To
give you some background, IRC is a NGO, international relief and development
org that works with refugees from the time they arrange to leave a country ‘til
the first eight months after their arrival in the US. The IRC has several
departments, like resettlement, employment, immigration, etc. The Health Access
Team was created during the summer of 2012 as IRC Oakland was realizing that
there was a need for a huge need for a separate crew to take care of the health
needs of clients, including accompaniment to health screenings, finding a
health home, paying medical bills, finding specialists, finding medical
equipment, finding caregivers, etc. You can imagine how all this health related
work would be a lot for the two caseworkers to deal with!
First,
I would like to say that I was and am very impressed at the way that IRC
welcomes new volunteers and interns. From the start, I was invited to a Health
Access Team meeting, where I had the opportunity to meet the Northern
California director, the Oakland director, the head interns and the other
volunteers, both current and new. Though I knew nothing, from the start, I was
given a detailed training packet about important things I needed to know, like
the process health team goes through with each individual, which was created by
more experienced volunteers.
I
initially thought I’d be doing less interactive work, as I intern every
Thursday when the office is closed to appointments, but boy was I wrong. Each
day, the routine is to come into the office and check the manila folder where volunteers
write down the tasks that need to be done for the week. When a task is completed
it is checked off the list and when something needs to be done, it is written
down. My tasks often include calling up billing services to make sure that the
clients’ MediCal information is on file so their bills would be covered,
accompanying clients to Asian Health Services, the DMV, Social Services, etc.
for appointments, checking out ReCares (medical equipment recycling program) to
see if there is any medical equipment clients need, delivering equipment, visiting
families at their houses, helping clients submit their MediCal Choice forms,
speaking with clients who come in with paperwork they do not understand etc.
Though
these tasks may seem very tedious and boring to you, actually, they are not!
Each day, I am learning more about how MediCal works, the health services our
county has to offer, but more importantly, the disparities in our system and
how our government fails to really support such a vulnerable population. As I
try to help clients out through making phone calls and navigating such a
complex system, as I face many difficulties and am put on hold for way too long,
I can not even imagine how hard it would be for refugees who know little
English to navigate and figure out these things independently. To tell you the
truth, it is also really saddening to see how refugees expect a whole new world
of opportunity and hope for a new life before they come to America, but when
they come, they are often dissatisfied with their living conditions and are
quite stunned by the culture shock they experience. As I say these things, I am
thinking a lot about my role as an intern. The words I am saying seem so
top-down to me. I believe that I need to think more about my approach in my
work, because often, I think of myself as the more skilled or experienced
member whom the refugees I work on depend on or would be helpless without. As I
continue my practice this summer, I hope to think more of what it looks like
for me to be a better listener who comes alongside the refugees, instead of
coming as a dominant figure who can solve all the things I perceive to be
“problems” for them. In my future blog posts, I hope to detail more of
the specific encounters that I’ve had, but I’m realizing how talkative I can be…so I’ll
end this post here. Thanks for reading!
Thanks Hannah for your reflection.
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