Refugee Health Initiative
2022/2023 Executives:
- Bader Zeer, Sandy Hassoun, Farhad Ghaseminejad, Torin Halvorson, Vivian Ngo, Kendrew Wong
What is the Refugee Health Initiative (RHI)?
- Partnership program which aims to help refugees transition to life in Canada
- Medical students are paired with a family for two years to help them with resettlement as well as navigating the Canadian health care system
- Our goal is to empower refugees so that they can feel comfortable addressing their own health needs
- RHI was first founded in 2016 and is proud to have worked with over 400 refugees and carried out 4 research projects with the help of over 50 medical students.
What else does RHI do?
- Advocate for meaningful participation of refugees in Canadian society
- Learn, discuss, and address challenges and barriers refugee families face
- Hold workshops for medical students to teach them about various aspects of refugee resettlement
- Create and present workshops to refugees at local non-profit organizations
- Create instructional healthcare videos and other knowledge translation materials
- Participate in ongoing refugee health related research projects
What are the benefits to the participating medical students?
- Learning about the process of refugee resettlement in Canada
- Gaining experience in communicating through the use of interpreters
- Developing skills to interact with people from different lived-experience and cultures
- Improving cross-cultural communication skills
- Learning how to navigate our healthcare system and teach newcomers to do the same
- Developing advocacy skills for the needs of refugees and identifying available resources
- Participating in research projects and developing health-related workshops.
Where can I find out more?
- Visit the Refugee Health Initiative website: ubcrhi.wordpress.com.
- Contact the RHI Team Leaders: ubc.rhi@gmail.com
