Indiana will cut funding to health services caring for Fort Wayne’s Burmese population. Illnesses such as tuberculosis, HIV and hepatitis, with greater percentages in the Burmese community than Fort Wayne at-large, will go untreated due to the funding cuts to social services. Without proper treatment there is a worry that these illnesses will flourish in the Burmese community and then to the rest of Fort Wayne’s population as well as overloading emergency rooms.

“Fort Wayne’s Burmese population is a ‘reservoir of HIV, resistant tuberculosis, hepatitis B and hepatitis C,’ ” Lutheran Health Network CEO Michael Schatzlein wrote to a colleague in February, quoting his infectious disease specialist, Dr. Suzanne Smith-Elekes.

Some fear that by not having the foresight to treat these illnesses early on, they could spread. By cutting services and programs that deal with preventative medicine and educating the refugees to receive proper treatment may be more costly in the long run.

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   idxfossil Gov. Daniels might be remembered as “Typhoid Mitch” by cancelling programs that keep plagues at bay: http://bit.ly/cz9myz 23 May 2010 from web

Fort Wayne Mayor Tom Henry told Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA) officials that “ending the Advantage program without an effective follow-up strategy will put public health at risk, lead to a less-healthy refugee population, overburden the local health care system and … , cost the state more than it is currently spending on refugee health care.” Fort Wayne now has over 5,000 refugees and has worked with catholic charities, St. Joseph Community Health Center and other organizations to have established a Community Resource Center to assist them.

Protests to Bring Funding to Help Burmese Refugees After Cyclone

Fort Wayne has the highest Burmese refugee population in the United States and has been a haven for the repressed people. Because of organizations like Friends of Burma, Fort Wayne has received worldwide applause for its human rights services to the Burmese refugees.

Cuts will begin July 1st to Advantage health solutions, an Indianapolis company that has increased the refugees’ awareness in navigating Indiana’s health-care system. The company has helped with the 1,300 monthly medical appointments since the Indiana FSSA first began using them to help the refugees in 2007.

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   newstalk1430 State cuts to end health program for Ind. Burmese: FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) — Health officials in Fort Wayne say… http://bit.ly/cSyX87 23 May 2010 from twitterfeed
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   indylocalnews State cuts to end health program for Indiana Burmese – http://fwix.com/a/18_9685616041 23 May 2010 from API

“The great tragedy will be that many of the people using Advantage to help them get their care will be lost, hitting the emergency departments or going untreated after July 1,” said Meg Distler, executive director for the St. Joseph Community Health Foundation.

Despite the help that they have received the Burmese population has struggled in Fort Wayne due to language and cultural barriers. Keeping appointments and taking medicines has been a difficult transition for them.

Before the Advantage program began, “Up to 90 percent of the referral from the Department of Health after medical screening went unmet. Today, Advantage has a 90 percent follow-up rate on those referrals,” Distler said.

“We invited them here. We should be able to assist them.” said Allen County Health Commissioner Deb McMahan.

“We should focus not on the process, but the outcome. Our first impulse is to treat everybody the same.” Costing about $100,000 a year, the Advantage program provided transportation and translation services to help coordinate care. McMahan noted that the cuts would bring about a  ”one-size-fits-all approach to health care” emphasizing that that approach doesn’t always work, especially with those unfamiliar with American culture.

Burmese School Children

“But the great fear is that Advantage has done such a phenomenally good job, and this is such a medically complex population,” Distler said.

Executive director of Burmese Advocacy Center, Minn Myint Nan Tin, said her agency will work with refugees to improve access to transportation, education and medicine when the Advantage program ends.

“It will be more difficult, but we don’t want to give them fish. We want to teach them how to fish,” she said.

For more information about Fort Wayne’s Burmese population visit Fort Wayne News-Sentinel’s special report “Burma: From a Forgotten Land to Family and Freedom in Fort Wayne?”

To volunteer to help the Burmese refugees contact the Friends of Burma, FoundationBurma or St. Joseph Community Health Foundation at 969-2001 ext. 201.