Former Cambodian refugee Sambo Ly leads medical interpretation for safety-net patients
In 1979, during the final year of Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge regime, Sambo Ly escaped to a refugee camp in Thailand as a teenager. Fleeing one of the most brutal military regimes in the world, Ly and her loved ones endured countless horrors: witnessing disappearances, forcible separations and executions of innocent family members. Twelve out of 17 of her relatives were lost in the aftermath, Ly told CBS News Bay Area, which honored her in September with an Icon Award for outstanding service to the community.
“I am a survivor. I have overcome my fear of losing by allowing myself to lose at the starting line and becoming a winner at the finish line,” wrote Ly for her 2015 memoir, All I Heard Was My Sorrow.
After leaving Cambodia, Ly devoted her career to helping other refugees and other patients who don’t have English as their native language at the Interpreter Services Department of Alameda Health System (AHS). AHS is one of 17 public-safety-net systems in California that welcomes all patients “regardless of their ability to pay,” said Eleanor Ajala, a media and communications manager.
Last year, the organization reported serving roughly 126,000 patients, 87.5% of whom were covered by Medi-Cal and Medicare. With a net financial deficit of $80.6M as of June 2024, AHS’s fiscal situation is poised to deteriorate significantly once President Donald Trump’s looming $1 trillion cuts to Medicaid go into effect, reported the East Bay Times.
Read the full profile of Ly in the Tri-City Voice here.