Victorian Refugee Health Network E-bulletin August 2010
The Victorian Refugee Health Network brings together health, settlement and community services to be more accessible and responsive to the needs of refugees and asylum seekers.
The E-bulletin provides a regular forum to share news and information to support practitioners and services in providing health care to people of a refugee background.

News and Events

1. Refugee Health Series: for GPs, Refugee Health Nurses and Practice Nurses organised by the Northern Division of General Practice, the Dandenong Casey General Practice Association, Pivot West and Foundation House. The next forum on Wednesday 8 September will address Refugee Peadiatrics at Afghan Masala Restaurant, 247 Thomas Street, Dandenong. Category One ALM points applied for GPs; and Category Two points available for single sessions. Registrations are essential as places are limited. Click here for a flyer.

2. Karen Community Radio Program Launched. On 29 July the Karen community launched 3ZZZ Karen Community Radio Program and the Resettlement of Karen People DVD. The Karen community hope the radio program will be a good resource for organisations interested in contacting the community via radio and that the DVD will be a good source of information.

Resources

3. Immunisation and sexual and reproductive health fact sheets in community languages. Department of Human Services (DHS) has developed factsheets on immunisation and individual vaccines in 20 community languages. To view see www.health.vic.gov.au/immunisation/fact-sheets/language Family Planning NSW has also developed some translated factsheets on the following topics: Mensturation, STIs, Emergency Contraception, Contraceptive Implant, Progesterone IUD, The Pill and more. To view see www.fpnsw.org.au/index_factsheets.html

4. Updated Refugee Health Care Pathway. Developed by the HealthWest Partnership this document aims to show the pathway of a newly arrived refugee through settlement support and health services. The tool may aid staff new to working with people from a refugee background in understanding the broader service system. Click here for a copy.

5. Carers Victoria - new information sheets in Karen are now available. The information sheets cover caring for someone who is frail or aged or has dementia (click here for a copy), caring for someone with a disability (click here for a copy) and caring for somone with a mental illness (click here for a copy). You can also find the information sheets at Carers Victoria's recently redesigned website: www.carersvictoria.org.au

6. Refugee Health Topics documents. Castlemaine District Community Health have developed summary documents that list internet links for information, tranlated resouces, and government policies and documents for health professionals and consumers on 34 Refugee Health topics. To view the documents see: http://www.connectingcare.com/provider.asp?site_id=172&service_id=26039&pcp_id=10

7. African mental health and wellbeing support group. Action on Diability in Ethnic Communities (ADEC) is offering a Carers, Family and Individuals support group for people from African backgrounds with mental health concerns. The group aims include creating an informal self-help network for people with mental illness and their carers, and to facilitate social and recreational activities. For further information, please contact ADEC's Intake Officer on (03) 9480 1666.

Professional Development

8. Infectious Disease Clinics. Tom Shultz (Infectious Disease Physician) is currently running the infectious disease clinic at Western Region Health Centre (WRHC) three Wednesdays every month. There is currently capacity for GPs and external agencies to refer to this clinic. For refer process contact: Leah Dick Tues, Wed or Friday on (03) 8298 4149.

9. Who cares? Refugee and migrant young people with caring responsibilities. For people working with young poeple from refugee and migrant backgrounds this forum will help contribute to drawing a clearer picture of the experience of 'young carers' from ethnic communities. CMY is hosting this forum in partnership with Carers Victoria and the Ethnic Communities' Council of Victoria (ECCV) on Wednesday 25 August, 9:30am - 12:30pm at the Community Room, The Abbotsford Convent, 51 Heliers Street, Abbotsfort. RSVP: Nyari Chiweza (03) 9340 3700 or email info@cmy.net.au

Research/Reports

10. Migration Treatment of Disability. The report of the Joint Standing Committee on Migration Inquiry into the Migration Treatment of Disability was released on 21 June. It recommended “that offshore refugee applicants who have a disability or other health condition have access to the consideration of a waiver of the Health Requirement” on compelling and compassionate grounds. Further, that DIAC “create a priority visa category for refugees who have sustained a disability or condition as a result of being a victim of torture and trauma”. If accepted, fewer off-shore refugees would be rejected on health grounds and small numbers of the most vulnerable refugees, those with disabilities, could be eligible for resettlement here. For more details see: www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/mig/disability/report.htm

11. Diversity in Health 2010 - post conference reports and presentations are now available. Resources include:
• The Road Forward report delivered by Pino Migliorino from FECCA
• Rapporteur summaries of each day
• PowerPoint slides or papers from conference presentations (reproduced with consent)
• Audio recordings of keynote sessions
For more details see: http://www.ceh.org.au/post-conference.aspx

Subscriptions and contributions to the Victorian Refugee Health Network E-Bulletin are welcome. If you would like to subscribe or send news or information relevant to refugee health please go to the Contact Us page on the Refugee Health Network website: www.refugeehealthnetwork.org.au or email: ebulletin@refugeehealthnetwork.org.au

Disclaimer