NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND MENTAL HYGIENE
Ashwin Vasan, MD, PhD
Commissioner
"More than 50,000 people have come to New York City (NYC) in the past year shortly after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. As more people arrive and many make NYC their home, the scale and scope of need continues to grow. I wrote in September 2022 with a call to collaborate in helping the newest New Yorkers. I am writing now to underscore how critical it is that health care providers take a wide range of considerations into account when working with people who are seeking asylum. This letter builds off the previous version; updates prior recommendations based on our collective experience over the past year; and includes new sections on school health requirements, varicella, immigration legal services support, and several additional recommended screening and referral pathways. The scope of this letter represents the scale of the need. It is incumbent upon us as a welcoming city to comprehensively evaluate and meet these needs."
Read the full Dear Colleague letter here.