Public health crisis unfolding in Minneapolis as residents avoid healthcare | Minnesota

A public health crisis is unfolding in Minnesota as people targeted by federal agents fear seeking treatment while some healthcare workers also fear for their safety on the job.

Community organizations and health care providers are now arranging home visits, telehealth appointments and other alternative care.

“We’re seeing residents not wanting to leave their homes, not wanting to go to work, not going to their doctor’s appointments, not going to their regular checkups, postponing surgeries, postponing care,” said Angela Conley, Hennepin County commissioner for District 4, where Renee Good was killed.

People targeted by federal agents because of the color of their skin, their accent or their immigration status are now avoiding leaving their homes for routine or even emergency care. They fear unfamiliar cars idling in front of clinics and in hospital parking lots. Pregnant patients work at home; diabetic patients dilute or forgo their insulin; the injured and sick avoid hospitals and postpone surgical operations.

“They’re afraid of being taken out of their car and taken to the Whipple building and put on a flight to Texas, even our legal permanent residents, U.S. citizens. Everyone is afraid,” Conley added.

Munira Maalimisaq, founder and CEO of the Inspire Change clinic in Minneapolis, noted that “even people who have papers don’t go to their doctor’s appointments. People who have their citizenship don’t come.”

“It’s a health problem. When people are too afraid to seek treatment, illnesses worsen and emergencies increase and people die needlessly,” Maalimisaq said.

Providers said the federal occupation of Minnesota presented immediate and long-term health dangers, including confrontations with agents, stress, food insecurity, exacerbation of chronic illnesses, and acute emergencies.

“If people don’t get their medications and treatments, they will die,” said Mary Turner, president of National Nurses United (NNU) and a critical care nurse in the Minneapolis area. “I dread the day when people start reporting that people have died in their homes because they are afraid to see a doctor… We are going to start finding bodies.”

Many organizations, including NNU, are calling for the abolition of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

“All they’ve become now is a violent, racist, lawless agency, and you can see it on our streets. And we say as a nursing organization: Not a dime goes to ICE,” Turner said.

Community organizations, local programs and volunteers have quickly pivoted to arranging home visits for medical care and telehealth when appropriate. Neighbors organize trips to clinics and hospitals and pick up prescriptions, groceries, formula and diapers.

“We are all working very diligently to ensure that hospitals are as safe as possible and that we can amplify existing systems of alternative care like telehealth, home health and prescription delivery,” said Erin Stevens, a Minneapolis physician and member of the Committee to Protect Health Care.

As patients began canceling appointments or not showing up at all, Maalimisaq decided to create a rapid response unit at her clinic in December. Soon she received a call from a stranger, someone who had heard about her work in the community and wanted to know if she could check to see if a church member was nine months pregnant. Maalimisaq and an obstetrician-gynecologist went to the woman’s home and discovered she was 8cm dilated, almost ready to give birth. But the woman refused to go to the hospital by ambulance.

“She was so scared that they were going to take her away while she was in labor,” Maalimisaq said. She called ahead to the hospital and made an appointment at a safe location, and Maalimisaq and the doctor drove the woman in labor to the hospital, where she gave birth safely.

Doctors began calling Maalimisaq to see if the rapid response unit could provide seizure medication and monitor pregnant patients. Requests poured in, but they didn’t have enough staff at the clinic, so they called local providers. More than 150 providers responded: emergency physicians, cardiologists, pediatricians, “anything you can think of,” Maalimisaq said. They treat wounds and sprains, administer medicine, drop off food, and sometimes serve as a shoulder to cry on.

Authorities are urging people to continue receiving health care. “Go to the hospital if you’re sick, go to the clinic, go to your appointment,” Conley emphasized, but added that, for those who can’t leave, “we will come to you.”

Immediately after Good’s killing, Hennepin County and the city of Minneapolis created a program called Operation Reconnect, a sort of 24/7 incident command center for public health during this crisis. They also partnered with neighborhood organizations for food drives, clothing exchanges and transportation for medical visits.

“It’s a public health crisis because people don’t have access to what they usually have access to, whether it’s formula or mental health visits or prescriptions that they need,” Conley said.

Most areas of clinics and hospitals are considered private property, for which federal agents need signed court warrants. Hospital staff have also been trained on what to do if officers appear.

“They go into places where people are vulnerable,” Conley said of federal agents. But she has not heard of any cases of officers camping out in the lobby or other public areas of hospitals: “I want to be very clear: Our hospital is a safe space where people who need emergency care can seek treatment. »

These health problems add to the immediate dangers of the clashes: car crashes, tear gas and pepper spray, rubber bullets and live ammunition. Detainees report poor conditions and a lack of adequate medical care. Liam Conejo Ramos, the five-year-old asylum seeker detained in Minneapolis who fell ill with a fever, vomiting and lethargy, was held until Saturday at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas, where a measles outbreak was detected Friday. There were 32 deaths in ICE custody last year.

Health care providers, including doctors, nurses, health care aides, and housekeeping and food service workers, also fear arrest. The Department of Homeland Security audits employment records from at least one hospital.

At Turner Hospital, threatened workers leave their contact details and other information — whether they have family members or pets at home — in sealed envelopes with their union representatives.

“If they don’t show up all of a sudden, their information is sealed in a safe place,” Turner said.

Maalimisaq, who is Somali, says she and her team “show up” and get the job done, but she struggles daily with the fear of being targeted next time.

“I’ve never felt so vulnerable,” Maalimisaq said, but added: “I can never sit back and not do something because it puts me in danger. Their lives would be in danger if we don’t provide them with the care they need.”

Many of his patients are unable to speak out at the moment, so “as health care providers, we use our voice, Maalimisaq said. “Health care must remain safe and accessible to all. We will do whatever it takes to achieve this.