Jennifer Huong

I was born in Kampong Cham, and raised in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. After Khmer Rouge, I escaped to Thailand refugee camps in 1981, where I spent about two years in several camps. In 1983 after spending 8 months in a Philippines refugee camp, I resettled in Salem, Oregon in mid-July 1983. I went to McKay High School and graduated in 1987. I moved to Seattle and went to Seattle Central Community College for two years, getting my AA degree. I started work at Refugee Women’s Alliance in Seattle, Washington in 1990 as a bilingual advocate for domestic violence. In 1994, I started work at Harborview Medical Center with the Community House Calls program founded by two medical directors. My role was and continues to be as a Cultural Mediator/Caseworker and Medical Interpreter. The program just had its 26th anniversary on April 18th, 2020. I was one of the first staff with this program, along with five colleagues from East Africa. The program now has ten caseworkers/ cultural mediators in the program, and we provide a bridge with patient/family/community and healthcare teams to provide culturally sensitive care In 2015, I completed my BA of Applied Behavior Science in Social and Human Services at Seattle Central Community College. Three years ago I was very fortunate to work with my colleagues from Public Health to start the Khmer Health Board (KHB). I am very proud and excited to see KHB established and moving forward with many generations that had passion and commitment to help our community.