Presentation on Refugees in the DFW Metroplex

I gave a lecture on refugees and resettlement last week at UT Arlington that was sponsored by the Students for International Social Work student organization.  I've uploaded the slides, which are full of active hyperlinks to various national and local resources for refugee services, onto SlideShare.  If you're interested, you can access the slides here.

Pitching in

This is a precious Karen family we've known since they arrived here six years ago. Pi Pi (grandmother) has had a good bit of trouble learning English due to some cognitive declines, and we're in the process to attempting to apply for an exemption from the civics test and language assessment on the US citizenship exam. Pi Pi's daughter (right) and granddaughter (left) are wonderfully strong Karen women who are an excellent example of successful resettlement. 

Here's Pah Day Day grinning for the camera (and tolerating me and my never ending questions). 

We put the kids to work this week putting caps on empty medicine bottles. As you can see, they all got in on the action and had surprisingly good attitudes about the process. We start 'em young!

Crazy Sunday!

 

This Sunday at clinic was full of craziness.  It started before clinic even opened and then just got crazier as the day went on.  We got a text message while we were at church from one of our refugee friends inviting us to come to a birthday party for a 3 year old Karen refugee boy after church.  So we drove to Garland, only to find out that the party wasn't supposed to start until 4 pm.  This happens A LOT in our interactions with the Karen community, mostly because we have different cultural understandings of time and its relative importance.  :)

So, we headed to clinic, where we were met with a family whose 6 year old boy had spilled a bowl of boiling water on his chest the day before, resulting in the worst burn I've ever seen in person.  His skin had turned black.  Aaron took one look at him and sent him straight to the Children's Hospital Emergency Department.  He was treated and released and is doing great now, as he's now in the "system" and will receive follow-up care from Children's (and we'll deal with the financial blow-back at a future date).

Most of the other patients on Sunday had pretty minor complaints--colds and rashes--until a 20 year old female came in complaining of severe stomach pain.  She was in so much pain that we immediately took her to Parkland Emergency Department, which is a pretty scary place in and of itself.  

Many thanks to Jaycl, who brought a giant box of coats and jackets to clinic.  They were much appreciated and were all claimed in a matter of moments!  :)

To end on a happy note, the picture above is spoiled rotten Ruby modeling new dress from her PiPi (Grandmother) Ka Pau Say at clinic on Sunday.  She's a lucky girl, and we are a blessed family.

Karen Celebrations

Sorry for the recent lapse in postings...we've nonetheless been hard at it at clinic lately and are serving more and more refugees from Burma each week.  In fact, one of the most exciting things that we've noticed in recent weeks is that we're actually reaching a more diverse group of refugees from Burma than we have seen as of yet.  There are MANY ethnic tribes in Burma, and only a small proportion of these tribes are visible in the refugee community in DFW, but of these groups, we're now consistently seeing representation from not only the Karen, but also the Ka-chin, Kayaw, Burmese, Chin, and Karenni.  Word has spread in the communities around Dallas, Fort Worth, and even Nacogdoches and Center that the clinic is available on Sundays, and folks are finding us and getting the help that they need.  We're doing a lot of case management--helping individuals manage hospital bills, insurance claims, car accidents, etc.--and also seeing a mixture of mental health, chronic and acute care health issues.  As I've shared before, though, being a part of this community has brought us many more blessings than we would have ever guessed.  Perhaps because of the hardships they've endured, the Karen in particular tend to find reasons to celebrate.  And when they celebrate, they go all out.  Last Sunday before clinic we attended a housewarming celebration, complete with a traditional prayer service and food for over 75 people, all crammed into a one bedroom apartment.  And this past Sunday we attended the birthday celebration of Julia Paw, a two-year old Karen girl in Garland.  Julia Paw's mother occasionally volunteers as an interpreter at the Sunday Clinic, and her family is one of the handful of Karen families in the metroplex to have purchased a home in the last year.  The party, which also included a traditional prayer service and a whole lot of food, was attended by about 100 Karen and even a few neighbors, who were introduced to the Karen community with open arms.  Below is a video of a Karen choir singing a hymn at the party.  The second clip is during the same hymn, you can see Ruby's foot tapping to the music.  She's in her element. :)

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.

And...We're back!

Well, we never stopped doing what we were doing, but the blog project obviously took a back seat for a while.  I've decided  that in order to keep the blog going, I'll start posting an update every week and highlight several of our Sunday clinic stories.  For the past year, we've opened Agape Clinic on Sunday afternoons from 2:30-6:30 for refugee healthcare and social services.  It's completely volunteer-led, and we try to help mostly Karen refugees (but also some refugees and immigrants from several countries in Africa).  It's a walk-in clinic, and the services provided are free, though patients are encouraged to make a donation of $20 if they're able, as this helps to partially cover the cost of medications.  Today was a "slow" day, meaning we saw 9 patients.  Last week we saw 19, and next week we may see 4.  We never know what to expect, except that there is always someone that needs help, and we try to be there to do what we can.  It's a family affair for us, and Pla Shee, Kai and Ruby are an important part of our Sunday afternoons.  Ruby and her friend Ma Ri Nar are playing in the children's play area in the clinic's waiting room in the photograph above. Note Ruby's beautiful blue dress--it is a hand woven Karen dress given to her today by her Karen PiPi (Grandmother).

Today's highlights:

Soh Lah, a 60 year old Karen man currently living in Fort Worth was walking on the sidewalk near his apartment in May when a pebble was thrown from a nearby riding lawnmower and struck him in the left eye. Because he did not have insurance and was afraid of accumulating debt from hospital bills, Soh Lah did not visit a doctor and has not received any medical care since the accident.  His visit to our clinic today was the first time he has had any medical care since his arrival to the U.S.  We are currently attempting to find an eye specialist in Fort Worth that would be willing to provide Soh Lah charity care.

Wah Htoo, a 26 year old married Karen father of two living in Dallas visited the clinic for the first time today for assistance with medical bills.  Wah Htoo was in an auto accident in July and was taken by ambulance to the hospital, where he was admitted and spent one night and now has bills from the City and the hospital totaling close to $1600.00.  We're helping him complete paperwork from his auto and health insurance companies and applying for charity care from the hospital.

Thanks for reading this and please let us know if you'd like to get involved or learn more!

WORN

The following is a promotional video for WORN, a project I'm working on as an evaluator at the University of Texas at Arlington in collaboration with Catholic Charities Diocese of Fort Worth.  The research arm of the project is focused on the idea that if we're able to promote a venue for socialization and financial opportunity for refugee women, we may see benefits related to decreased depression, isolation, and PTSD as well as greater financial independence.  Check it out!