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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Rosemary Donley, PhD, ANP, FAAN and Eileen Sarsfield, MSN, APRN, BC. School of Nursing, The Catholic University of America, 620 Michigan Ave. NE, Washington, DC, DC 20064, 202-319-6469, donley@cua.edu

The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) 2005 report was no surprise to public and community health nurses working in the Metropolitan Washington, DC area. Within the past few years, the so called “safety net” and private clinics have become medical homes to an increasing number of immigrants and refugees. Between January 2000 and March 2005, 7.9 million new immigrants (legal and illegal) settled in this country, making this 5 year period a peak in American immigration history. In September, 2005, the Office of Immigration Statistics reported that 10 states were home to 75% of the 18.7 million legal permanent residents (LPR). Virginia and Maryland have consistently (past 23 years) been among these ten states. The District of Columbia, home to 178 embassies, although 28th on the list of states that receive LPRs, has an immigrant population that is growing. The CIS of 2005 report noted that only 31% of the new adult immigrants have completed high school. One third of the new immigrants lacked health insurance, and they and their American born children account for about 3/4 (9 million) of the increase in the number of uninsured. Although undocumented immigrants work in the informal economy, they lack eligibility for any publicly-funded services. For all these reasons, new immigrants have changed all public and private service centers: schools, daycare centers, social service centers, churches, clinics and hospitals. The influx of new immigrants has also increased the vulnerability index among the poor and disenfranchised in urban areas. This presentation will discuss health status and the human rights of immigrants in urban settings and describe interventions at the levels of practice and policy.

Learning Objectives:

• 1. Identify vulnerabilities and human rights of the new urban immigrant population.
• 2. Analyze barriers and constraints to human services for this population.
• 3. Describe interventions to address the human rights of the US immigrant population at the practice and policy levels.

Keywords: Human Rights, Immigrants

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No