Friends of Refugees

A U.S. Refugee Resettlement Program Watchdog Group

Archive for the ‘medical care’ Category

Refugees in East Oakland left without medical care

Posted by Christopher Coen on May 25, 2012

In November a report came out that revealed that 60% of Myanmar refugees living in Oakland were trapped in poverty. In December Iraqi refugees reported that the IRC had exposed them to extreme violence by resettling them to East Oakland (Nepali-Bhutanese refugees have also been mugged). Now comes word that a group of 22 Nepali-Bhutanese refugees in East Oakland are HIV positive and have been getting no health care at all. With a six-month wait for primary care appointments at a local health clinic, one of the refugees died while waiting. An article at New American Media mentions these facts:

OAKLAND, Calif.–Laura Lopez was running late. Inside the common room at Street Level Health Project clinic on Oakland’s International Boulevard, two Cambodian women and two Eritrean men were waiting for her. The group, representing Cambodian Community Development, Inc. and Eritrean Youth for Change, were here for one last meeting to prepare for an upcoming community health fair.

With the help of Lopez’s clinic, the refugee organizations were reaching out to their members to help them get basic health services…

…East Oakland…has been a resettlement site for a small but increasing numbers of refugees fleeing political repression in Burma, Bhutan, Nepal and other countries. Through one of their volunteers, who works at Eastmont Mall’s clinic, Lopez heard about a group of 22 Nepalese refugees who were HIV positive and getting no health care. Thus began the clinic’s work with the East Bay Refugee Forum and its members.

At the prep meeting for the community fair, Lopez and the refugee leaders were strategizing about how to pre-screen as many of their members as possible for health coverage enrollment at the May 19 event. This is no easy feat. At prior similar events, thousands of people eager for medical care had to be turned back for lack of required documents.

Jiwan Subba and Laxman Mahat from the Bhutanese Community in California have arrived to the meeting late from work. They raised the issue of Eastmont Mall’s and Highland Hospital’s six-month wait for primary care appointments. “By the time somebody gets an appointment, they’re dead,” Subba observed.

Mahat added that it happened to one of their community members… Read more here

Posted in IRC, Nepali Bhutanese, Oakland, medical care, Catholic Charities of the East Bay (Oakland) | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Sub-Saharan African Refugees Must be Screened for Hepatitis C

Posted by Christopher Coen on January 3, 2012

New studies released by the Mayo Clinic identify hepatitis C as a cause of liver cancer. One study found that, among Somali refugees in Olmsted County in Minnesota, 80 percent of liver cancer was due to hepatitis C. Currently, refugees coming to the US aren’t even regularly screened for hepatitis C. Yet, people who have hepatitis should get blood drawn every year, as well as get ultrasound of the liver every six months. An article at MPRnews addresses the issue:

St. Paul, Minn. — The Mayo Clinic released a study today that identifies hepatitis C as a cause of rising liver cancer rates. Researchers say with that information, more people can be screened for hepatitis C and prevent cancer.

The finding may have a particular impact on the Somali community. That’s because a second study published by Mayo today says hepatitis C rates among Somalis are much higher than previously suspected.

The first study from the Mayo Clinic confirms that scarring from hepatitis C can develop over decades into liver cancer…

The study, while in progress, caught the attention of Mayo researcher Abdirashid Shire, who visits most of the Somali patients at Mayo and is Somali himself. He’s seen many friends die of advanced liver cancer. So Shire led a second study by digging into the Mayo database, picking out the Somali names, and looking for patterns.

“When we looked at those who develop liver cancer, during the timeframe we looked at between 1996 and 2001, we found 30 people who developed liver cancer,” said Shire. “And can you imagine — almost 80 percent, the liver cancer was due to hepatitis C.”

Until now, Shire says the medical community only knew of one strain of the hepatitis virus prevalent among sub-Saharan Africans — hepatitis B. Currently, Somali refugees coming to the US aren’t even regularly screened for hepatitis C. Shire says if they were, doctors could catch liver problems before they progress past the point of treatment.

There are few early signs of hepatitis C. The virus is transferred through sex or blood transfusions — and it can run rampant in places like Somalia or African refugee camps, where physicians may not always sterilize needles thoroughly between patients.

Shire says people often don’t know they have hepatitis C until decades after the initial infection. By that time, it can be too late…

…Ayan Hassan, who’s a nurse, says her brother got hepatitis C through a blood transfusion in Somalia.

“It really upset me when I find out his doctor was not doing ultrasound, because people who have hepatitis should get blood drawn every year and they should be getting ultrasound every six months,” she said… Read more here

Posted in health, medical care, Minnesota, Somali | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Interpretation problems in medical care can mean loss of eye sight or a mistaken abortion referral

Posted by Christopher Coen on December 6, 2011

In a post last January I wrote about the experience I had taking a refugee to the doctor for a muscle tissue biopsy. He spoke Sudanese Arabic but the medical staff connected him via speaker phone to a Kurdish Arabic interpreter. As a result of this insufficient interpretation he endured excruciating while not being able to communicate that they had given him insufficient local anesthesia. As a result he was too traumatized to go back for cancer tumor treatment. An article in the The San Diego Union-Tribune explains that these mishaps with refugees have included a mistaken abortion referral for a refugee woman, and a refugee man’s close call loss of his sight in one eye:

…David Sein-Lwin, chairman of the newcomers assistance committee at the Oakland Burmese Mission Baptist Church [said], “In my experience, health is one of the biggest issues [for refugees] because of language limitations. The Karenni have even less interpreters. I have helped several times with social services, and it’s pretty tough to do that [interpretation] to Karenni. It takes two [interpreters], it takes more time, and it can be frustrating.”

In these scenarios, one interpreter translates from Karenni to Burmese, and the second from Burmese to English.

[There are] health consequences for refugees who have limited or no access to translation services. Lia Tluang, for example, arrived in Oakland at age 16 with an eye injury that he’d sustained while working in Malaysia. Although he needed surgery to save the sight in his left eye, his Medi-Cal benefits were terminated after eight months. Tluang, who is of the Chin ethnic minority group, initially didn’t have the language skills to reapply on his own. He was able to get an operation at age 18, after he figured out how to sign up for Medi-Cal, but now, the vision in his left eye is limited to a distance of 1 foot.

Because of translation problems with a Burmese interpreter, a pregnant Karen woman living in Oakland who wanted to keep her baby was mistakenly referred for an abortion. A translator and doctor at Asian Health Services was able to intervene before the woman went in for the procedure.

“Our system is so fragmented, and it’s difficult to access care if you are English-speaking and insured,” Jeung said. “So if you are low-income, non-insured and non-English-speaking, this system makes no sense to you, especially if insurance didn’t exist where you came from. They need help in making appointments. If we refer them elsewhere, interpretation in a specialty setting is a challenge, and even physically getting to the clinic and affording bus fare – these are all the barriers that my patients encounter along the way.”

In Oakland, the burden of translation falls on a handful of people like Kwee Say, an interpreter at Asian Health Services who…is seemingly always on call….She is also literally putting out fires – once, a family called her when their apartment was burning down because they didn’t know who else to contact… Read more here

Posted in Karenni, language, medical care, Oakland, San Diego | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Fired immigrant employees sue JVS of Kansas City – claim agency scapegoated them

Posted by Christopher Coen on December 5, 2011

Almost two years now after the Kansas City Star – and the Pitch a year earlier – published accounts about Jewish Vocational Service of Kansas City (JVS) placing refugees in substandard housing (here and here), comes word that three former employees of the agency are suing, claiming they were blamed for their supervisor’s bad decisions. The three are suing for discrimination due to their race, skin color and national origin, claiming that their supervisor, Deborah Fiene, who was in charge of housing, scapegoated them for her own poor decisions in placing refugees in extremely substandard and unsanitary housing. The three claim that JVS fired them due to “unsatisfactory job performance” yet they all had received positive evaluations and each promoted less than a year earlier. They claim in their suit papers that Feine was never punished despite evidence of impropriety on her job performance. They also claim that the agency rifled through their desks and stole personal documents, including citizenship papers, while later arguing in court papers that the agency was exempt from the lawsuit because it was a religious organisation. A Kenyen newspaper (one of the accusers originates from Kenya), The Standard, has the story:

A Kenyan US based journalist and two other African immigrants have gone to court and sued a Jewish organisation in the US for racial discrimination.

Peter Makori, a resident of Kansas City who originally hails from Kisii in Kenya and Abdi Murasaal and Bakar Abdalla from Somalia have sued Jewish Vocational Service (JVS) of Kansas City for damages claiming they were dismissed from their employment because their boss, of Caucasian origin (white) discriminated against them due to their race, skin colour and national origins.

The three, through their lawyer, Brian Barjenbruch complained in their suit papers filed in the circuit court of Kansas City Missouri, that a white female employee who was herself not punished committed the mistakes that led to their dismissal from work…

…Makori and Abdallah worked as refugee resettlement case managers at the JVS, while Mursaal was their general manager at the organisation’s Centre for New Americans.

They are seeking…compensation for unfairly losing their jobs and other inconveniences. They claim in their suit papers the fact that their colleague who is white was never punished despite evidence of impropriety on her job performance showed that they were victims of racial discrimination.

The centre works with the United States Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) – a body that is contracted by the US State Department for Homeland Security – to bring refugees to America from turbulent regions around the world….

…The former JVS employees have claimed that their colleague, Deborah Fiene, who was in charge of housing, had allegedly placed refugees in dirty and sub-standard housing, which contravened the regulations of the State Department and USCRI. Despite this, she was not punished but the boss used the three as her scapegoat and summarily sacked them.

They claimed that their complaints against Fiene to the organisation’s executive director, who is also white, that the housing coordinator was putting refugees in poor housing, were dismissed…

…Makori…claimed in his suit papers that a few days preceding his dismissal, his desk at work was ransacked and numerous documents taken away…

…Bakar claimed in his suit papers that his desk was ransacked and several documents, including his citizen’s certificate, which was in his drawers lost. Abdi claimed that the management had ransacked his desk and several documents taken away.

They pointed out their employer had accused them in their dismissal letters that they were sacked because of “unsatisfactory job performance” yet they all had received positive evaluation and each promoted less than a year earlier… Read more here

The case involved more than JVS simply placing refugees in wretched housing. Newspaper accounts reported that refugees were left on their own for medical appointments, and that JVS failed to give a refugee family all sorts of minimum-required household items, while documenting that it had done so.

Posted in faith-based, household items, missing or broken, housing, housing, substandard, Jewish, Jewish Vocational Services, Kansas City, Kenyen, medical care, Somali, Sudanese, USCRI | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

ORR report — cover-up at Catholic Charities Houston, no medical care for refugee child assault victim

Posted by Christopher Coen on September 27, 2011

An incident at a Catholic Charities shelter in Houston that media outlets previously reported as “sexual activity” between three children is now being reported as a sexual assault.  An investigation by the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) found that Catholic Charities did not report the July 1 sexual assault of a boy until four days later, nor did they seek medical treatment for the child. Catholic Charities management also did a cover-up, including doctoring of first reports. An article at UPI reports on the ORR investigation:

HOUSTON, Sept. 26 (UPI) — Federal officials were removing children and teens from three Houston shelters after learning the sexual assault of a child at one facility was covered up.

As of Friday, only five of 72 children and teens, mostly refugees, remained in the three Catholic Charities shelters, the Houston Chronicle reported.

An investigation by the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement found that Catholic Charities did not report the July 1 sexual assault of a young boy at a St. Michael’s shelter until July 5 and also failed to get the boy medical attention until the latter date.

“CCGH staff had knowledge that a [child] had been anally penetrated as the result of a sexual assault … and did not seek medical treatment,” a report by the office states. “Program staff should have observed that a sexual assault of a child is grounds for immediate medical attention.”

Federal investigators conducted an unannounced visit to the site of the sexual assault in August and found that initial reports of the attack had been doctored.

“The ORR monitors found significant concerns, including the fact that management had full knowledge of the extent of the assault and submitted erroneous … reports to this office, which deliberately misled ORR,” the agency’s director wrote in a Sept. 8 letter to the president of Catholic Charities… Read more here

An article in the Houston Chronicle reports that Catholic Charities management also pressured staffers to withhold details from investigators.

Posted in Catholic, Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, child protective services, children, faith-based, health, Houston, medical care, ORR, sexual abuse | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

 
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