By: Seongho Kim, MA, MSW, Director, Community Health Initiative, American Cancer Society

(May 2006)

Last year, The New York Times reported a story of a Korean woman who was taken by ambulance to a hospital in Queens after being severely beaten during a street robbery.

In summary, the story said the following:

The woman’s wounds required 30 stitches, and at least a follow up visit. But when she returned to seek care, she was curtly handed a piece of paper in English stating that in order to see a doctor, she would need $95 and a photo ID. She did not have the financial means and ID. Communication was also impossible because she spoke little English. She left the hospital untreated and feeling utterly helpless. Fortunately, a reporter from the local Korean newspaper covering the story was able to locate a Korean social worker for her. This social worker promptly met up with the woman and escorted her back to the hospital, where he convinced the hospital staff that the New York State Crime Victims Fund would cover the woman’s care. Thanks to his intervention, she was finally seen by a Korean-speaking doctor.

This story is only one example of many that I experience in my daily work as a frontline social worker in the Korean American community in New York.

Challenges in Providing Services to NYC’s Burgeoning Korean Community

Like many of New York’s four million immigrants, Korean immigrants want the chance to work hard and to lead stable lives. According to the 2000 Census data, the Korean population in the New York metropolitan area was 179,344. Between 1990 and 2000, the Korean population increased 30%. Eight out of ten Koreans are foreign-born.

As the Korean immigrant population has grown in the New York area, health-related needs have become an increasing concern. Medical access, health insurance, and language-appropriate services have been sorely lacking.

Among the factors preventing access to health care is the lack of insurance. Persons without green cards or citizenship status are not eligible for Medicaid, the primary health insurance program for those of limited income. More than one in four elderly Koreans live in poverty, as compared to the over-all NYC rate of 18% of elderly living in poverty. Many Koreans are also fearful of using public health programs because they believe that using Medicaid would deny them entrance to universities as well as access to business loans.

In addition, Korean Americans face language barriers in medical and mental health services. Statistics reveal the need for language access in health care. According to the 2000 Census, sixty-six per cent of New Yorkers are immigrants or children of immigrants. Forty-seven per cent of New Yorkers speak a language other than English at home. Of all ethnic groups, Asians have the highest proportion of those classified as “limited English proficiency” (LEP). Forty per cent of the New York Korean population falls into the LEP category because they do not speak English well or do not speak it at all.

Language problems can result in incorrect diagnoses or in patients not understanding their diagnoses. Language issues may result in the delay of vital care or in patients not understanding taking medications as prescribed. In addition, patients with limited English skills who do not understand their medical bills may end up forgoing treatment to avoid big bills.

Another kind of language difficulty is faced by Korean schoolchildren. There have been cases of young students entering the school system as first graders who are placed in special education classes solely because of limited ability to speak English.

In order to understand and deal with these issues within the community, Korean social workers founded the Korean American Social Workers Network, a group of more than 100 Korean American social workers who meet bimonthly. The network was initially created to share information and foster mutual support, but it became a unit working together on critical community issues.