{"id":2429,"date":"2024-10-18T04:23:09","date_gmt":"2024-10-18T08:23:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/multi.nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/?p=2429"},"modified":"2024-10-18T04:29:40","modified_gmt":"2024-10-18T08:29:40","slug":"nyc-doctors-face-mounting-challenges-treating-asylum-seekers-physical-and-mental-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/nyc-doctors-face-mounting-challenges-treating-asylum-seekers-physical-and-mental-health\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC Doctors Face Mounting Challenges Treating Asylum Seekers’ Physical and Mental Health"},"content":{"rendered":"

By: Kaya Laterman<\/a><\/p>\n

With over 200,000 asylum seekers arriving in New York City since October 2022, doctors and health advocates are facing mounting challenges in treating their physical and mental health needs.<\/p>\n

At a recent online conference hosted by the Department of Emergency Medicine at\u00a0SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University<\/a>, doctors talked about the small window physicians have when treating patients in the emergency room.<\/p>\n

Christina Bloem, a clinical assistant professor of Emergency Medicine at SUNY Downstate, said that when a refugee or asylum seeker patient comes into the ER, \u201cit might be the first and only point of contact\u201d for patients to receive services and referrals that the city has to offer.<\/p>\n

Besides treating physical injuries and illnesses like infectious diseases, patients can have food and housing insecurity, anxiety, depression, post traumatic stress disorder and a risk of suicide due to their personal history in their country of origin or from what they experienced during their\u00a0treacherous journey to the United States.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have really brief interactions with our patients and it\u2019s a unique opportunity, but [in] a stressed and difficult environment to actually provide all of the resources they need,\u201d Bloem said.<\/p>\n

To better understand the state of an asylum seeker or refugee, physicians should start by looking at the county of origin, the advocates said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re immigrants in the city, if you\u2019re from Latin America, the Caribbean or Africa, you are from a marginalized and underserved and discriminated community,\u201d said Humberto Brown, the director of Health Disparities Initiatives at SUNY Downstate.<\/p>\n

Then you suffer trauma during your travel to the U.S. and again at the border. You come into New York City and can suffer from discrimination even further, he said. In order to treat refugees and asylum seekers, understanding the patient\u2019s culture is key, according to Brown.<\/p>\n

\u201cCulture can be used to discriminate and stigmatize,\u201d so a physician who understands the patient\u2019s culture can provide better care, he said.<\/p>\n

That said, just getting immigrants to trust the U.S. healthcare system and into a room with a physician poses a challenge, the advocates agreed.<\/p>\n

Camilla Figuero-Restrepo, the lead senior program coordinator at the\u00a0Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health,<\/a>\u00a0said many immigrants do not seek health care for fear of getting deported.<\/p>\n

She said to think about what happens when a patient enters a doctor\u2019s office, ER or health institution. You are asked many questions, including where you live, your phone number and how many people you live with.<\/p>\n

The asylum seeker may think they\u2019re in the right place to get the care they need, but can become fearful after being asked so many questions because they live in illegal housing, or in a household with other undocumented immigrants. This leads to the fear that you may be flagged, reported and deported.<\/p>\n

Other blocks include limited transportation options, finances and insurance. There\u2019s also a lack of racial and cultural representation and language barriers, she said.<\/p>\n

A survey the nonprofit conducted in 2022 with about 300 people found that about 24% of respondents often or always have difficulty understanding information about their health, while about 22% did not feel confident using the internet to make health decisions. About 52% of the respondents sometimes or often have childcare problems that make it difficult to access healthcare and about 49% lack reliable transportation.<\/p>\n

Hawthorne Smith, a clinical associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry at\u00a0NYU Gross man School of Medicine<\/a>\u00a0and the director of the\u00a0Bellevue Surivors of Torture Program<\/a>, said many immigrants are also triggered by seeing police or guards at hospitals.<\/p>\n

Many people are afraid of uniformed personnel because they were traumatized by the police or military back home, Smith said. Many human rights abuses are perpetrated by civic institutions, police barracks, military barracks and hospitals.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have had people come in and turn right around,\u201d after seeing police or guards at the hospital, he said.<\/p>\n

The advocates said it was important to build trust in immigrant communities.<\/p>\n

Figuero-Restrepo said using community-based organizations (CBOs) to reach out to small business owners, like barber shops and beauty salons, churches and other religious organizations to give out healthcare information, is key.<\/p>\n

In addition, the labor shortage in the healthcare sector is a detriment for refugees and asylum seekers getting adequate care, according to Sabrina Muhanna, a co-director of the Physicians for Human Rights Asylum Clinic at SUNY Downstate. The clinic, which provides forensic examinations of asylum seekers, gets about 10-20 case referrals a month, but they only have the capacity to treat one to two patients, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe operate on a first come first serve basis so demand exceeds our capacity,\u201d Muhanna said, citing the need for additional physician volunteers.<\/p>\n

Everyone has the right to equitable, quality health care\u00a0as this is a human right, said Teresa Smith, an emergency medicine physician and the interim chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at SUNY Downstate.<\/p>\n

In order to provide the best care, it is a physician’s job to provide services that fit not only an asylum seeker’s medical needs, but to also address their health-related social needs, including those caused by their immigration status and their access to care, said Smith, who organized the conference.<\/p>\n

“We are not just treating the patient in front of us, but we are treating the community they came from,” she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: Kaya Laterman With over 200,000 asylum seekers arriving in New York City since October 2022, doctors and health advocates are facing mounting challenges in treating their physical and mental […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5888,"featured_media":2430,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,26,62,3,65,60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-health","category-immigration","category-local-nyc-politics","category-news","category-public-safety"],"yoast_head":"\nNYC Doctors Face Mounting Challenges Treating Asylum Seekers' Physical and Mental Health - NYC Political News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/nyc-doctors-face-mounting-challenges-treating-asylum-seekers-physical-and-mental-health\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NYC Doctors Face Mounting Challenges Treating Asylum Seekers' Physical and Mental Health\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By: Kaya Laterman With over 200,000 asylum seekers arriving in New York City since October 2022, doctors and health advocates are facing mounting challenges in treating their physical and mental […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/nyc-doctors-face-mounting-challenges-treating-asylum-seekers-physical-and-mental-health\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"NYC Political News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-10-18T08:23:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-10-18T08:29:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2024\/10\/univ_hosp_bklyn_lenox_jeh.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"960\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"742\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"NYC Politics Staff\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"NYC Politics Staff\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/nyc-doctors-face-mounting-challenges-treating-asylum-seekers-physical-and-mental-health\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/nyc-doctors-face-mounting-challenges-treating-asylum-seekers-physical-and-mental-health\/\",\"name\":\"NYC Doctors Face Mounting Challenges Treating Asylum Seekers' Physical and Mental Health - NYC Political News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/nyc-doctors-face-mounting-challenges-treating-asylum-seekers-physical-and-mental-health\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/nyc-doctors-face-mounting-challenges-treating-asylum-seekers-physical-and-mental-health\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2024\/10\/univ_hosp_bklyn_lenox_jeh.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-10-18T08:23:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-10-18T08:29:40+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/#\/schema\/person\/939ed66bd7624d1689ff44e84f172524\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/nyc-doctors-face-mounting-challenges-treating-asylum-seekers-physical-and-mental-health\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/nyc-doctors-face-mounting-challenges-treating-asylum-seekers-physical-and-mental-health\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/nyc-doctors-face-mounting-challenges-treating-asylum-seekers-physical-and-mental-health\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2024\/10\/univ_hosp_bklyn_lenox_jeh.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2024\/10\/univ_hosp_bklyn_lenox_jeh.jpg\",\"width\":960,\"height\":742,\"caption\":\"SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University in Flatbush, Brooklyn.Photo: Wikimedia Commons, Jim Henderson\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/nyc-doctors-face-mounting-challenges-treating-asylum-seekers-physical-and-mental-health\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"NYC Doctors Face Mounting Challenges Treating Asylum Seekers’ Physical and Mental Health\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/\",\"name\":\"NYC Political News\",\"description\":\"Hyperlocal NYC Political News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/#\/schema\/person\/939ed66bd7624d1689ff44e84f172524\",\"name\":\"NYC Politics Staff\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0977cebaf26539cb436ab76b256f102ed507c323f0cce28c441db61efcc193c6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0977cebaf26539cb436ab76b256f102ed507c323f0cce28c441db61efcc193c6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"NYC Politics Staff\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/author\/originalmediallc\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"NYC Doctors Face Mounting Challenges Treating Asylum Seekers' Physical and Mental Health - NYC Political News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/nyc-doctors-face-mounting-challenges-treating-asylum-seekers-physical-and-mental-health\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"NYC Doctors Face Mounting Challenges Treating Asylum Seekers' Physical and Mental Health","og_description":"By: Kaya Laterman With over 200,000 asylum seekers arriving in New York City since October 2022, doctors and health advocates are facing mounting challenges in treating their physical and mental […]","og_url":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/nyc-doctors-face-mounting-challenges-treating-asylum-seekers-physical-and-mental-health\/","og_site_name":"NYC Political News","article_published_time":"2024-10-18T08:23:09+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-10-18T08:29:40+00:00","og_image":[{"width":960,"height":742,"url":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2024\/10\/univ_hosp_bklyn_lenox_jeh.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"NYC Politics Staff","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"NYC Politics Staff","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/nyc-doctors-face-mounting-challenges-treating-asylum-seekers-physical-and-mental-health\/","url":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/nyc-doctors-face-mounting-challenges-treating-asylum-seekers-physical-and-mental-health\/","name":"NYC Doctors Face Mounting Challenges Treating Asylum Seekers' Physical and Mental Health - NYC Political News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/nyc-doctors-face-mounting-challenges-treating-asylum-seekers-physical-and-mental-health\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/nyc-doctors-face-mounting-challenges-treating-asylum-seekers-physical-and-mental-health\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2024\/10\/univ_hosp_bklyn_lenox_jeh.jpg","datePublished":"2024-10-18T08:23:09+00:00","dateModified":"2024-10-18T08:29:40+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/#\/schema\/person\/939ed66bd7624d1689ff44e84f172524"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/nyc-doctors-face-mounting-challenges-treating-asylum-seekers-physical-and-mental-health\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/nyc-doctors-face-mounting-challenges-treating-asylum-seekers-physical-and-mental-health\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/nyc-doctors-face-mounting-challenges-treating-asylum-seekers-physical-and-mental-health\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2024\/10\/univ_hosp_bklyn_lenox_jeh.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2024\/10\/univ_hosp_bklyn_lenox_jeh.jpg","width":960,"height":742,"caption":"SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University in Flatbush, Brooklyn.Photo: Wikimedia Commons, Jim Henderson"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/nyc-doctors-face-mounting-challenges-treating-asylum-seekers-physical-and-mental-health\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"NYC Doctors Face Mounting Challenges Treating Asylum Seekers’ Physical and Mental Health"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/#website","url":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/","name":"NYC Political News","description":"Hyperlocal NYC Political News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/#\/schema\/person\/939ed66bd7624d1689ff44e84f172524","name":"NYC Politics Staff","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0977cebaf26539cb436ab76b256f102ed507c323f0cce28c441db61efcc193c6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0977cebaf26539cb436ab76b256f102ed507c323f0cce28c441db61efcc193c6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"NYC Politics Staff"},"url":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/author\/originalmediallc\/"}]}},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5888"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2429\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}