Crossposted from Public Health Insider

Pictured: The staff at Public Health’s Refugee Health clinic. From left to right, back: Debra Vonnahme, Franck Bamage, Hossein Eslami, Helena Wilson-Brown, JenRenee Paulson; front Wendy Dell, Annette Holland, Shary Robinson, Maggie Po, Vilay Wang.

When refugees escape from war, conflict, famine and other disasters, it’s not unusual for them to end up in King County. We are one of the nation’s major host communities for refugees. A well-organized local network of agencies helps refugees take the first steps into a new life. This network emerged in 1979, when an earlier wave of refugees came from Vietnam, Cambodia and other Southeast Asian countries.

One first step for every refugee is a visit to the Refugee Health clinic inside the Downtown Public Health Center, in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood. We sat down with Refugee Health Program Manager Annette Holland to learn more about the refugee experience.

Read more at Public Health Insider