Meet one of the ‘cultural brokers’ helping Minnesota’s Karen community access health care

Minnesota Now

Minnesota is home to the largest Karen community in the country. Many are refugees from Burma, now called Myanmar, and cultural differences and language barriers make it exceptionally difficult to navigate the American health care system — which is complicated enough on its own.

To bridge the gap for Karen immigrants and other groups, health care organizations hire professionals who come from the same communities they are helping to find health care and other services. M Health Fairview in the Twin Cities has six of these cultural brokers who represent the Hmong, Karen, African American, Native American and Latine communities.

Lah Tha Pwee recently joined them as an additional cultural broker working with the Karen community. She is an immigrant from Thailand and joined MPR News guest host Nina Moini to talk about her role.