Irondequoit, N.Y.
“Opposite” is the word Dim Sian Huai has for her life in Rochester for about the past two years.
Originally from Burma, in Southeast Asia, Dim obtained refugee status and lived in Malaysia before moving to Rochester with her brother and sister.
“The place (Rochester) was chosen for me,” said Dim, who is all smiles as she talks about “learning little by little.”
“The transportation, the language, the health care system ... the weather,” Dim says, all have been hard to learn — and ever-so-different than her background.
Even the mail is different here, Dim says.
Dim is one of 600 to 800 refugees — different from immigrants because they’ve had to escape their countries as a result of wars or some other kind of violence — who find new homes in Rochester each year.
She now works with other refugees, largely seeking health care, at a Rochester General Health System clinic in Rochester. She landed the job about four months ago, and now is excited to learn to drive.
“But it’s hard, too, finding someone to teach you (to drive),” Dim admitted.
She works alongside Jim Sutton, a physician’s assistant and director of community medicine and the refugee health program for Rochester General, and has colleagues like Ranga Khatiwada-Sharma, who is originally from Bhutan, a tiny country located between India and China.
Ranga, a refugee who was a teacher in Nepal for five to seven years before he was “resettled” in Rochester three years ago, came here with his wife, two children, and his mother, now 86.
“I already knew some English, but when we first got here, there was no one to talk to, and everything looked very strange,” Ranga said. “We didn’t know where to go shopping or how to get there or to our appointments.”
Ranga said the most difficult change he faced, however, was transportation.
“In Bhutan, I was used to the public transportation,” Ranga said, adding that here, “driving is a necessity.”
He said he’s still learning the “credit” system — especially how to establish credit.
Yet, working as a patient advocate and interpreter at a Rochester General clinic for two years, Ranga said he feels he’s helping, and is happy to do so.
He knew a little about computers when he came here, so that helped, too, Ranga said, and has also become the “tech support” for some of the hospital’s refugee services.
He does have people to socialize with now, Ranga said, but still doesn’t like the weather about half the year.
The hospital didn’t have a refugee program until 2008, Sutton said, but saw the need when it seemed they were getting more and more referrals.
According to 2008 data, the latest for which data is available, 87 percent of refugees coming in to New York state were resettled upstate. Of that 87 percent, 16 percent of those refugees are settled in Rochester.
“I think the environment here (in Rochester) is easier, and housing and jobs are semi-decent,” Sutton said. “Plus, Catholic Family Center is one of the better resettlement agencies in the country.”
He works with refugees primarily from a medical standpoint, and organized a conference on the topic earlier this year. The response to that two-day conference surprised even him. It drew 400 participants from 29 states.
“There are three traumas refugees go through,” Sutton said, pointing first to whatever happened in a refugee’s native country, then becoming, in effect, “a person without a country” in a camp, then resettling in the U.S.
“We see a lot of symptoms of unhealed trauma,” Sutton said, “yet it’s also extremely rewarding to help someone who’s so vulnerable and wants to do the right thing ... Even a little bit of help always gets a smile and a thank you.”
To health care providers, among the biggest challenges is communicating with refugees, Sutton said. To that end, the hospital is experimenting with a program, Remote Simultaneous Medical Interpretation (RSMI) it is piloting.
“It (RSMI) could be the solution to the language issue,” Sutton said, “but we still have to be careful of privacy laws.”
Sutton works closely with people like Jim Morris, associate director of refugee services at Catholic Family Center.
The center has a three-month resettlement program, Morris said, during which they provide or arrange “core services” — like housing and education — as defined by the federal government.
The national network with whom the center works sends biographies of potential refugees who might settle in Rochester, Morris explained, and the center accepts about 99 percent of them.
After a refugee is accepted, his department waits for an arrival notice, Morris said, and finds a house or apartment for the refugee or refugee family.
Saints Place, a ministry out of St. Louis Church in Pittsford, helps furnish the living quarters with donated goods, Morris said, adding, “Most settlement sites don’t have that (resource).”
Saints Place also runs a tutoring program in Rochester’s South Wedge area, Morris said.
Someone on the staff of six in his department then picks up the refugee or refugees at the airport, Morris said, and usually goes with an interpreter.
The refugees are given an initial orientation — on the culture here, basic household budgeting, public transportation, where to shop, etc. — and “a slew of services,” he said. “There’s so much they need to know” — from applying for a Social Security card to getting the proper immunizations so children can go to school.
Most are resettled in the city of Rochester because they need to be close to public transportation and city services, Morris said, but added that he knows families that have relocated to Henrietta, Pittsford, Perinton, Brighton and beyond after their initial arrival.
“We try to get them to the highest level of self-sufficiency and stability as we can,” said Morris, who started as a volunteer with the program in 1998, and now is a member of the full-time, paid staff.
“And we get everything from Burmese farmers to Cuban doctors,” Morris said, adding that people don’t realize the value of diversity to the community.
“There’s value in understanding other cultures and people,” Morris said, adding that refugees are also rejuvenating some whole blocks and neighborhoods in Rochester. “It’s a story of urban development ... To a large extent, they’re like the rest of us — a big melting pot.”
And, refugees are willing to take jobs some others may not, he said. For instance, 100 refugees graduated last week from certified nursing assistant training.
“There’s the economic angle, too,” Morris said. “These people are very willing and anxious to work, and they have a good reputation as an excellent work force.”
At the same time refugees are facing cultural barriers, they’re also dealing with trying to overcome some kind of trauma, Morris said. “Some were tortured or raped or the victims of some other kind of violence ... or they witnessed it.”
“Then there’s the trauma of just being a stranger in a strange land,” Morris said.
Still, there are great success stories, he said. “These people are determined ... and they’re survivors.”
They’re also everywhere ... “if you look,” Morris said. ‘They’re serving us food, working in hotels and hospitals ... The greatest thing to see is that they’re part of our community and making it a better place, too.”
Originally from Burma, in Southeast Asia, Dim obtained refugee status and lived in Malaysia before moving to Rochester with her brother and sister.
“The place (Rochester) was chosen for me,” said Dim, who is all smiles as she talks about “learning little by little.”
“The transportation, the language, the health care system ... the weather,” Dim says, all have been hard to learn — and ever-so-different than her background.
Even the mail is different here, Dim says.
Dim is one of 600 to 800 refugees — different from immigrants because they’ve had to escape their countries as a result of wars or some other kind of violence — who find new homes in Rochester each year.
She now works with other refugees, largely seeking health care, at a Rochester General Health System clinic in Rochester. She landed the job about four months ago, and now is excited to learn to drive.
“But it’s hard, too, finding someone to teach you (to drive),” Dim admitted.
She works alongside Jim Sutton, a physician’s assistant and director of community medicine and the refugee health program for Rochester General, and has colleagues like Ranga Khatiwada-Sharma, who is originally from Bhutan, a tiny country located between India and China.
Ranga, a refugee who was a teacher in Nepal for five to seven years before he was “resettled” in Rochester three years ago, came here with his wife, two children, and his mother, now 86.
“I already knew some English, but when we first got here, there was no one to talk to, and everything looked very strange,” Ranga said. “We didn’t know where to go shopping or how to get there or to our appointments.”
Ranga said the most difficult change he faced, however, was transportation.
“In Bhutan, I was used to the public transportation,” Ranga said, adding that here, “driving is a necessity.”
He said he’s still learning the “credit” system — especially how to establish credit.
Yet, working as a patient advocate and interpreter at a Rochester General clinic for two years, Ranga said he feels he’s helping, and is happy to do so.
He knew a little about computers when he came here, so that helped, too, Ranga said, and has also become the “tech support” for some of the hospital’s refugee services.
He does have people to socialize with now, Ranga said, but still doesn’t like the weather about half the year.
The hospital didn’t have a refugee program until 2008, Sutton said, but saw the need when it seemed they were getting more and more referrals.
According to 2008 data, the latest for which data is available, 87 percent of refugees coming in to New York state were resettled upstate. Of that 87 percent, 16 percent of those refugees are settled in Rochester.
“I think the environment here (in Rochester) is easier, and housing and jobs are semi-decent,” Sutton said. “Plus, Catholic Family Center is one of the better resettlement agencies in the country.”
He works with refugees primarily from a medical standpoint, and organized a conference on the topic earlier this year. The response to that two-day conference surprised even him. It drew 400 participants from 29 states.
“There are three traumas refugees go through,” Sutton said, pointing first to whatever happened in a refugee’s native country, then becoming, in effect, “a person without a country” in a camp, then resettling in the U.S.
“We see a lot of symptoms of unhealed trauma,” Sutton said, “yet it’s also extremely rewarding to help someone who’s so vulnerable and wants to do the right thing ... Even a little bit of help always gets a smile and a thank you.”
To health care providers, among the biggest challenges is communicating with refugees, Sutton said. To that end, the hospital is experimenting with a program, Remote Simultaneous Medical Interpretation (RSMI) it is piloting.
“It (RSMI) could be the solution to the language issue,” Sutton said, “but we still have to be careful of privacy laws.”
Sutton works closely with people like Jim Morris, associate director of refugee services at Catholic Family Center.
The center has a three-month resettlement program, Morris said, during which they provide or arrange “core services” — like housing and education — as defined by the federal government.
The national network with whom the center works sends biographies of potential refugees who might settle in Rochester, Morris explained, and the center accepts about 99 percent of them.
After a refugee is accepted, his department waits for an arrival notice, Morris said, and finds a house or apartment for the refugee or refugee family.
Saints Place, a ministry out of St. Louis Church in Pittsford, helps furnish the living quarters with donated goods, Morris said, adding, “Most settlement sites don’t have that (resource).”
Saints Place also runs a tutoring program in Rochester’s South Wedge area, Morris said.
Someone on the staff of six in his department then picks up the refugee or refugees at the airport, Morris said, and usually goes with an interpreter.
The refugees are given an initial orientation — on the culture here, basic household budgeting, public transportation, where to shop, etc. — and “a slew of services,” he said. “There’s so much they need to know” — from applying for a Social Security card to getting the proper immunizations so children can go to school.
Most are resettled in the city of Rochester because they need to be close to public transportation and city services, Morris said, but added that he knows families that have relocated to Henrietta, Pittsford, Perinton, Brighton and beyond after their initial arrival.
“We try to get them to the highest level of self-sufficiency and stability as we can,” said Morris, who started as a volunteer with the program in 1998, and now is a member of the full-time, paid staff.
“And we get everything from Burmese farmers to Cuban doctors,” Morris said, adding that people don’t realize the value of diversity to the community.
“There’s value in understanding other cultures and people,” Morris said, adding that refugees are also rejuvenating some whole blocks and neighborhoods in Rochester. “It’s a story of urban development ... To a large extent, they’re like the rest of us — a big melting pot.”
And, refugees are willing to take jobs some others may not, he said. For instance, 100 refugees graduated last week from certified nursing assistant training.
“There’s the economic angle, too,” Morris said. “These people are very willing and anxious to work, and they have a good reputation as an excellent work force.”
At the same time refugees are facing cultural barriers, they’re also dealing with trying to overcome some kind of trauma, Morris said. “Some were tortured or raped or the victims of some other kind of violence ... or they witnessed it.”
“Then there’s the trauma of just being a stranger in a strange land,” Morris said.
Still, there are great success stories, he said. “These people are determined ... and they’re survivors.”
They’re also everywhere ... “if you look,” Morris said. ‘They’re serving us food, working in hotels and hospitals ... The greatest thing to see is that they’re part of our community and making it a better place, too.”
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