The foreign-born often face unique problems in accessing health care. They may not receive necessary health and social services because of language problems, fear of immigration laws, mistrust of the health care system, cultural barriers, and/or lack of health insurance.

Our outreach workers overcome these challenges by building a bridge between immigrant clients and health care providers. The Center for Immigrant Health trains and supervises bilingual and bicultural workers to: a) identify and screen persons with no prior contact with the health care system; and b) link them to available public and private services.

In addition to deploying our outreach workers to specific areas of need, we forge partnerships with churches, schools, businesses, and other community-based institutions to extend our outreach arm.

Among the TB outreach programs and partnerships that we have developed are:

School Intervention Program

Because of the tremendous need and the potential to address LTBI among immigrant adolescents in schools, CIH initiated the TB school intervention program in New York City high schools in 2000. SIP conducts targeted testing of adolescents deemed by questionnaire to be at high-risk, provides diagnostic and treatment referrals for TB skin test (TST) positive students, and facilitates adherence with culturally and linguistically tailored case management. In addition, students are enrolled in Directly Observed Therapy (DOT) whenever agreeable to the students, their families, and their providers. SIP helps ensure adherence with the nine-month isoniazid (INH) treatment regimen, thereby averting future TB cases, slowing transmission, and reducing health care expenditures. SIP provides a model for establishing sustainable school-based TB interventions, and demonstrates that programs targeting newly arrived adolescent immigrants from countries where TB is endemic are feasible and effective.

Currently, eight schools are enrolled in the SIP program; Newcomers High School, Liberty High School, Manhattan Comprehensive Day & Night School, Brooklyn International High School, Gregorio Luperon High School, Prospect Heights International High School, Norman Thomas High School, and the High School of World Cultures.

Queens Outreach

The Queens Outreach Program began in 1999 to curb the increase in TB cases in the borough. Community education and screenings are conducted where immigrants are likely to congregate, such as churches, ESL classes, clubs, community-based organizations (CBOs), and vocational institutes. Our most recent newcomer church screening identified 3 active TB disease cases and 348 cases of latent tuberculosis infection among the 950 parishioners screened.

We provide CBOs with the training and education necessary to add screening and referral services to their existing programs. Our bilingual outreach workers and volunteers provide linguistically appropriate services primarily for immigrants from Korea, Haiti, and Latin America. For more information about the Queens Outreach Program, call 212-263-8247.