Canada ramping-up for challenge of extensive mental health needs of Syrian refugees

10/28/2015 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Since we are on the subject of the costly health needs of Syrian refugees (Netherlands in previous post), here is some news about how Canadian mental health providers are getting ready for the huge influx of mostly Syrian Muslims expected to be settled from coast to coast in the coming year.
From michaelcolborne.com:

Doctors in a handful of clinics across Canada are preparing for the arrival of many thousands of refugees fleeing the war in Syria. So far only a few have arrived, but more are expected as part of the new government’s commitment to settle 25,000 Syrian refugees through 2016.

“The most significant part of our practice is dealing with mental health issues,” says Dr. Meb Rashid, who works at the Crossroads Clinic, a refugee clinic in Toronto, and is currently working with Lifeline Syria to establish clinics for the expected influx of Syrian refugees in Toronto.

[….]

Meeting the health needs of thousands of Syrian refugees will not be easy, Rashid admits. “It’s really the scope of this. If we’re looking at tens of thousands of people, we haven’t seen those types of numbers before.” As well, he and other doctors are concerned that the current lack of full health coverage for privately sponsored refugees under the Interim Federal Health Program will make it difficult to meet Syrian refugees’ health needs.

Despite this, Rashid and his colleagues across the country, from Toronto to Vancouver to Halifax — where a new clinic for refugees has just opened — say they are ready for the challenge. “We’re starting to ramp things up,” says Rashid.

Continue reading here.
New readers might be interested to know that we have an entire category entitled ‘health issues’ where we have 284 previous posts about refugee and immigrant health archived.
All of our posts on Canada are archived here (159 previous posts!).

Netherlands: Asylum seekers to be tested for skin disease MRSA as cases are diagnosed in three provinces

10/28/2015 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Invasion of Europe news…..
Tuberculosis and AIDs are expected in the ‘refugee’ flow into Europe, but now the deadly skin disease MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) is showing up and we learn from the Dutch health service that any asylum seeker needing a hospital visit will be quarantined and tested.
MRSA perhaps more scary than ISIS….
From NL Times:

netherlands-provinces-capitals-map — MRSA has been diagnosed in ‘refugees’ in northern provinces of Groningen and Drenthe, and in Weert which is in the southern Limburg province.

The National Institute for Public Health and Environment, the RIVM, has decided to quarantine every asylum seeker visiting a hospital and screen them for MRSA. This decision was made after the dreaded hospital bacteria was found in a few refugees in asylum centers in Weert and the provinces of Drenthe and Groningen.

This measure is to prevent a major outbreak of MRSA in refugee centers. “All hospitals have now been informed of the increased risk”, Jaap van Dissel, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Control at the RIVM, said to newspaper AD.

A total of 95 refugees were examined who came in contact with a MRSA patient in Weert. Fifteen percent of them were infected with the bacteria. In the northern provinces it was 10 percent. Under normal circumstances, about 1 percent of the Dutch population carry this bacteria.

MRSA can be very dangerous to people with a weak resistance, such as refugees who traveled for weeks under horrible circumstances. The bacteria is also resistant to most antibiotics, which is why hospitals work very hard to prevent an outbreak.

“Healthy people do not have to be afraid”, Van Dissel said to the newspaper. “If doctors and other care providers in asylum centers stick to the hygiene measures, the chance of it spreading is very small.”

New readers might be interested to know that we have an entire category entitled ‘health issues’ where we have 283 previous posts about refugee and immigrant health archived.
I know there is nothing funny about it, but how often do we hear the Left squawking about how the first Europeans to arrive in the new world brought deadly diseases with them, will we hear one squawk from the “welcoming” Dutch as the invaders from the Middle East and Africa bring diseases to the Netherlands?
All of our ‘Invasion of Europe’ news is here.

German health care system strained (ya think!)

10/24/2015 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Invasion of Europe news……

Germany welcome — German people welcome refugees (health problems and all!). For how long?

This is a long article, carefully written to avoid scaring the heck out of readers, but you can imagine the challenge of dealing with hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers flooding the German health care system. Screening for communicable diseases is at the top of the list for new arrivals, but many don’t get screening for weeks or even longer.
I’ll let you read it yourself. However, here is one particularly concerning subject, and one we have here in the US as well—-refugees have mental health problems. And, these are the people Germany is counting on to be the worker-bees of the future who will take care of the aging German population?
From Health Affairs Blog:

In the immediate future, efforts to reduce bureaucratic hurdles need to continue; however, it is just as important is to address the linguistic, cultural, and societal barriers to access. This is a particular concern for ensuring proper mental health care. Studies show that more than half of the asylum-seekers and refugees arriving in Germany have mental health problems, especially minors. And institutional accommodation and restricted economic opportunities have been associated with worse mental health of refugees. While mental health services are available, and there are specialised services for traumatised refugees, uptake is low due to low awareness and cultural barriers. Other issues that need urgent attention are providing adequate shelter to avoid crowding and ensuring good hygienic condition.

About the photo: It is here at Snopes where the Leftwing site tries to dispel a story making the rounds about a woman doctor working in Germany. Read it and decide for yourself if it rings true, or not.
More ‘Invasion of Europe’ news is here. Click here for our complete archive on Germany. And, if you’ve never seen it, we have an entire category on ‘health issues’ (282 previous posts).

Female genital mutilation in Minnesota Somali population not disappearing

10/18/2015 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Diversity is beautiful (not!) alert!

Please read this dreadful story yourselves. So much for assimilation!
You can be sure that all of these girls are not traveling back to Africa to have the ‘procedure’ done, it must be being practiced right here in America where it is ILLEGAL.
See City Pages, here for news on female genital mutilation in Minnesota’s African refugee population.
See this map we published back in March:

Now, have a look at the map of states with the highest refugee populations. Although not a perfect match I think we can conclude that if your state gets large numbers of refugees, your chances of FGM happening where you live increases. So, what are the resettlement agencies doing to help stamp out this brutal treatment of women? Where are the feminists?
See all of our previous posts on FGM here.

And now, just for fun, see the mosque map for the US (thanks to Allen West’s blog for putting these maps together).

Florida: Syrian community leader says the state will get 1,000-2,000 Syrians this year; need mental health care

10/13/2015 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

He is guessing on the numbers and basing it on the fact that Florida is one of the top states receiving mostly Muslim Syrians so far. We listed the Top Ten states here. And, we listed all the cities receiving Syrians (so far) here.

Dr+Doured+Daghistani — Dr. Doured Daghistani says the Syrians will “beef up” the diversity of South Florida.

This is from WLRN (Miami) (I sure hope there are a lot of mental health dollars available in Florida!):

According to the State Department, the six states that have housed the most Syrian refugees so far are Texas, California, Michigan, Illinois, Arizona and Florida.

Dr. Doured Daghistani, a pediatric oncologist and board member of the Syrian American Council of South Florida, says the culture shock endured by Syrian refugees arriving here is unlike any other immigrant experience.

“They’re coming with a big psycho-social burden on them,” said Daghistani.

[….]

Last month, President Obama said his administration is preparing to accept 10,000 Syrian refugees in the coming budget year. Daghistani said he expects 10-20% of the refugees to relocate to Florida and at least 10% to South Florida.

Recent polls show a majority of Americans are opposed to Obama’s plan, with most believing it poses a threat to national security.

[….]

“I think bringing the Syrian refugees here will help the humanitarian issues and will beef up the diversity of South Florida,” Daghistani said.

Syrian American Council of South Florida facebook page is here.

What you can do!

I urge all of you in Florida to visit my post yesterday and contact your state’s resettlement agencies. You will be asking for a schedule of upcoming “quarterly consultations” and the “FY2016 Abstract” for your city. Report to me what you find out!

Meeting tomorrow in Orlando

Although not Southern Florida, a reader yesterday told me about a meeting TOMORROW in Orlando. If you are in the area please attend!

Orlando Area Refugee Task Force Meeting

Event Type:

Public Meeting

Date/Time:

Wednesday, October 14, 2015 – 10:00 to 12:00

Location:

Florida Department of Transportation
133 S. Semoran Blvd
Orlando Florida 32807
United States

The purpose of this meeting is to increase awareness of the refugee populations, share best practices, spot trends in refugee populations, build collaborations between agencies, help create good communication among service providers, get informed about upcoming community events, and discuss refugee program service needs and possible solutions to meeting those needs.

I’ve been told that the Florida Dept of Children and Families has other PUBLIC meetings on refugees as well, so Floridians need to find out how to be notified of upcoming opportunities around the state.