Foreign Born: According to the American Immigration Council, Nebraska foreign-born residents rose from 1.8% in 1990 to 6.6% in 2013 for an approximate total of 123,000. These people come from many respected but different cultural, religious, educational, and language backgrounds and they bring a rich diversity to our state. Members of this community can run into barriers when seeking health care. Effective communication, health system understanding, personal belief values and obtaining adequate dental insurance can all create initial difficulties.

Refugees: Nebraska is also home to many foreign refugees who are leaving emergency persecution situations in their countries (often war zones) and are seeking asylum protection in the United States. Since 2000, more than 8,000 refugees, mostly from the regions of SE Asia, Africa and the Middle East have resettled in Nebraska.¹ In 2015 alone, 1,309 refugees and persons with special immigrant visa people resettled in Nebraska.² There is also a large number of secondary refugee migrants who initially started in a different state but then moved to Nebraska. People with Refugee Status undergo an overseas medical screening and a domestic medical exam in Nebraska within 30 days of arrival (a dental screening is part of this process). Many of these people are referred to community dental clinics that utilize translators to help bridge some of the linguistic and cultural challenges these patients face.

More definitive dental data information is needed on these groups, but it can be assumed with their history and the current barriers that they face, they may have higher diseases rates and lower access to care than the majority of Nebraska people.

1. News & Information for Nebraska’s New Americans. How Many Refugees Are There in Nebraska? 05/04/2012. Available at: http://cojmc.unl.edu/mosaic/2012/05/04/refugees-ne....

2. Nebraska Department of Health and Human Service. Refugee Resettlement Program. Retrieved Date: 03/11/2015. Available at: http://dhhs.ne.gov/children_family_services/Pages/....

Collaboration efforts should be made by the OOHD through the DHHS Refugee Program Coordinator, the Omaha Refugee Task Force and the New Americans Task Force in Lincoln to learn more about the health care status and dental needs of the immigrant and refugee populations.