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E <br />_i ~..: <br />Access to Health Care <br />Immigrant and Refugee Health <br />Several local agencies have initiated or expanded <br />programs to reduce the health disparities <br />experienced by immigrant and refugee populations in <br />Orange County. <br />Between 2006 and 2009, three new refugee <br />resettlement agencies opened, totaling four triangle- <br />based agencies. As a result, Orange County <br />experienced a notable increase in the number of <br />refugees, mostly from Burma, resettling in Carrboro <br />and Chapel Hill. <br />In response, the Orange <br />County Health Department <br />formed an interagency group to <br />raise awareness about the new <br />population from Burma and to <br />collaborate in providing <br />accessible and appropriate <br />services for the County's <br />newest residents. These <br />collaborations have resulted in several successful <br />efforts. <br />UNC Hospital's Interpreter Services Department <br />provided aloes-cost, intensive Medical Interpreter <br />training to 10 local Karen and Burmese community <br />interpreters. <br />Orange-Person-Chatham (OPC) Area Program <br />responded to the need for refugee mental health <br />services by providing cultural competency training for <br />clinicians. This training included mental health, <br />substance abuse, crisis services, access and school- <br />based services providers. OPC has also co-located a <br />therapist at Piedmont Health Services to provide <br />assessment and therapy one evening each week in <br />order to serve the large number of Karen and <br />Burmese-speaking County residents in need of <br />services. <br />The Orange County Health Department continues to <br />provide communicable disease screening to all <br />refugees resettling in the county. To help improve <br />disease surveillance, the Personal Health Services <br />division began using the new web-based North <br />Carolina Electronic Disease Surveillance System <br />(NCEDSS) for tracking disease outbreaks and for <br />tracing contacts. The system also has a central <br />repository of public health communicable disease <br />data. Following screening, newly arrived refugees are <br />referred to community medical providers for ongoing <br />care including Carrboro Community Health Center <br />and UNC Family Medicine. <br />The Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools (CHCCS) and <br />the Health Department worked together to provide a <br />one-time vaccination clinic to efficiently immunize <br />newly arrived refugee students. <br />The Health Department also partnered with a student <br />intern, a former refugee herself, to create resources <br />to assist agencies with appropriate referrals, and to <br />provide refugee clients with community navigation <br />tools. The resource list, bus route brochures, and <br />community clinics maps are posted on the Health <br />Department's Immigrant and Refugee Health <br />Resources webpage. <br />In addition, the Orange County Health Department <br />facilitates a Latino Health Coalition (established in <br />April 2007). The Coalition connects health <br />professionals working with Latinos in order to provide <br />more accessible and coordinated medical, dental and <br />other health services for the growing Latino <br />population. <br />5 <br />