PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Dr. Linda Tewksbury, Pediatrician, on Health Impacts of 30/60 Day Shelter Rules for Asylum Seekers
4:28:47
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5 min
Dr. Linda Tewksbury, a pediatrician with 30 years of experience, testifies about the negative health impacts of the 30/60 day shelter rules on asylum seekers in New York City. She argues that these rules are disruptive to medical care, exacerbate health issues, and delay long-term stabilization for asylum seekers.
- Dr. Tewksbury emphasizes that the rules are not trauma-informed care and can significantly worsen anxiety and PTSD symptoms in asylum seekers.
- She provides examples of patients whose health has been negatively impacted by shelter transfers and unstable housing situations.
- The testimony calls for the immediate elimination of the 30/60 day rules to focus on more effective ways to assist asylum seekers in becoming independent and healthy members of society.
Dr. Linda Tewksbury
4:28:47
Good afternoon.
4:28:49
Thank you for the privilege of speaking at today's hearing.
4:28:52
My name is doctor Linda Tewksbury.
4:28:54
I am a pediatrician who has proudly cared for underserved children and families in New York City for over 30 years.
4:29:02
I testify today to voice strong concerns about the negative impacts of the 30 60 day rules, specifically on the, health and well-being of the asylum seekers housed in New York City shelters.
4:29:19
And to answer an earlier question, as a primary care pediatrician, in my medical opinion, it is not trauma informed care.
4:29:29
I speak on behalf of myself and a group of colleagues, including other pediatricians and internists who have been meeting on a regular basis for almost 2 years to try to better understand the health concerns facing our migrant patients and how best to address their health needs.
4:29:46
The opinions expressed today are our own and not that of any institution or organization.
4:29:54
In caring for the recently arriving asylum seekers, we have learned of their incredible resilience, as you've heard, as they forge a seek to forge a better life for themselves and their children.
4:30:05
They have endured unspeakable horrors forcing them to flee their home countries and heartbreaking trauma on their dangerous journey here, yet they persevere on.
4:30:15
They are immensely grateful for the shelter, for the medical care, for the schooling.
4:30:21
They are also highly motivated to leave the shelter system as quickly as they can and become independent, productive, and contributing members of our society.
4:30:32
However, it can take many months, certainly more than 2, before they're able to address pressing health, care needs and get the basic resources they need to be able to do so.
4:30:45
The 30 60 day rules contribute little or nothing to moving these temporarily housed asylum seekers into more stable long term housing, as you have heard.
4:30:55
To the contrary, these rules can undermine and delay long term stabilization through disruptions in their access to critical services, including medical services and exhaust and cause exacerbations of their medical health and medical conditions.
4:31:11
Many of our asylum seeking patients arrive with a myriad of complex medical, psychological, and social health concerns.
4:31:18
Forcing vulnerable individuals with no alternative housing options to leave their shelters is stressful, disruptive, and potentially harmful to their health.
4:31:27
Important medical appointments are missed as the families have to instead pack up their things and move from one shelter to another.
4:31:35
Our doctors and social workers spend countless and often fruitless hours trying to track down patients to reschedule missed appointments, follow-up on our abnormal laboratory values, ensure proper delivery of needed medical supplies.
4:31:50
Some of these patients bounce around to different health care facilities resulting in duplication of services.
4:31:56
Some don't follow it all.
4:31:57
Those are the ones we're worried about.
4:32:00
One can easily imagine how having to move just as an individual or family is settling into a new living situation after a traumatic journey can take a significant toll on one's physical and mental health.
4:32:12
Actually, you don't have to imagine.
4:32:14
You've heard it in the brave voices of the immigrants who testified here today.
4:32:21
1 young woman suffering from a chronic medical condition required multiple hospitalizations and ER visits for exacerbation of her pain and trauma related symptoms.
4:32:31
She identified her unstable housing situation to be a key contributing factor to her emotional stress and physical pain necessitating these hospital visits.
4:32:42
And there's very good evidence that stress exacerbates a number of both psychiatric and medical conditions.
4:32:49
Just receiving a notice that a family will be forced to move out of their shelter is enough to significantly exacerbate symptoms of anxiety and PTSD, which is common in these patients.
4:33:00
As one example, a woman subjected to female genital mutilation as a small child, then forced out of her home under the threat of death after, having a daughter with, special needs fled her country with her daughter and made the treacherous journey to the United States.
4:33:19
Since arriving in New York City, they've been staying in temporary housing and are now receiving intensive holistic health services.
Diana Ayala
4:33:26
Can you just
UNKNOWN
4:33:27
repeat that?
4:33:27
Can you
Diana Ayala
4:33:27
just repeat that?
4:33:27
I don't want to interrupt you, but you ran out of time and I'm trying I want I want to make sure that everybody gets adequate time.
Alexa Avilés
4:33:33
Can I just
Diana Ayala
4:33:33
could you Yeah?
4:33:34
Please wrap.
4:33:35
Thanks.
Dr. Linda Tewksbury
4:33:35
As I hope this testimony and brief examples demonstrate that 30 60 day rules for asylum seekers have been unnecessarily disruptive, stressful, and harmful to health and the well-being of the recent immigrants who have been subject to them.
4:33:47
We hope the city, in hearing this and other, testimonies, will immediately eliminate these rules in entirety and focus on other efforts to safety and humanely assist asylum seekers who have landed in New York City to get on their feet and become independent, healthy, and productive members of our society, which they so desperately want.
4:34:05
Thank you.
