Victorian Refugee Health Network E-bulletin May 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. Outer East Refugee Health Forum: On 20 April, The Outer East Primary Care Partnership collaborated with the Migrant Settlement Committee on the Outer East Refugee Health forum 2010. Following the 2009 forum, this year’s forum provided an opportunity to learn about and discuss emerging issues for refugees in the Outer East and to network with professional in the field. The program included a chronological snapshot of the settlement process of refugees, an overview of the cultural and medical issues, panel discussions with settlement agencies and experts, and presentations from former refugees, the Outer East Refugee Health Nurse, and the Royal Melbourne Hospital’s research fellows. The 65 attendees were from a diverse range of sectors including heath, education, housing, employment, local government and social support services such as Centrelink and Victoria Police. This broader sector approach follows the social model of health which recognises the effect of social, economic, cultural and political factors and conditions on health and wellbeing. For further information please contact Pallavi Yagnik on 9879 4282 or Pallavi.yagnik@oepcp.org.au
2. Diversity in Health 2010 Conference Melbourne 7-9 June. ONLY TWO WEEKS TO GO! The conference features a refugee health stream on Tuesday 8 June including presentations by Dr Victoria Achut, a Sudanese doctor practicing in South Australia and Paris Aristotle of the Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture. The conference is being held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC), at South Wharf. To view the full program online click here
3. SunSmart Vitamin D survey of health professionals: aims to determine knowledge, awareness and practices related to ultraviolet radiation (UV) exposure and the promotion of vitamin D messages. The survey takes 10 minutes to complete and closes on 28 May with the chance to win one of three Myer vouchers worth $100. Please forward to other colleagues. To complete the survey go to www.surveymonkey.com/s/vitD
4. Parenting in Australia; A Conference for Muslim Women: organised by the Islamic Women’s Welfare Council of Victoria. Speakers include Amal El Khoury, Coordinator/ Senior Social Worker, Arabic Welfare Inc and Tasneem Chopra, Chairperson, Islamic Women’s Welfare Council of Victoria. To be held Friday 28 May, 9am-2pm, at Northcote Town Hall. For more information, please call Jaweria Khalid on 9481 3000. For brochure click here
Resources
5. Refugee Week 20-26 June, to coincide with World Refugee Day 20 June. The Refugee Council of Australia (RCOA) promote this event as an activity to inform the public about refugees and celebrate positive contributions made by refugees to Australian society. For more information from the RCOA website about this week click here. Leader news also has a page advertising local events, to view this page click here
6. DIAC Services for Refugees Fact Sheet: provides direct information addressing common questions including: What do refugees get when they arrive in Australia? What do they NOT get? What income support do they receive? Where do they settle? Do they get priority for public housing? Are they taught English? Why do we bring them here? What about refugees who arrive by boat? To view the fact sheet click here
7. PAP Screen Victoria Multilingual Resources: resources include multilingual health promotion posters about prevention of cervical cancer through regular PAP testing, Pamphlets and information sheets in 34 different languages. For order form click here
Professional Development
8. Geelong upcoming Refugee Health Professional Development;
- Half day introduction to the refugee experience – July 19th. This session will be useful for any professional who has started working with refugees or would like to work with refugees and would like to gain a greater understanding of the refugee experience.
- Two day course for counsellors – 24th August & 7th September.This course provides counsellors with additional skills for working with refugee survivors or torture and trauma.
Further enquiries to Naomi Madigan, Project Support - Health and Wellbeing, Ph: (03) 5227 4015 or email nmadigan@G21.com.au
9. The 2010 Rural Health Research Conference: The University of Melbourne Rural Health Academic Centre's 6th Annual Research Conference is titled: Issues Impacting on the Physical & Psychological Health of our Communities. With the increasing trend of resettlement of refugees to rural areas in Victoria, this is an opportunity to submit abstracts focussing on refugee health. The conference will be held on Thursday 11 November 2010. Call for Abstracts closes July 5 2010. For further information visit www.ruralhealth.unimelb.edu.au
Research/Reports
10. “The meaning and mental health consequences of long-term immigration detention for people seeking asylum” is a recently published article in Social Science and Medicine by Guy Coffey, Ida Kaplan, Robyn Sampson and Maria Tucci. The article reports the findings of a Foundation House research project examining the experience, and identifying the consequences of, extended periods of immigration detention from the perspective of previously detained asylum. For a full copy of the article (please note there is restricted access to this article as per the Science Direct website), click here
11. The Refugee Service Coordination Forum for the West: this successful event held in March was well attended by a broad range of health & wellbeing services, with 70 participants representing 30 organisations. To view the full report from the day report click here
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 at www.refugeehealthnetwork.org.au or email:ebulletin@refugeehealthnetwork.org.au
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