Clinic Salú pa Tur: 5 years of assist for refugees on Curacao

For instance, 5 years in the past, individuals who ran didn’t have entry to medical care, however this has modified, partly because of the institution of the inspiration and the ‘Salú pa Tur’ clinic in July 2019. ‘ opened their doorways, offered free medical care to uninsured refugees and migrants. We discuss to founder Elisa Janszen in regards to the optimistic influence of this clinic over the previous 5 years.

Salú pa Tur: Well being to all

Lack of entry to well being care typically results in life-threatening situations. As a result of what do you do when you’ve got diabetes or HIV, however you do not have entry to the suitable medicine? Or if you’re pregnant and wish checks? This want for undocumented migrants led to the inspiration of Salú Pa Tur, which suggests ‘Well being for all’.

For the reason that clinic opened in July 2019, it has served almost 7,000 sufferers, with round 100 extra arriving every month. Along with consultations within the discipline of normal medication, paediatrics, obstetrics and gynaecology, there’s a staff that visits probably the most susceptible sufferers at house. The Refugee Basis has supported the clinic because it opened with virtually 700,000 euros.

Elisa, we are able to think about that it was not straightforward for individuals and not using a residence allow to return to the clinic. How did you acquire belief?

“At first individuals had been actually anxious, however slowly increasingly more individuals got here to us by means of the grapevine. We as soon as had a affected person who was certain she can be arrested in our clinic. We at the moment are often known as dependable. And we’re nonetheless attempting to construct on this additional by, for instance, measuring blood strain and blood sugar at neighborhood centres. The information about what we do spreads shortly, and increasingly more new sufferers discover us. Additionally necessary: we obtain assist from the Ministry of Well being, Surroundings and Nature and from the Ministry of Justice in Curacao. Due to that assist, we by no means thought there was a danger that the immigration authorities would immediately seem on our doorstep.”

How are you going to assist and what are individuals’s best wants?

“We display screen everybody, present therapies, medicine, possibly house care and check-ups. As well as, we regularly deal with individuals with continual illnesses resembling HIV and diabetes. Hypertension, diabetes and weight problems are quite common amongst our sufferers. This can be very troublesome to reside a wholesome life due to the excessive costs of the grocery store, to not point out if you find yourself on the run and haven’t any earnings anymore.”

One affected person advised us that his greatest worry is that Salú pa Tur will not exist, and that he’ll then haven’t any entry to HIV medicine. That is one thing to swallow.

Elisa Janszen van Salú na Tur

How do you see the long run for Salú pa Tur?

“I hope we are able to elevate sufficient cash to offer long-term psychosocial assist. Lots of our sufferers endure from trauma from their flight and the troublesome state of affairs of their nation, and are unhappy to say goodbye to their house and household. Some needed to depart their youngsters with their grandparents within the hope of monetary assist from Curacao in order that they will purchase sufficient meals. Additionally they expertise monetary stress and poor dwelling situations, which result in psychological issues that additionally trigger bodily complaints. We need to work on this sooner or later, so long as the monetary sources enable it.”

What are Salú pa Tur’s greatest challenges?

“It is all the time cash. We are able to pay for major care with the cash we obtain, but when we need to assist somebody with specialist therapy in hospital or if we need to present long-term psychological care, merely not there’s not sufficient funding for that. With Salú pa Tur we’re fixing a giant drawback, however it’s positively not sufficient to offer the care that folks want.”