Refuge BG hosts partnership with Graves Gilbert Clinic to teach refugees about healthcare job opportunities

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Refuge BG is partnering with Graves Gilbert Clinic to hold a class that teaches refugees in our community about which healthcare job opportunities are available.

The classes, held at Dishman McGinnis Elementary School, are a way for the parents and kids they serve to learn under one roof.

“It’s all set up in a way to support the family well because sometimes, when you have a lot of kids, you don’t have the opportunity to go to classes… and this is how it break it down with Mom and Dad. They don’t have to worry about where their kid is, they can just go to class, study the English, get better at the same time the kid are doing a lot of classes to get better as well,” Refuge BG CEO Daniel Tarnagda says.

One of the main classes being offered featured a representative from Graves Gilbert Clinic, who helped those interested in getting into the medical field find their footing.

“We just receive a grant through the Kentucky Office of Refugees to help our refugee families get out of a government assistance and help them find their own pathway in society here. Many of them are now buying their own home because we’re able to walk alongside them, training them through different pathways like manufacturing, construction, technology… and right now, today, we have a health care meeting where many of our folks who already have experience in healthcare department and they’re already here in the US, and we’re trying to work with Graves Gilbert Clinic to show them the pathway to become… to have their own certificate, to have their own diploma here at home,” Tarnagda says.

Whether it’s physical activity, writing or making art, it’s all about making independence accessible for them.

“When someone is working, they can bring something at home by themselves. If they are not working, they’re still a part of us trying to help them to be in defeat. But if someone starts to work, they start to have all this stress of a problem they used to have back home… because this is a dream to be in America. If we’re able to help them get a better job with the level of education they already have, we are able to get them stable in our society so they can grow and flourish well in Bowling Green, Kentucky,” Tarnagda says.