     xaaji | Unrecorded Date
Asalaamu Calaykum!
Date: 2/22/00
Waxaan dhamaantiin idinku salaamayaa salaanta islaamka
ee kor ku xusan!
kadib waxaan jecelahay in dhamaan walidiinta iyo
dhalin yaradaba ay ogaadaan in wadankeenii Soomaliya
oo ay horaba u naafeeyeen dhibaatooyin dagaal iyo
abaaro ba'ani ay hadana ugu sii biireen cuduro fara
badan oo aan hore uga dhici jirin!
Waxaa la sheegay in la keeni doono Magaalada
Minneapolis 20 qof soo soomali ah oo Qaba xanuunka
Aids-ka Saaka Radio-ga ayaa laga sii daayay
Jornaalkana waa lagu qoray ka soo baxa magaalada Mpls
ee la yidhaahdo Star Tribune.
wuxuu warku intaa ku darayaa in la keeni doono in ku
dhadhaw 80 qof oo qaba viruska HIV oo ah midka sababa
xanuunka AIDS-KA, waxaa la kala dajin doonaa meelo
kala duwan:
Markaa waxaan walaalayaal idinla socodsiinayaa in ay
waalidiintu siiyaan wano caruurtooda yar-yar gaar
ahaan kuwa dhigta Iskuulada: waxa kale oo xusid mudan
in la sheegay in Xanunkan Aids-ku iminka faro ba'an ku
hayo Somaliya markaa waxaan ku baraarujinayaa in inta
aan la is guursan la iska baadho xanuunka dilaaga ah
marka hore. Tani waxaa laga yaabaa in dad badani la
yaabaan hase yeeshee waxaa ku jira muslaxaada qoyska
cusub ee islaamka ah.
sidii hore xaalku waa ka kulul yahay soomaliyeey!
Mahadsanindin
Published Saturday,
February 19, 2000
Possible local
resettlement of HIV-positive refugees prompts concerns
Mark Brunswick and Mary
Lynn Smith / Star Tribune
As many as 20 HIV-positive
refugees may arrive in Hennepin County within the next
several weeks as part of a federal
program waiving
restrictions on their immigration.
The arrangement has county
officials concerned about long-term health and social
costs and state authorities worried about
adequate planning.
Minneapolis is one of six
cities selected by the nonprofit organizations
overseeing the resettlement to receive the refugees,
in
part because of its
"excellent" network of social and financial services
for AIDS and HIV patients, said Dr. Alan Lifson of the
Minnesota Department of
Health. Another reason is to reunite the refugees with
relatives already in the area.
But Hennepin County Board
Chairman Randy Johnson described the arrangement as
"ill-timed" and has raised concerns to
U.S. Sen. Rod Grams and
others about the potential financial impact to county
taxpayers.
Last month Lifson wrote a
letter to federal authorities expressing "serious
concerns about rushing this process without adequate
time for planning," saying
issues such as housing, possible citizen unease and
proper medical care had yet to be addressed.
Since then, a coalition of
agencies has been convened to try to work out the
concerns.
County officials say that
an eight-month federal transition fund for the
refugees, as well as Medicaid payments and other
federal
funding for medical care,
probably won't cover the costs of an HIV-positive
client.
Johnson, while supportive
of lessening restrictions on immigration, said the
HIV-positive refugees will arrive with significant
needs.
"Inevitably, they are
going to have much higher health-care needs than
people who are not HIV-positive," he said. "We already
have an acute shortage of
housing in Minneapolis and Hennepin County now. Our
hospital is in great stress, in large part
because of funding changes
by the federal government. Will they supply adequate
funding for this? I don't believe that for a
minute."
Ramsey County isn't slated
to receive any of the current wave of refugees, but
county officials there agree that the federal
government will pony up
some money. "It's a federal decision and the dollars
should follow them," said Dr. Neal Holtan, the
county's medical director.
Questions remain
Local resettlement will be
handled through a federal contract with Lutheran
Social Services. Given the "crisis" nature of
resettlement, Betty Hayes,
director of Refugee Services and Employment Programs,
said it is not clear how many HIV-positive
refugees will come to the
metro area or how long the process will take.
HIV-positive refugees have settled here in the past,
but
in smaller numbers than
those anticipated now.
Local and state health
officials have been told that about 20 HIV-positive
refugees, most of them Somali, can be expected
within several weeks. An
estimated 80 others are expected to be sent to Boston,
New York City, Chicago, San Diego and San
Francisco.
The United States refuses
entry to people with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
Those with refugee status -- meaning their
lives could be endangered
if they stayed in their country -- can be exempt from
that law, but typically, only a handful of waivers
have been granted a year.
The major roadblock for
those seeking waivers was a requirement that any
health costs associated with the resettlement be
approved before arrival.
Many refugees were unable to obtain those kind of
assurances, either from an insurance carrier or
from local or state health
departments.
But U.S. Immigration and
Naturalization Service policies were loosened last
year, under the belief that federal programs meet
the funding requirements.
As a consequence, several hundred HIV-positive
refugees are expected to arrive in the country over
the next couple of years,
according to a U.S. State Department official working
with the resettlement programs.
Given the wide spectrum of
the seriousness of the illness and differences in
treatments, AIDS experts say it is difficult to
determine the average cost
of caring for an HIV-positive person.
Federal funding can come
from Medicaid and the Refugee Medical Assistance
program, and from a program that provides
home care, transportation,
counseling, and hospice care for people with AIDS or
HIV: the Ryan White CARE Act, named for
an 18-year-old from
Kokomo, Ind., who died of AIDS complications in 1990.
In addition, many people
who are HIV-positive in Minnesota receive medical care
through a high-risk insurance pool, with the
state paying premiums for
low-income recipients, said Julia Ashley, a program
manager for the Minnesota Department of
Health.
Nevertheless, Johnson met
last week with representatives for Grams to express
concerns about the potential local costs. Grams
has not taken a position,
but his office is looking into the financial
implications and possible citizen concerns about the
overall
number of refugees
resettling in the metro area, said Steve Behm, a
spokesman for the senator.
"We are clearly willing to
do our share. We have," Johnson said. "But policing
the borders and immigration policies must be a
national, federal
decision. It must be funded nationally by the federal
government. I'd feel better about this if the federal
government delivered a
blank check to me and said, 'Deal with this.' But it
isn't going to happen."Contributors to society The United States will
resettle about 90,000 refugees from all over the world
this year. Except for the right to vote, they are
afforded all the rights of
citizens, including access to health care assistance.
Hayes said it isn't clear
how sick the HIV-positive refugees might be; many may
be employed for long periods.
"These are people paying
taxes and making a positive contribution, with their
energy, their culture and their language," she said.
Said Holtan: "If they're
infected but not ill, there will be few social costs.
. . . I think we can afford it. The impact won't be a huge burden."
Officials in Ramsey County
said the county eventually may feel the effects if
some refugees move or another wave arrives later.
"It's something that we
may need to be concerned about," said Rob Fulton,
director of the St. Paul-Ramsey County
Department of Public
Health. Costs to the public could include housing,
hospice care, assisted living and employment services,
he said. But Holtan said
he hasn't heard any protests to the proposal. "This is
a humanitarian program. These people won't
survive if they're left there." |
