The City of Austin Refugee Health Screening Clinic is funded by a grant from the US Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) given through the State Health and Human Services department. All refugees resettled in Austin are referred first to the clinic for screening. Today while our referral numbers are slightly lower than normal, our staff continues to grow as we prepare for more arrivals this fall. We have a new physician Dr. Ming Tang and new phlebotomist Tracy Carter. We are excited to be expanding the number of staff who are qualified to provide quality care to patients.
Referrals are received from the voluntary agencies Refugee Services of Texas and Caritas of Austin. Our total number of new patient screenings to date has been 877 since the beginning of our fiscal year October 2010. We see clients typically within two weeks of their arrival to the US. We also screen secondary migrants new to Austin if they are referred within 90 days of arrival. If it is after 90 days we will continue to see patients for vaccines only until they complete their vaccine series.
At RHSC we provide clients with needed vaccines and health screenings and referrals to appropriate providers. We have two nurses who gather health history, give vaccines and complete labs. Our nurse practitioner will see them on the next visit to review labs and make recommendations for referrals. Our nurse practitioner will only see clients once for screening then will make a request for patients to be seen with a family doctor. We continue to see patients for vaccines, treatment of intestinal parasites, and lab follow ups only, as required for their immigration paperwork. After one year and one day, they are able (if all medical requirements are met) to have their I-693 medical portion of application completed to apply for their permanent residency.
Our clients are given Medicaid for 8 months upon arrival unless they are children, elderly/disabled, or pregnant-who get Medicaid longer. We have worked hard to create partnerships with primary care providers in Austin to make sure our referral process for our clients goes smoothly for both the provider and the client. Clinics that we refer to include: Community Care clinics, Seton Topfer, Seton McCarthy, and Lonestar Circle of Care. We are happy to now have established contacts at these sites to ensure proper care within the 8months allotted from Medicaid.
Primary needs that qualify as urgent include: diabetes, hypertension, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, warts, rashes, seizure disorder, obgyn, hypothyroidism, arthritis, scoliosis, neuroma, osteoarthritis, anemia, and abnormal chest x-rays. Typically these cases are placed on high priority for our referrals lists to primary care providers. Behavioral health needs that are seen in our patients include: depression, adjustment, anxiety, post traumatic stress, injuries from war, and children with developmental delays. Our social worker assists with the referral and medical case management process as well as with therapeutic support to those whom have lost family members or experienced trauma. For intensive cases referrals are also made to Center for Survivors of Torture, Saheli, and Austin Travis County Integral Care.
We also register live interpreters as city vendors used to provide live interpretation during specialty visits when providers do not have access to interpretive services on site.
This year we are focused on ongoing projects to improve health literacy for our patients. We want to create culturally appropriate interventions and informational tools that will continue to provide best practice for our patients and promote learning and growth in our clients’ maintenance of their care.
For more information e-mail RHreferral@austintexas.gov or call 512-972-6210