By Markian Hawryluk, Kaiser Health News AURORA — Fatumo Osman, a 65-year-old Somali refugee who speaks limited English, was in a bind. She made too much money at a meal prep service job so she no longer qualified for Medicaid. But knee pain kept her from working, so her income had dropped. She could reapply […]
P.J. Parmar
Posted inColoradans, COVID, Health, News, Politics and Government
An Aurora doctor tried to prioritize refugees for the coronavirus vaccine. Colorado told him to stop.
In late January, Dr. P.J. Parmar, who runs Ardas Family Medicine, converted a section of an international business center in northwest Aurora into a COVID-19 vaccine clinic. He wanted to immunize refugees in the city, where vaccination rates were trailing neighboring communities. But in the first few days, he said, about half the vaccine clinic’s […]
Posted inCrime and Courts, News
Aurora police officer who pointed gun at doctor suspended for one week
A Colorado police officer has been suspended for one week for a well-publicized incident in which the white officer pulled a gun on an Indian American doctor who was trying to park at a refugee center the doctor operates. An Aurora Police Department spokesperson said Officer Justin Henderson was suspended for 40 hours without pay […]
Posted inBusiness, Coloradans, COVID, Health, News
Coronavirus has left an Aurora clinic for refugees busier than ever and facing big challenges
“If she was my mom, I would take her to the hospital,” Dr. P.J. Parmar said through a barely cracked car window to a refugee family from South Asia on April 11. Parmar, who runs Ardas Family Medicine in Aurora, had been the family’s doctor for years. He knew the woman sitting in the backseat […]