Fatiya Adam is a native of Ethiopia. She came to the United States 20 years ago after spending a decade in a refugee camp in Kenya.
“My family was fleeing a war, a conflict between tribes,” she said. “And there was language and culture shock. We look different and people just don’t understand.”
Officials with Lutheran Services in Iowa (LSI) estimate 2,500 refugees will come to the state this year. Those refugees, LSI says, will need medical providers who understand their trauma and barriers.
“We do see additional challenges for newcomers, who don't speak the language and are learning how to navigate insurance and all of these things in a linguistically and culturally appropriate way,” said Nick Wuertz, the director of immigration and refugee community services for LSI.
Wuertz said the organization, along with ten other agencies, help with resettlement services, including navigating health concerns.
“We see a lot of families that have had very little opportunity for dental care, vision care,” he said. “They had conditions that maybe went untreated for years, and so initial medical screenings and ongoing health care is an important piece of helping them be successful in the United States.”
The highest number of refugees receiving help from LSI come from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Syria and Burma. The list goes on to include many other countries across the world, including Vietnam, Ukraine, Afghanistan and Venezuela.
“We are seeing a dramatic increase in the numbers of arrivals coming into our communities,” Wuertz said. “It's almost doubling the numbers of people that are coming into the country and into our state and we're offering the opportunity for resettlement and so we need more community partners and providers to join us in that work.”
Giving back
Adam now works as a case worker for LSI and knows first-hand the challenges people forced from their homeland face.
“It changed my life because I put myself in their shoes,” she said. "I'm helping people. I may not understand everything they went through, because we all go through different trauma, but I can learn to understand them, and be able to connect with them and help every day.”
The people Adam serves in northwest Iowa sometimes wait for months to see a doctor or have to travel one to two hours to find a dentist willing to take their insurance. Plus, there are concerns surrounding mental health outreach.
“Sometimes because of the culture, they're afraid to say they need help,” she said. “We try and make them understand that we’re here to help and there’s nothing to be shameful about. Many had a great life before war happened and they had to flee their country.”
Adam and Wuertz, along with several dozen other people, attended a conference at Briar Cliff University in Sioux City Friday on how to help achieve cultural awareness in health care by focusing on diversity, equity, and inclusion. The gathering also included college students who plan to go into the medical field after graduation.
