MPR's Lorna Benson reports that founders of a new Center for Cross-Cultural Health are hoping to minimize medical anxieties by better preparing Minnesota health care workers trying to deal with a cultural curveball.
A growing number of their patients are not familiar with western medicine, western customs or the English language. Most of these patients are refugees from third-world countries such as Laos or Somalia. Their arrival has forced doctors and nurses to rely on translators, clan members and spiritual leaders for medical information.