Dignity Award Winners
On Friday, September 29, Catholic Charities’ Refugee Resettlement case managers, Thawng Takkon and Hay Mar, won the team Dignity Award at HealthVisions Midwest’s Dignity Awards. This award recognizes the respect, dignity, and value of their tireless work in making our community healthier.
Read their nominations below:
Thawng Takkon:
Thawng Takkon serves as our Health Worker among the growing refugee population in Allen County. He has been working in this position for more than 15 years. Over the years, he does not seek the spotlight of his constant hard work behind the scenes of bringing a healthier community among the refugees. He drives and translates for our refugees in the Allen County Department of health, hospitals, and clinics. This is more than a job for him, and we know that in the office. He loves the clients with compassion and patience.
Being an ex-refugee himself from Myanmar, Thawng understands the struggle of being misplaced in a strange country without any English ability. He takes time to explain America health system to the refugees, from how to use their Medicaid cards to how to set medicinal appointments on their own. And when we have refugees that he cannot communicate with because of the language barrier, Thawng will use community resources or utilize a language translation company to make sure that a clear explanation of any health issue is understood.
Thawng’s attention to details towards the health needs of our refugee population is admiring. He makes sure that the newly arrived refugees have their health screening, and vaccination in the Department of Health. Thawng does not look at only the physical health of our refugee population, he is also aware of their mental health.
Thawng’s service allowed him to come into contact with many people from religious and cultural backgrounds. He respects them and is very aware of what is and what is not respectful for our clients. For example, he will make sure that if a lady is from a very conservative Muslim background, that it is a lady doctor seeing her. It’s such detail to be sensitive towards our refugee’s community that I believe that Thawng has also won the respect of his own Burmese community in Fort Wayne.
Sometimes, you truly see a leader in not what he/she accomplished openly. It’s when a leader got on the floor to play dinosaurs with a little boy who is totally bored because his parent is seeing a doctor. I see that in Thawng.
Hay Mar:
Hay Mar has been actively involved in local public health issues, working tirelessly as a problem solver for our refugee community in Fort Wayne for a number of years. We want to highlight two main services that she is still actively engaged in.
Firstly, is her continuous effort to educate and ensure our mothers and children in our incoming and growing refugee community have the best healthcare given. Children under five are referred to WIC at Neighborhood Clinic. She desires that physical and mental care are given to them. No matter how tired she is after a long doctor appointment with clients, she will still stay back for another few hours to help the refugee to get their wifi or settle their water bills. This is not part of her job description; she serves above and beyond. Her continuous effort was evident when she spearheaded hosting a Super Shot event during back-to-school season with Anthem, Care Source, MHS and MDWise. This is to ensure that our refugee kids are vaccinated up to date.
Secondly, Hay Mar’s great efforts in helping the refugee community during Covid and still helping the community to be educated and to have a better, healthier life. During Covid, large amounts of face masks and hand soap are passed out to the community.
Hay Mar respects cultural and language differences in our refugee community. She knows that many women and children are not treated with respect and love in their home country. She wants to change that; she desires to love them and to show them that coming to America is a step forward to getting a better future and opportunities.