amid regret that nothing he wanted — a family, new legs, an education — came to him.
“The light in his eyes, it was gone,” Clark said. “I want to remember him with that bright light.”… Read more here
Posted in disabled refugees, Iraqi, PTSD, Salt Lake City, SIV (Special Immigrant Visa) immigrants | Tagged: AIG, Catholic Community Services, Diyar al-Bayati, health insurance, interpreter, Iraqi, L-3 Communications, lufthanza, mental health, military contractor, Post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD, refugees, resettlement, SIV, Special Immigrant Visa, Utah | 1 Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on August 11, 2011
Refugees with PTSD (Post-traumatic stress disorder) and other mental health issues struggle tremendously in the rigorous challenges of resettlement. Reporters with the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism are taking a look at the issue in that resettlement country. An article in the Reportage magazine tells more:
Over the last 3 days, the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism has documented the appalling conditions suffered by people living with mental illness in public housing in western Sydney.
Their testimonies, and those of the health workers who care for them, describe repeated harassment, victimisation and bullying by neighbours. Some have received death threats. Yet their pleas for help go unheeded by Housing NSW – who refuse to acknowledge any duty of care.
Today this special investigation looks at the plight of one especially vulnerable group – refugees. Many are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result of horrific experiences in their countries of origin.
But a study published recently in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry found that while traumatic experiences in their home country contributed to “substantial proportions” of psychological distress among refugees, their post-settlement experiences had an even greater effect on their mental health…
…There’s no shortage of research on the mental health and housing challenges faced by refugees. Yet another report from the Refugee Research Centre at the University of New South Wales, The Settlement Experiences of Refugees and Migrants from the Horn of Africa, identified housing as one of the main obstacles to the successful settlement of refugees with mental health issues…
…Yet despite a plethora of reports and research, the health and housing bureaucracies in NSW seem incapable of acknowledging there’s a problem. Read more here
Posted in Australian refugee resettlement prgm, homelessness, housing, intimidation of refugees, mental health, PTSD | Tagged: Australia, bureaucracies, human rights, mental health, mental illness, New South Wales, Post-traumatic stress disorder, psychological distress, PTSD, public housing, refugees, resettlement, Sydney | 1 Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on April 24, 2011
It has come to our attention that due to a misunderstanding on the part of some Social Security offices and caseworkers, there have been cases of Iraqis/Afghans who have come here on Special Immigrant Visas (SIV) who’ve been mistakenly turned down for SSI benefits, which stands for Supplemental Security Income benefits.
SSI benefits are for people who because of causes such as severe ongoing illness, injury, PTSD, or other emotional reasons are unable to work for a period of at least 12 months. To apply, the illness has to be proven by medical records from your doctors and an interview with a SS caseworker either in person or over the phone is necessary.
If your visa status is SI or SQ followed by a number, you are entitled to apply for these benefits for a period of up to 7 years if you are in need of this assistance and cannot work.
In some cases, SIV derivative visa holders that are the family members of Iraqi/Afghan translators/interpreters and contractors have been told that they are not eligible because they themselves did not work for the US in Iraq/Afghanistan. This is incorrect, and if you hold a SI or SQ visa and would like help clearing this up let us know.
Please contact Nancy: email address snancylee at gmail.com
In the subject line of the email please show SSI Assistance Request
**CORRECTION** — The 7-year limit for refugees listed above was actually a 9-year limit, due to the US Congress passing a rule in 2008 (set to expire Sept. 30, 2011) giving qualifying refugees 9-years of SSI if they were noncitizens. See Herald-Leader article:
…Congress extended the deadline once in 2008 so that refugees could receive assistance for up to nine years before becoming citizens. But that extension expires Sept. 30 [2011]… Read more here
Posted in Afghan, health, Iraqi, PTSD, SIV (Special Immigrant Visa) immigrants, Social Security Administration, SSI | Tagged: Afghan, Afghanistan, contractors, interpreter, Iraq, Iraqi, SIV, Social Security Administration, Special Immigrant Visa, SSA, SSI, Supplemental Security Income, translator | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on March 6, 2011
This is one of those “you’ve got to be kidding?” issues in the US refugee resettlement program. For decades the US has used refugees as a blunt-force tool to boost populations levels in dying cities — areas of the country that are so dangerous and dysfunctional that Americans are fleeing in droves. The US government with it’s trusty private resettlement agency “partners” (contractors) place refugees in neighborhoods and apartment complexes where they would never place one of their own friends or loved ones, let alone set a foot in after nightfall — or even during the day. An article in Public Broadcasting WNED refers to this issue in an article about refugee resettlement in Buffalo, NY – the country’s third poorest city.
…Refugees are perfect candidates, [Bartley, founder of PUSH Buffalo, a west side non-profit] says, to help solve the west side’s high vacancy rate.
“The way we’re going to solve that is by making it a neighborhood people want to stay in. And a neighborhood the various communities whether they’re Burmese, Somolian, Sudanese, Liberian want to put down roots in. That they don’t see it as a stopping point to get to another place,”Bartley says.
Buffalo, a “perfect place to start over”
This wouldn’t be happening on such a large scale without the Refugee Protection Act of 1980. This law tried to stop rampant population bleeding in places like Buffalo, Detroit and Cleveland by filling their declining housing stock with refugees.
Last year in Buffalo alone, 1500 came to the city.
“Even with those 1500 refugees we still saw a population decline in our community. We’re still trying to catch up even with those refugees coming in,”says Molly Short, executive director of Journey’s End, a resettlement group that helps refugees acclimate… Read more here
So what would be the problem with killing two stones with one bird and placing refugees where we need to staunch population decline?
Let’s start with the fact that refugees are a traumatized group of people with high rates of stress-related illnesses such as PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) and trauma-induced mental-illnesses — refugees have higher rates of depression and bipolar disorder, as well as alcolholism.
Secondly, refugees are much less able to protect themselves from the malignant social forces at work in our dying cities, due to: 1) language barriers, 2) a lack of understanding about how our culture and systems work, 3) fear of complaining to any authority figures such as police, and 4) they often stand out as perfect prey to predatory individuals at the bottom of our social barrel.
I saw this at work when I first started helping refugees in 2001. The government and it’s resettlement agency partners had placed the Lost Boys of Sudan refugees in a tough northside neighborhhod. The south Sudanese, a fine-boned nhilotic people with extremely dark skin, stand out in the US as obvious foreigners. Thugs of every description attacked these boys and young men on the street. During the years from 2001 through 2004 there were a total of at least ten separate attacks in Chicago involving at least 21 of the Lost Boys of Sudan refugees. I counted at least 4-5 refugees that said that thugs had punched out their teeth. There were two refugees who had traumatic closed-head injuries from the beatings (see our Safety Report from the year 2005). When I inquired with US Representive Jan Schakowski’s office about this, who I mistakingly thought would be interested in this human rights issue, her staff member gave me the cold shoulder for daring to question Chicago or her friends at the local refugee resettlement agency.
Refugees should never be resettled to dangerous neighborhoods whether it be to boost a dying city’s population level, to make local politicians happy, to make resettlement agencies happy, or any other reason that doesn’t have the refugees’ basic safety and welfare issues at the center of consideration.
Posted in Buffalo, dangerous neighborhoods, government, Journey's End Refugee Services, Journey's End Refugee Services, mental health, population levels, using refugees as pawns to boost, PTSD, safety | Tagged: Church World Service, dying cities, Episcopal Migration Ministries, Jan Schakowski, Journey's End, Post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD, Refugee Protection Act of 1980, refugees, resettlement | 1 Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on October 28, 2010
The Detroit Free Press has an article about the opening of a new health care center that will serve refugees, including many Chaldean Iraqi refugees, in Macomb county in the Detroit area – the new ACCESS Community Health & Research Center. (ACCESS is an acronym for Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services.)
…hundreds of Chaldean refugees [seek] emotional and social services from the new ACCESS center — the only such facility in Macomb County.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony is scheduled for Tuesday. The Dearborn-based agency came to Sterling Heights in May to accommodate the growing population of Iraqi refugees and a shifting population of Arab Americans into Oakland and Macomb counties.
At the clinic, at 14 Mile and Ryan in Sterling Heights, the staff treats about 100 refugees per week, said Abdallah Boumediene, ACCESS director of operations. Clients receive physical and mental health care. A collaboration with Lutheran Social Services allows refugees to look for jobs.
“They want to be a productive part of society,” Boumediene said, but “they come with a number of issues.”
Since the start of the Iraq war, the U.S. Department of State has sent tens of thousands of Iraqi refugees to metro Detroit. More than half of the 2,200 who came to Michigan in 2009 settled in Macomb County. Through August 2010, 60% of 1,560 Iraqi refugees had settled in Oakland County. Refugees have moved mainly to Sterling Heights, Warren and Madison Heights, said Al Horn, director of refugee services for the Michigan Department of Human Services… Read more here
CandGnews.com mentions that smoking and tuberculosis are serious concerns for this group of refugees, in addition to PTSD.
…Two issues appear particularly troubling: smoking — which is more prevalent among Arab-Americans than other ethnic groups, and has a heightened cultural significance in the Middle East— and tuberculosis, he said… Read more here
ACCESS has a contract with the state of Michigan to do health screenings for all incoming refugees in the Detroit area.
…The Dearborn-based organization, which also has facilities in Hamtramck and Allen Park, has a contract with the state to conduct initial screenings, both mental and physical, of all incoming refugees in the tri-county area. Assessment within 90 days of arrival is the goal…
The only problem with that is that refugees should receive their initial health screening within 30 days, not 90 days, according to State Department requirements (see Operational Guidance).
Posted in Chaldean, Christian, Detroit area, health, Iraqi, late health screenings, mental health, PTSD, State Department | Tagged: ACCESS Community Health & Research Center, Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services, arab refugees, Chaldean refugees, Detroit, initial health screening, Iraqi refugees, Michigan, Post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD, refugee health, refugee mental health, refugee resettlement, refugee resettlement agencies, refugee resettlement program, refugees, State Department | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on September 22, 2010
An article in WHYY News and Information gives more information about the welcome that newly arrived refugees face in Philadelphia. Some refugees have waited as long as three months just for health screening.
The Philadelphia region is seeing a new influx of political refugees from the South Asian nation of Bhutan. Like other refugees, they are entitled to eight months of medical coverage. But providing that care is a challenge.
Jefferson Family Medicine dedicates Wednesday afternoons to refugees. Nearly three years ago, when the clinic opened, many of the refugees came from Myanmar, then a few Iraqis, some Eritreans. Now, it’s the ethnic Nepalis from Bhutan. Clinic director Dr. Marc Altshuler says one of the first steps is to make sure everyone has had their shots.
Altshuler: The kids cannot go to school without vaccines, and if the kids don’t go to school the parents can’t go out and get a job.
The Nationalities Service Center, a resettlement agency, helped launch the Jefferson clinic. Now, demand for the clinic’s services has the agency looking for other providers capable of the same type of one-stop care…
…Newly arrived refugees should have an initial health screen within 30 days, but it took more than three months for Bagi Adhikari and her adult son Kamal to get in to see Dr. Packer… here
So a question becomes why continue to place more new refugees in Philadelphia if health screenings are delayed so dangerously long? It’s not like the city is a particularly safe place for the refugees’ children, here. Of course resettlement agencies such as the Nationalities Service Center isn’t going to advertise to the State Department that their area has late health screenings and dangerous schools. That will have to wait until the State Department does one of its once-in-a-decade inspections. Even then, the State Dept. will simply note the problems and suggest that the Center make some attempt to correct it. In the meantime years have passed in which refugees have gone months at a time without medical care, and have also been harassed, attacked, and assaulted on the streets and in the schools. That’s how our refugee resettlement program operates.
The refugees can have serious health problems while they sit for months without medical care. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is also a common ailment.
…The ailments differ with each refugee group but latent tuberculosis, malnutrition and malaria are common. When the Adhikaris arrived last winter, both were a little underweight…
…Altshuler: We spend time asking ‘Why did they become refugees?’ cause that can help us figure out … Were they exposed? Were they beaten? But the bigger picture is, are they sometimes at risk for post-traumatic stress disorder because of what they went through? …
…Altshuler: We see significant mental illness and post-traumatic stress disorder. We’ve been trying to collect a lot of data on the refugees that we’ve been seeing, and I think our rates of PTSD are probably two to three times higher than the national rate.
All are adjusting to a new city and culture; Altschuler says some also have stubborn, decades-old hurts that resurface once they’re safe…
…The Nationalities Services Center recently hosted a training session for health providers on the medical and mental health needs of refugees and asylum seekers.
It seems as though the main reason the US refugee resettlement program resettled refugees to Philadelphia is because a national volag, the USCRI, happens to have an office there – Nationalities Service Center. Is that really a “rational plan for resettlement”? That’s what the volags have to prove to the State Department each year in their annual report (see Guidelines for Participants).
Strategy for Site Selection
Headquarters should have in place a coherent strategy for selecting resettlement sites and placement of individual refugee cases. That strategy should show evidence of adaptability to new circumstances, e.g., influx of new ethnic groups, welfare or economic changes in any given location. Such strategy should also provide adequate justification for continued use of a site with poor employment outcomes.
But the USCRI essentially just recommends all the places where it already has affiliate offices as good refugee resettlement sites. Therefore, long after South Philly is no longer a rational place to resettle refugees, the State Department continues to let its contractor (USCRI) place refugees there.
Posted in State Department, USCRI, Burma/Myanmar, Nepali Bhutanese, Iraqi, health, mental health, Philadelphia, late health screenings, safety, Eritrean, PTSD, Nationalities Service Center | Tagged: USCRI, State Department, refugees, resettlement, refugee resettlement program, refugee resettlement, refugee resettlement agencies, tuberculosis, U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, Philadelphia, south philly, Iraqi refugees, Burmese refugees, Bhutanese refugees, Nepalese refugees, PTSD, Eritrean refugees, Nationalities Service Center, refugee health screening, Post-traumatic stress disorder, malnutrition, malaria | Leave a Comment »
Christopher Coen
Melissa Sogard
nancylee1
