P2.182: Community Advocacy to Promote Access to Care & Healthcare Navigation for Asylum-Seeking Families in Washington State

Background: Immigrants constitute ~15.5% of Washington state’s population, with a recent surge in asylum-seekers from Venezuela, Angola, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The majority arrived with scarce resources and limited support, some with children with complex medical needs, and without orientation to the U.S. healthcare system. Many face barriers to healthcare access, including linguistic challenges, limited health literacy, immigration-related fears, and transportation constraints. Many face homelessness, living in churches, hotels, and tent encampments.

Project Description: Health Empowerment for Asylum Seekers Resource Team (HEART) consists of dedicated volunteer health professionals & students across multiple institutions in Washington state working to support asylum-seeking families. Since 2023, community-based advocacy efforts included health assessments coordinated with public health (e.g. disease outbreak, vaccination needs), mobile medical triage, health education events, & connections with essential healthcare services. On-going outreach has occurred in collaboration with organizations including state and county public health, FQHCs, church leaders, housing and legal service organizations, & schools to provide services to families such as legal assistance, housing, health insurance, & healthcare access.

Collective impact has included:
-Community needs assessments at sites (encampments, churches, hotels) to inform and mobilize local public health efforts;
-Identification of high-risk unhoused families (i.e medically complex children, pregnant mothers, etc) to prioritize access to housing and healthcare;
-Coordination of health fairs for insurance & school enrollment, school supplies, health education;
-In-person and virtual workshops (Lingala/French/Portuguese/Spanish): ‘How to Navigate Health Care in the US’, ‘Women’s Health, ‘Mental Health’;
-Specialized provider training on youth mental health;
-Collaborative multi-disciplinary meetings (cultural health navigators, social workers, nurses, pediatricians, family medicine & OB-GYN physicians, community leaders, medical students);

Discussion: Vulnerable immigrant families in our communities face extreme barriers to accessing health care and essential services. Through community-based outreach, HEART has sustained ongoing outreach to families to facilitate access to care and healthcare navigation, including intensive support for high-risk children (medically complex children requiring specialty care, children with severe behavioral problems, pregnancies with life-threatening fetal anomalies etc). Broader efforts have helped families navigate healthcare through educational workshops, insurance enrollment, & healthcare coordination. Efforts involved frequently adapting to changes in families' needs. This includes developing virtual workshops to address the needs of families with fears of deportation in light of federal changes.

Conclusion: HEART is an example of how healthcare professionals with a shared mission can work collectively to serve vulnerable families and address social determinants of health. This is relevant in the setting of federal changes with increasing threats to immigrants and funding cuts to essential services. Through continued outreach and community partnerships, HEART has frequently adapted to respond to the changing needs of families in innovative and community-centered ways. This highlights the importance of collaboration for effective community based advocacy during these challenging & dynamic times.