Refugee Community Health Partnership ProgramGraduate Intern: Laya Lakkaraju

Co-mentors: Susan Kukuk and Edmund Russell Altone

Mission: To serve as a catalyst that engages refugees and community partners in ways that enable refugees to overcome language barriers to health care access, improve their health and well-being, and acquire skills and knowledge to achieve self-efficacy.

Population: Refugees resettled in the Capital Region

Stakeholders:

Issues: Barriers to Healthcare Access

• Limited English proficiency• Unfamiliarity with and complexity of the U.S. health

care system• Scarcity of health providers offering language

interpretation • Inaccessible health services due to transportation

issues• Lack of cultural competence by some health care

providers• Unfamiliarity with the concept of preventive care• Specific traditional health beliefs and cultural

attitudes

Values of the Program:

Components of the Program:

1. Quick Help sessions – Held twice weekly for walk-in refugee clients at which volunteers, including interpreters from refugee communities, help individuals and families resolve a wide range of issues, including those related to health care, education, public benefits, employment, personal finance, legal matters, etc. More than 300 client encounters during first quarter of 2016.

2. Integrating health-promoting features to Quick Help sessions – e.g. collaboration with University at Albany School of Social Welfare in which RCHPP arranges appointments with certified health insurance Navigators and provides volunteer interpreter support.

3. Health Orientation for new incoming refugees in partnership with USCRI.

4. Special collaborations with community partners – e.g. flu vaccine PODs, healthy nutrition classes, where to catch healthy fish event, fire safety event.

RCHPPTrinity Alliance

External Stakeholders• Health care

providers• Health insurance

plans• State and county

health departments

Internal Stakeholders • Community

Members & Leaders• Volunteers• Trinity Staff

Right to Health

Inspired Community Health Shared LearningSelf Efficacy

Mutual Respect Cultural Appreciation

Inclusive Participation Social Justice

Student Role:1. Program Coordination

• Conducting volunteer recruitment • Organizing twice-weekly Quick Help sessions • Creating resources to help volunteers guide refugees

in choosing accessible health providers that offer language interpretation

• Starting grant application process to fund internships, language interpretation, etc.

2. Health education

• Creating videos with voiceovers on how to get to local health provider locations in various languages

• Presenting health orientations to newly arrived refugees at USCRI refugee resettlement agency

• Organizing collaboration with Planned Parenthood entitled What Every Young Woman Needs to Know – a sexual health program for young women ages 12 – 21.

Limitations of the Program:• Volunteer retention /consistency of participation• Not all refugee populations participating mainly due

to lack of volunteer interpreters for languages other than Karen and Burmese

• Aim is to provide interpretation and include all refugee groups.