You are invited to attend:
Through the Eyes of a Refugee Photography Art Exhibit
6-9 pm January 21, 2012
MSAC building, 2750 Heather St Vancouver
Dr. J Vassel, Dr A Henderson, Dr. M Love, Dr. M Mayhew, Dr. K Grant
Through the Eyes of a Refugee is a PhotoVoice project with Bhutanese
refugees that began during the summer of 2011. The idea grew out of
the Bridge Clinic in Vancouver where primary care is provided for
refugees and refugee claimants in Vancouver. There is a paucity of
literature regarding the determinants of health of the refugee
population in Canada. The goal of this project was to increase our
understanding of the determinants of health of the Bhutanese refugee
population in Canada and provide a medium for refugees to communicate
their opinions about their health with the local community and health
care providers. This was done through a community based participatory
research (CBPR) model, PhotoVoice, that allowed participants to
capture their opinions and concerns through photography and
communicate them through visual media in order to minimize language
barriers. Volunteers from the Bhutanese refugee community were
enrolled in the project and met on a weekly basis to learn about
photography techniques. A question about health was introduced at
each session and participants took their digital cameras home to their
communities and returned to the next session with photographs
representing their ideas about the question. The questions we asked
at each session were; what is health? what makes you healthy? what
makes you unhealthy? what makes your mind healthy? what makes your
mind unhealthy? To find out the responses to these questions and to
view the photos taken by the participants, we invite you to attend the
art exhibit on January 21.2012 at 6pm at the Medical Student and
Alumni Centre (2750 Heather St). The participants are excited to
share their ideas about health with health care providers, settlement
workers, and the general public. We hope this will be a springboard
for further research and discussion about the determinants of health
of refugees here in Canada and will enable our health care system to
provide better care by recognizing that improving the health of
refugees is linked strongly to financial concerns, employment and
settlement services as well as increased coverage for medications.
