Category: health issues

Refugees boosting the TB rate in Nebraska

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I recently traveled through Nebraska to meet citizens and see some of the meatpacking towns under stress from large numbers of refugees who have been placed there mostly by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, Church World Service, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service and the Ethiopian Community Development Council to supply multinational meat giants with a steady supply of cheap immigrant labor.

Nebraska capitol 2
I loved this engraving above the door of the Nebraska state capitol building in Lincoln.

In addition to the economic, social and cultural strains on the communities there it seems that now worries about the increased rate of active Tuberculosis will be concerning residents.
Here is Michael Patrick Leahy today at Breitbart with another of his investigative reports on Tuberculosis in American towns.  Add the cost of treating sick people to the burgeoning cost of refugee resettlement.

Eighty-two percent of the active tuberculosis (TB) cases diagnosed in Nebraska in 2014, that’s 31 out of 38, were foreign-born, according to the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.

Only six percent of the 1.9 million residents of the Cornhusker State are foreign-born.

2014’s 38 active TB cases represented an 80 percent increase in active TB cases in the state in one year, up from 21 in 2013.

[….]

The Tuberculosis Program Report 2014, published by the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, explains the role the state’s foreign-born population played in this increase in active TB in the state and the difficulties involved in dealing with that population when it comes to TB control:

Although Nebraska has an overall low incidence of TB, the cases continue to be difficult to treat because of the high percentage of foreign-born population that comprise Nebraska’s TB morbidity and also because of the complexity of the cases. The language and cultural barriers of the foreign-born population require a tremendous amount of public health resources to ensure a successful TB treatment outcome.

[….]

As many as 10,000 of the foreign-born residents of the state originally came as part of the refugee resettlement program and work primarily in low wage jobs in the burgeoning local meat-packing industry. Recently, the countries of origin for those refugees, the number of which increased from 764 in FY 2012 to 997 in FY 2013 to 1,076 in FY 2014, have had high rates of TB.

The vast majority of these new arrivals came from countries with high burdens of TB. Six hundred and sixty-two refugees in FY 2012 and 785 refugees in FY 2013 came from two such countries, Burma and Bhutan. Nine hundred and forty-eight refugees in FY 2014 came three countries–Burma, Bhutan, and Iraq.

Earlier refugees arrived from Somalia and Sudan.

Continue reading here.
And then go to our ‘health issues category’ here for much more on TB and other diseases and mental health problems associated with refugees.

Refugee news roundup! Trump is the only hope for America on most important issue—immigration

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

First, I’ve been seeing a whole lot of America since I left Maryland a week ago today.  Thanks so much to all of you who have met me along the way to tell me about what is happening to your towns and cities as a result of the UN/US State Department Refugee Admissions Program.
I’m now 1/4th of the way through my listening tour of the heartland.  I hope to get time this weekend to tell you a bit about what I am learning. In some cases I’m stunned, in others disheartened, and then there are bright spots (mostly those involve the hard work you are doing to try to stem the tide!).
But, in the meantime, there are all sorts of nuggets of news I’ve been missing.  So, here is a quick re-cap.

Trump acceptance
This is the most important election of our lifetimes (possibly even since our founding).

First, the Trump speech last night was remarkable in the detail in which he addressed immigration policy and specifically refugee admissions policy.  The indispensable Julia Hahn (does she sleep?) at Breitbart tells us about how CNN is ignorant of refugee policy in its so-called “fact checking.”  Read it here.
One of Hillary’s possible VEEP picks (Tim Kaine) speaks to leaders of one of the most dangerous mosques in America, see here.

A reminder! If Hillary is elected and Speaker Ryan is still in office, we are finished!

Refugees by the numbers!  Be sure to see Leo Hohmann’s WND summary of which states are getting Syrian refugees as we approach Obama’s deadline—September 30th—to place 10,000 mostly Muslim Syrians into your towns.
Congolese going to be placed in Montana.  An announcement has been made that the first refugees to be placed in Montana will be Congolese.  We are told the Congolese flow is mostly made up of needy and traumatized women and children. Most are not Muslim, but these refugees will contribute little to the economy and require more social services than the usual because they need mental health counseling.
Controversy continues to swirl in Rutland, VT where the mayor secretly worked with a refugee contractor and invited 100 Syrian Muslims to live there.  Learn more here at Watchdog.org.
More Syrian Muslims for Michigan at Arab American News, here.  This story is about Grand Rapids, but every American should see Dearborn as I did earlier in the week.
Connecticut wants to be known as the “go-to state” for refugees according to CNN, here. The resettlement contractor there brags that CT has welcomed more Syrians than any other state.  Not so, according to WND, here.
No refugees entering the US since 2010 have been screened for HIV.  We knew about it here in 2011. Taxpayers pay for their meds.
Editor:  I’ll continue to update this post later (if I get some time).  Moving on to the next town this morning.

Ohio: Active TB in refugees there too!

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Michael Patrick Leahy’s latest expose’ on where ACTIVE Tuberculosis is found in America reveals that the Akron, Ohio area has it too.

Elaine-Woloshyn-300x300
As Executive Director of the International Institute of Akron, Elaine Woloshyn is in charge of the refugees arriving in the city. The IIA is a subcontractor of USCRI the same federal contractor working to expand to Rutland VT and Reno NV. It is also the major federal contractor in Twin Falls, Idaho. http://iiakron.org/our-team/

We have a few posts on Akron here at RRW.  I’d like to direct you to one in particular because it is an example of what I am learning on my road trip through the heartland.  There is money involved in refugee resettlement and local elected officials and their cronies are figuring out how to tap it!  It is your money as developers look to the taxpayer-funded gravy train coming from Washington! (In addition to the foreign money that is buying up real estate!)
I digress.  Along with the money (for special people) comes other problems, including frightening health risks for all of us.
Leahy at Breitbart:

CLEVELAND, Ohio–Eleven refugees have been diagnosed with active tuberculosis in Summit County, Ohio, over the past six years, Dr. Margo Erme, medical director of the Summit County Public Health Department tells Breitbart News.

The case of active and communicable tuberculosis were in the county that holds Akron, with a population of 199,000. It is the largest city in Summit County, population 541,000.

The county lies immediately to the south of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County. Many of the delegates and members of the media attending the Republican National Convention held in Cleveland this week are staying at hotels in Summit County and are shuttled on buses thirty plus miles each way.

“From 1/1/2010 through 12/31/2015, 37 cases of tuberculosis (both pulmonary and extrapulmonary) were reported in Summit County,” Dr. Margo Erme, medical director of Summit County Public Health, tells Breitbart News in an email.

Of those, “16 were US-born” and “21 were foreign-born.” Of the 21 foreign-born, “10 did not come into the US on refugee status, 11 came into the US on refugee status,” Erme says.

Of the “US-born” I would like to know how many live in households with the “foreign-born?”
No time to write more, but check out this fluffy puffy piece on the growing Arab population of Toledo—a city I just visited!  A “model city” for Syrian refugees they say!  Ahhhh!  More when I have time.

Number of Active TB cases in Colorado has gone up

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

No time to do this justice as I’m dashing out to appointments, but wanted to get this posted quickly…..
More news in Breitbart’s series on Tuberculosis in the US refugee population.  This is an update of previous information on Colorado. By the way, Colorado is a so-called Wilson Fish state, one of more than a dozen states where elected officials have virtually no say in how taxpayer money is expended on refugees there.

Hickenlooper at Davos
Colorado Gov. Hickenlooper: We love our refugees in Colorado! I wonder did he go to Davos to schmooze with the big international corporations backing the free flow of immigrant labor around the world? A little TB here and there shouldn’t stand in the way of making money! Right?

From Michael Patrick Leahy and just breaking on Drudge:

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment admits that sixteen refugees were diagnosed with active TB between 2011 and 2014.

The admission comes one month after Breitbart News reported ten recently arrived refugees in Colorado were diagnosed with active tuberculosis (TB). Between 2011 and 2014, 16 out of 7,754 refugees were diagnosed with active TB at the time of their initial medical screening.

[….]

Colorado is one of fourteen states that have withdrawn from the federal refugee resettlement program. Under the statutorily questionable Wilson Fish alternative program, the federal government has hired a voluntary agency (VOLAG) to run the program there.

Though Tennessee, another state that has withdrawn from the federal refugee resettlement program, is suing the federal government on Tenth Amendment grounds over the resettlement of refugees in the Volunteer State, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat, is unlikely to add his state as a plaintiff in that lawsuit.

Continue reading here.
Are health care providers and volunteers who work with refugees being briefed on health threats from newly arrived refugees? That is what I want to know!
This is post number 313 in our health issues category.

Vermont's Watchdog.org tells us more about VT Health Dept. response to TB in the state

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This is a great website—Watchdog.org—I wonder how many other states have a Watchdog site like this which goes around the politically correct media spin and digs deeper into important stories effecting citizens in their states.

Patsy Kelso
Vermont state epidemiologist attempts to downplay seriousness of active TB in refugee population. Photo: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patsy-kelso-97290a78

Here is more on TB following the revelations we reported from Breitbart two days ago here.
Watchdog.org is reporting that the Vermont Health Department may not be diligently alerting and testing those who might have come in contact with the recent cases of ACTIVE TB.

Information not disclosed by the Health Department includes how many contact investigations are underway to identify the disease’s potential spread among the general public. Also not disclosed was how many people will need to undergo testing due to contact with the active TB patients.

In January 2015, state epidemiologist Patsy Kelso and Health Commissioner Harry Chen led a well-publicized TB control effort to isolate a single teacher at Charlotte Central School diagnosed with active TB disease. That effort, covered by VPR and WCAX, ultimately tested 500 students and co-workers exposed to the teacher, and identified 19 children and two adults to whom the tuberculosis had spread, according to Stateline.

Kelso, speaking Thursday on VPR’s Vermont Edition, offered a much different response regarding TB disease among refugees.

“It’s not a concern of mine,” Kelso said.

[….]

During the interview, Kelso shared data that show refugee populations are exhibiting a considerably higher rate of TB disease compared to native born Vermonters. “Looking at 2003 to 2015, we’ve seen 77 cases of (active) TB in people in Vermont, and 26 of those were in U.S.-born people and 15 of them were in refugees,” she said. Kelso added that the other 36 cases involved immigrants living in Vermont.  [Of the 26 U.S.-born people, how many were living in the household of an infected immigrant?—ed]

[….]

While Kelso’s response may have been aimed at allaying public fears about the disease’s spread, the epidemiologist noted that up to 10 percent of latent TB cases advance to active TB disease. That means Vermont’s infectious disease teams can expect to diagnose many more active TB cases as a result of the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program.

For more click here.
I know I’ve said this before, but until Michael Patrick Leahy at Breitbart began his investigation of Tuberculosis in the refugee stream to American towns and cities, we had no idea it was this bad.  Repeatedly those involved in the resettlement industry have said, oh, only latent TB-infected people can get in and now we learn that is not true.  And, if 10% of those with latent TB become active, will they become active in your child’s school one day, or working next to you in a meatpacking plant or serving you food in a restaurant. Are they ticking TB time bombs just waiting to go off?
Go here for our very large archive on ‘refugee health’ (our posts on Leahy’s previous stories are there). 310 previous posts are listed in that category addressing the many health concerns refugees bring to America (for you to pay for!).