TMC PULSE

t m c » p u l s e | s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 7 9 NEW Narrative NEW Opportunity In Houston, the number of privately insured Hispanics grew 3X faster than non-Hispanics over the past 3 years. Source: Census American Community Survey 2013 –2015 1-yr Estimates Houston MSA Join us for the Hispanic Healthcare Symposium on October 5, 2017 at Univision Houston. For more information and to reserve your seat visit: www.Univision.com/HoustonThoughtLeadership come there, I can see them. They don't have to worry about someone having to take them to me." Alliance already refers a large portion of the clinic's patients, including Laura Jacob, a pseudonym for a woman who requested that her real name not be used. Jacob moved to Houston from Iraq in November 2014. She worked on a project with the United States Agency for International Development that made her eligi- ble for a Special Immigrant Visa. She said when she arrived in the U.S. she was "totally broken down." "Beside all that I have seen throughout the last 15 years in my country, the war and all the troubles, I also lost my mother, I lost my house, I lost everything," Jacob said. "I was attacked, I was threatened, I was scared, whatever you can imagine." The first time she visited Banu, Jacob said she spent the appointment crying while Banu listened. "Imagine you are somewhere you don't know anything about and you have nobody," Jacob said, her voice breaking. "She helped me a lot, and thank God I made it. When you speak to someone and they listen to you and they advise you, it helps." Though some patients require medication, Banu said often what a patient really needs is someone to listen—to make them feel validated. "For us to say, 'That must have been so hard for you—how did you manage, what did you do?' Empowering them, giving them a sense of control," Banu said. "That is what helps them to do the things they need to do, and to move forward." Banu speaks to a patient at Harris Health System's Clinic for International Trauma Survivors.

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