DWD's Migrant, Refugee, and Labor Services' Chief visits Kajsiab House
By Heidi M. Pascual
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The newly appointed head of the Department of Workforce
Development's Bureau of Migrant, Refugee, and Labor Services, Juan
José López, doesn't speak nor understand Hmong, but he got his
message across when he spoke before 50 or so Hmong elders and
young adults at Kajsiab House on May 22.
López gave an informative PowerPoint presentation that detailed his
bureau's referral services which the Hmong can avail of whenever
needed, which was translated step by step by Shoua Vang, DWD
Economic/Refugee Support Specialist. He discussed migrant law
enforcement, foreign labor certification, and immigration integration, as
well as a brief history of the Hmong Resettlement Task Force, which was
created by Gov. Jim Doyle in 2004 to advise the governor on how to best
assist the new wave of Hmong refugees in Wisconsin. He then focused
on the Task Force's recommendations to solve identified need areas
such as education and employment, housing and transportation, health
and dental care, family strengthening, and mental health.
The meat of López' presentation, which greatly captured his
audience's attention, was on mental health, an identified area of need,
which lacks "culturally competent services for refugees in Wisconsin."
He cited language barriers, safe/customer friendly environment (trust),
terminology (i.e. heart vs liver), and refugees' perception of mental
health, among other problematic areas.
The Kajsiab House is one of the four refugee mental health providers
in the state, López said, that is most needed by the Hmong elders and
families in the community. He also discussed Kajsiab House's positive
impact on the Hmong community.