Hmong Health Project
In 2004, more than 5,000 Hmong refugees resettled in California when they were forced to leave behind the only home many knew – the squalid Wat Tham Krabok camp in Thailand. Many of the refugees who arrived in America had very limited access to health services in Thailand.
An April 2004 health survey of the Hmong refugees at Wat Tham Krabok indicated that they are a relatively young population likely to arrive in the U.S. with significant health issues, such as respiratory illnesses, poor oral health, malnutrition, parasites, skin conditions, tuberculosis and other infectious diseases. Refugees surveyed also displayed moderate to clinical levels of depression.
To assist the special needs of this emerging community in California, The California Endowment has developed and funded the Hmong Resettlement Health Project, which brings together a number of health and advocacy organizations to the table.
The ultimate goal of The Endowment’s Hmong Resettlement Health Project is to fill the gap in services provided by government assistance programs—by ensuring that services exist to address specific health access challenges in counties that are sheltering the highest number of Hmong refugees.
The Endowment awarded $1,050,000 in grants to eight organizations located in the Central State and North State regions of California. The funding helped ensure that the Hmong refugees settling in California have access to essential health and mental health care services. As part of the project, The Endowment also held a series of convenings to provide training to the grantees as well as an opportunity to discuss their progress and challenges. As a result of these convenings, critical policy issues emerged around language access and culturally competent health services.
In response, The Endowment provided focused training and technical assistance on policy and advocacy to the Hmong Resettlement Project grantees to give them the skills to address the health and mental health needs of this new population.
