Summary

Description: The global pandemic COVID-19 caused millions of people to become ill, be hospitalized or die. Healthcare disparities, economic\ insecurity,\ and the gap of social services at the peak of Covid-19 led minority groups to disproportionately represent a high number of infections,\ deaths\ and health disparities\ compared to the White population. \ Additionally, the Asian American population\ experienced bullying, discrimination, blame, and attacks by none-Asian individuals and groups due to a misbelief Asians are responsible for bringing Covid-19.\ A Bhutanese minority group\ living in Northeast, PA initially entered the U.S. as refugees. They\ have been struggling with language barriers, lack of connection with the community at large,\ geographic isolation, difficulty using the\ transportation system, economic insecurity and unfamiliarity with the U.S culture and\ health care\ system\ even before the global pandemic of Covid-19.Research study methodology and findings: Two Social Work\ faculty members of a local university School of Social Work completed a qualitative study\ to understand the subjective views of Bhutanese residents’ experience during the peak of the global pandemic, COVID-19\ in Northeast, PA.\ Through the\ purposive sampling methodology,\ fifty samples\ (bilingual\ Nepali\ \&\ English\ community leaders and Bhutanese\ residents)\ participated\ in \ telephone interviews, from October 2020 to January 2021.\ The Bhutanese\ residents identified challenging needs in the areas of language barriers, unemployment, multigenerational living, and\ shared their coping\ strategies to overcome hardship of Covid-19.\ Implications to Social Work Education:\ this study\ demonstrates: 1) a long-term commitment of an interprofessional collaborative action with community organizations\ is necessary for\ closing\ the gap of social and health care disparities among minority populations; 2) the development of culturally and linguistically appropriate\ medical information\ for none-English speaking groups; and,\ 3) a long-term commitment between university-community to\ provide\ diversity, equity, inclusion and anti-racism workshops\ for students, faculty, staff and community to address systemic inequalities.\ \ \ \ \ \ 

Keywords (separate with commas)

Bhutanese refugees, Challange of the Global Pandemic of Covid-19, University-Community Collaboration, Diversity-Equity-Inclusion Training