Since 1986, Newark Community Health centers has committed to provide affordable and quality healthcare to the Newark and its adjoining communities. On 20th June, 2016, NCHC celebrated its first Welcome Refugees event at 101 Ludlow Street. It was the first event in collaboration with the International rescue committee. The resettlement Director, Alison Milan joined forces with NCHC to provide Arabic translator for all Syrian refugees and started a collaboration that will change the curve of future for more events.
NCHC’s hardworking and diligent staff understands the difficulties that new refugees face and this event reflected their willingness to go extra mile- to help Communities bridge in. NCHC is regarded as a pioneer health care center for depicting it’s no discrimination policy towards patients, and has established variety of departments including Internal medicine, Pediatrics, Obstetrics, Gynecology, Podiatry, Dental Nutrition and Mental health. This event was held to welcome all refugees into our health center and to inform them of the importance of using preventive measures in health, as well as maintaining one’s wellness.
President and CEO of NCHC, Dr. Pamela Clarke, gave a warm and interactive welcome to all the refugees and explained the role of NCHC’s as a patient centered medical home- that works to make every patient a part of our NCHC family. There was a noticeable enthusiasm in regards to all that NCHC can do to provide high quality, affordable, and accessible healthcare for them and their families. Dr. Clarke also reflected on the role of accountability, quality, service, teamwork, integrity and respect- the very foundation of NCHC.
The audience participated by asking questions regarding cardiovascular diseases, blood pressure and diabetes. Folks from all walks of life attended the event and the active participation made it an astounding success. NCHC has made a promise to provide excellent healthcare services at the door step. Approximately 18.2 million Americans have the disease and almost one third (or approximately 5.2 million) are unaware that they have it. An additional 41 million people have pre-diabetes. NCHC’s staff was able to help refugees understand the physiology of numerous clinical conditions and its treatment.
The acting CMO of NCHC Dr. Chidi Achebe helped the masses understand the concept of BMI and cholesterol. It was a great introspective for folks to understand when is their cholesterol borderline high or they are on risk of have heart disease. Nurses and Staff at NCHC were open to discuss their options to check LDL and HDL levels and determine conditions or risk factors.
NCHC welcomed them with open arms. It provided to be a brilliant chance to collaborate and understand different cultures. Imbued with food, music and a chance to understand American culture, the event came to an end. The end itself promised a new horizon for similar events in future. There was an array of excitement and laughter that filled the room as refugees and NCHC staff began to interact with one another despite the language barriers present. The refugees and their families were seen by our dedicated staff and physician’s so that every single event attendee was registered into our healthcare system. As eager as we were to give them a welcoming hand from all of NCHC, they too embraced us as their healthcare family!