This week at clinic...

This week at clinic we continued to try to help Wah Htoo, the Karen father in his mid-20s whose hospital bills have increased to over $12,000 since his auto accident in late July.  We've completed an application for charity care from the hospital, and are hopeful that his case will be accepted and that we can get all of the documentation necessary in time to prevent the bills from being sent to collections.


We saw several patients this week who complained about muscle and back pain, as well as trouble sleeping. We know from research and experience that these types of complaints are often physical symptoms that manifest as a result of emotional trauma.  Refugees have experienced tremendous loss--many have lost loved ones as a result of violence, and others have experienced violence personally.  While some are happy to be in the U.S., many feel lost, alone, and depressed.  When we see patients with back pain and trouble sleeping, we try to treat not only their presenting problem, but we also try to address their underlying mental health symptoms as well.  Sometimes this is done through medication, and other times we try to do this more informally by helping them to connect with other refugees at the clinic, encouraging them to return to clinic more frequently, and engaging with them in a way that hopefully helps them know that we care.

The photo above is Kai and Alex (Karen son of Paw Wah, our volunteer medical assistant and one of our interpreters on Sundays) playing with two sons of one of the Kenyan patients we saw on Sunday.