Hennepin County is home to a growing population of Afghan refugees displaced after the U.S. withdrawal from their country. For the past year, Hennepin Healthcare has partnered with Open Path Resources (OPR) through a grant from the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) to help Afghan communities navigate the U.S. healthcare system.
Every month, an advisory group of Afghan community leaders, Open Path Resources* staff, and Hennepin Healthcare team members met at Dar Al-Hijrah mosque to build connection and organize events on health and accessing healthcare for the Afghan refugee community. Afghan leaders from the group wanted to know more about Hennepin Healthcare and see our space, so earlier this summer, we took them on a tour of our downtown campus.
Touring our downtown campus
During the tour, they were invited to pray in our prayer space with Cultural Navigator Mohamed A Mohamed and shared a dinner together from local Afghan-owned restaurant Football Pizza. The tour also included visiting key locations such as the Emergency Department, the CSC, and at the request of the advisory team, Labor and Delivery. We talked about Halal options in our cafeteria and shared other ways that Hennepin Healthcare team members work to make Muslim patients and their families feel welcome. They were particularly happy to learn about our Muslim Spiritual Care program that supports patients in Adult Psychiatry.
Community conversations
In November 2023 and February 2024, the advisory group held community conversations at a local mosque to help the Afghan community learn more about what a safety-net hospital is and how and where to access healthcare. Simultaneous interpretation was available in both Pashtu and Dari. One of the primary concerns for Afghan community members in understanding the U.S. system of health insurance was how to pay for medical and dental care. Hennepin Healthcare Financial Clearance Manager Angela Woodard attended a community meeting to answer questions and offer insight into this complex issue. We hope to have additional community conversations in the future to include other topics, such as options for pre- and post-natal care.
A time for reflection
While reflecting on the grant now that it is coming to an end, Afghan advisory members shared their appreciation for OPR and Hennepin Healthcare. Community leaders told us that they felt listened to, and that OPR and Hennepin Healthcare team members followed their leadership and respected their cultural beliefs while working together. One advisory member, Nasir, shared how his family experienced exceptional care when his youngest daughter was born at Hennepin Healthcare and needed emergency surgery as a newborn. He spoke about how reassuring it was to have a financial counselor help him understand how his daughter's surgery would be covered and paid for so that his family could focus on healing and welcoming their new addition. He shared that she is now two years old, healthy, happy and quite a handful!
We want to thank our OPR partners, Imam A. Sharif Mohamed, Wali Dirie, and Michael Van Keulen for inviting us to partner with them on this grant. It was a meaningful experience for both Afghan community members and Hennepin Healthcare team members and we look forward to more opportunities to partner and learn from one another.
As we left our last meeting, all agreed that it was "See you soon," not "Goodbye," and we look forward to continuing to build relationships between OPR, Hennepin Healthcare, and our Afghan neighbors.
*Open Path Resources is a Minnesota-based nonprofit that serves East African immigrant families and community-led centers by building their capacity to have greater influence upon public policies that affect their current and future interests.
