Nationalities Service Center
Title: Immigrant and Refugee Resilience Under Declining Federal Assistance to Care
Student Interns:
Kay Miranda
Bryn Mawr College, Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research
Mia Zibello
Thomas Jefferson University, Sidney Kimmel Medical College
Academic Preceptor:
Dalmacio Dennis Flores, PhD, ACRN, FAAN
University of Pennsylvania, School of Nursing
Zoë Van Orsdol, MA, MPH
Thomas Jefferson University, College of Population Health
Community Preceptor:
Kara Friesen, MA
Associate Director of Health Services, Nationalities Service Center
Community Site:
For more than 100 years, the Nationalities Service Center has provided comprehensive services and support to immigrant and refugee populations in the greater Philadelphia area, including legal protections, health and wellness, education, community integration, employment services, and language access. NSC has enriched Philadelphia by welcoming immigrants and building community, and remains committed to its mission of helping newcomers build a solid foundation for a self-sustaining, dignified future.
Team’s Experience:
The Bridging the Gaps interns’ experience focused on refugee and immigrant access to healthcare and social services. The interns supported case management within NSC’s Health Services programs, including INSPIRE (Innovative Support Program for Immigrant and Refugee Empowerment), Health Access, Refugee Health, Women’s Health, and William Penn Public Benefits Program. They interacted directly with clients in these programs to support healthcare navigation and self-sufficiency. These capacity-building interactions included escorting clients to healthcare appointments and visiting client homes, with the interns supporting the clients as they learned to navigate public transportation, technology, and home maintenance on their own. Further, the interns served as client advocates by coordinating with healthcare and supportive service providers. Through oral presentations and infographics, the interns also educated clients and staff on topics such as the cultural and social norms of the U.S. healthcare system and insurance logistics.
Reflections
The experience I had with the Nationalities Service Center pushed me to critically engage with the systems in place to support Philadelphians and the broader country. As a future social worker, I have become familiar with how social services play a key role in individuals’ and families’ lives. Working with the refugee and broader immigrant population revealed how inaccessible and intimidating these encounters can be. In conjunction with the engaging didactic sessions through BTG, my understanding and commitment to healthcare advocacy for all have been ignited. Although my social work concentration will be clinical, this BTG experience demonstrated the ways in which advocacy is a crucial element in all healthcare providers’ work. In my future work, I will continue to look to NSC as an excellent example of how to provide trauma-informed and resilient work to care for the populations they serve. I also carry an immense amount of respect for the clients who are full of hope and persistence to take care of their families and adjust to life in Philadelphia and the United States.
Kay Miranda
As a future physician, the opportunity to participate in healthcare coordination with a case management mindset and scope of practice is something I will never forget. In medical school, we are taught to order tests and consult our colleagues to obtain a complete picture of the pathological problem at hand, with the best interest of our patient in mind. Through home visits and appointment escorts, I navigated this process through the perspectives of my clients and experienced the healthcare system through their eyes. Despite having our patients’ best interests in mind, I observed firsthand how incredibly complicated it is for some individuals to manage attending just one healthcare appointment, let alone additional follow-ups, testing, and specialist visits. This experience embodied the importance of meeting patients where they are, a value I intend to hold central to my future practice.
Mia Zibello
