Western New York is home to thousands of people who first came to this country as refugees. When a refugee arrives for resettlement in Buffalo, one of the first orders of business is a health assessment – that’s where Neighborhood Health Center comes in.

“Oftentimes these are individuals who’ve been through traumatic experiences and we, as providers, need to be aware of that as we help them prepare to navigate life in a new country,” explains Neighborhood’s Jaclyn Ryan, FNP-BC. “We provide them with a health checkup, make sure that their immunizations – both for adults and children – are update to date, and assess what other care or services they might need. We’ll make connections for them if it’s not a service that Neighborhood provides.”

Refugees are not people who are in the country illegally. Under United States law, a refugee is someone who:

• Is of special humanitarian concern to the United States
• Demonstrates that they were persecuted or fear persecution due to race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group
• Is not firmly resettled in another country
• Is admissible to the United States

A refugee does not include anyone who ordered, incited, assisted, or otherwise participated in the persecution of any person on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.
(source: https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/refugees-and-asylum/refugees)

Jaclyn Ryan is one of the providers at Neighborhood who has gone through specific training for refugee health assessments. The training equips providers with a trauma-informed lens to guide them in offering appropriate care to these patients with kindness.

To learn more about Neighborhood’s other innovative community healthcare initiatives, click here.