I AM VERY HAPPY WITH THE CARE RECEIVED AT ADRA
Medellín, July 2024 | ADRA Colombia Press.
Nor Jean was born in Caracas, Venezuela, where she studied Social Communication and Journalism; began to have difficulties and she and her husband became unemployed. As of 2020, some of their family members began to migrate due to high inflation and shortage of food and supplies.
In April 2023, her husband had to take the difficult decision of leaving to Colombia and arrived in the city of Medellin in search of opportunities to support Nor Jean and her children, to whom he was sending some money, but it was not enough to cover their basic needs in Venezuela, so Nor Jean decided to emigrate as well. Her departure from the country was very difficult due to the situations she experienced during her three-day trip with her children; at the border they “took” part of the money she was carrying, but she was able to arrive in Medellin and reunite with her husband and her parents.
Beneficiary receiving medical care at the IPS clinic Adventist University in Medellin (Colombia) [Photograph: ADRA Colombia]
She managed to get an informal job, but due to the stress of the difficult situation she has been going through, she began to suffer from various health problems, and she had not seen a doctor for a long time.
Nor Jean entered Colombia without regular documents and the deadline to apply for the Temporary Protection Permit issued by the government for the Venezuelan migrant population had already expired; therefore, she has no affiliation or access to the Colombian health system to receive medical care.
The Health Secretariat of the Mayor’s Office of the city held a day of services in the neighborhood where lives, and thanks to the coordinated work with ADRA Colombia as an entity that provides humanitarian assistance to the migrant population, she was referred to receive care. The ADRA team contacted Nor Jean and in a timely manner the first medical consultation was scheduled at the Adventist University IPS clinic, where she received the care that she needed; she also received medication and laboratory tests. She has been able to continue attending follow-up medical appointments for her health and diabetes.
ADRA’s social work team has also provided with information and guidance for her and her family regarding other institutions that can provide care for complementary services and other basic needs.
“I am very happy with the care received at ADRA, from the way they receive you, the way they treat you, the way the doctor treated me. It is incredible that they offer us medications; I feel that they do not provide care only for the physical part, but from the treatment I feel that they contribute to the mental part, because it is a space where I can talk without being singled out, without being persecuted. So, I feel very good with ADRA.”
“My life has changed significantly, because I felt bad, I didn’t know what I had, I couldn’t get care because the tests are very expensive, and I didn’t have insurance to cover them. I come here, they attend me, and I realize that I am diabetic, and they give me the treatment; besides that, the human warmth they have, because after the diagnosis I was pensive and all the people who made this process possible gave me “drops” of hope, without even knowing me, but from that human warmth.”