Abbreviated Minutes:
Documents and materials from meeting:
New Technical Instructions: Syphilis and Gonorrhea for Panel Physicians
Please see the attached notification letter regarding the new Technical Instructions for Medical History and Physical Examination, Syphilis and Gonorrhea for Panel Physicians that are now available on CDC’s website.
If you have any further questions, please contact Emily Jentes (ejentes@cdc.gov).
PRM New Site Development Guide
Attached is the New Site Development Guide that was recently released by PRM’s Office of Refugee Admissions. The Guide was compiled with input from staff at national and local resettlement agencies, state refugee coordinators, ORR and PRM to increase understanding of how a new refugee resettlement site is established. The Guide also contains a lot of great background information on the refugee resettlement process itself.
Healthy Women, Healthy Communities: 3rd Annual Refugee and Immigrant Health Seminar
Registration is now open for Healthy Women, Healthy Communities: 3rd Annual Refugee and Immigrant Health Seminar being held Tuesday, November 1st at the Parkway Central Library. See the attached flyer for full details.
Lunch will be provided and registration is required.
Register here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/110116healthseminar
Introducing: Philadelphia International Women’s Project
Female Genital Cutting (FGC) is a global phenomenon that impacts over half a million women and girls throughout the United States. Locally, exponential growth in the immigrant population and high rates of immigration from FGC prevalent regions has led the greater Philadelphia region to rank 7th amongst major US cities with the highest number women and girls impacted by FGC. In an effort to better address the specific needs of this population and lessen accompanying stigma that hinders access to care, the Philadelphia International Women’s Project (PIWP) was formed.
PIWP is a partnership between Nationalities Service Center (NSC), the Drexel University Women’s Care Center, and the African Family Health Organization (AFAHO), which seeks to break down barriers to care through the following strategies:
• Building community partnerships to increase community engagement around FGC and reduce stigma
• Utilizing a peer-to-peer model to engage affected communities in outreach and education, while facilitating connections to appropriate supportive services
• Providing essential clinical services to impacted women in a culturally sensitive health care home
• Increasing medical provider competency through a comprehensive provider education initiative that focuses on teaching effective and culturally sensitive FGC care strategies
Through this work, PIWP will focus on immigrant and refugee women and communities most impacted by FGC.
We look forward to working with community groups/leaders, city/state officials, and providers who recognize the importance of this work and seek to partner in creating a more effective provider landscape for our communities.
For more information please contact: Brittany DiVito at 215-893-8400 x1533 or bdivito@nscphila.org
Referral Form:
New Language Access Advocacy Project
Nationalities Service Center and Jefferson Refugee Health Partners, in collaboration with the Philadelphia Refugee Health Collaborative, have launched a new project. Learn more here!
PA State Refugee Coordinator Announcing Retirement
Please join us in thanking Dr. Asresu Misikir for her service over the years and congratulate her on this great new chapter of her life. See below for letter she sent:
To All
I wanted to take this opportunity to reach out and express my sincere appreciation and profound gratitude to work will you all as an Epidemiologist and State Refugee Health Program for the past ten years. Now, I am retiring, effective of June 30, 2016.
It was a great times for me to learn, share experiences and skills with you all. I genuinely valued your cooperation, efforts and supports to promote refugee health program to achieve its mission/Goal to prevent communicable disease among refugee population. Your excellent and durable work relationship and commitment to the refugee health surveillance activities allowed me to be successful and to make a significant contribution to the Pennsylvania Refugee Health Program.
I will miss all, still it is time for me to move forward to enjoy the rest of my life.
Thank You very much and GOD Bless you all
Asresu Misikir, Dr.PH., MPH| Epidemiologist
Department of Health| Bureau of Epidemiology
Health & Welfare Building | Room 933
625 Forster Street | Harrisburg, PA 17120
Phone: 717-547-3486 | Fax: 717-772-6975
www.health.state.pa.us | amisikir@pa.gov
World Refugee Day Events!
We are excited to share three events coming up for World Refugee Day.
This Saturday, June 18th there will be a Many Lumens WRD event in South Philadelphia. Anh will be there representing NSC and will have a table to provide information to the community. Feel free to drop-off promotional materials with Anh to display. In addition, feel free to attend and let clients know about the activities. I have attached a flyer here.
On June 20th 1:00om-3:00pm there will be a press conference at City Hall to raise awareness around the refugee crisis and to recognize the strength and resilience of those we serve. Please join us as this will be a wonderful opportunity to hear from a panel of stakeholders including Mayor Kenney. In addition, there will be artwork on display. This event is open to the public, including clients so please feel free to invite them. I have attached the flyer for this event. Lastly, please forward the attached press release to any media contacts you may have. The goal is to raise as much awareness as possible.
On July 9th, 11:00am-3:00pm in the City Hall Courtyard there will be a World Refugee Day Festival. The purpose of this event is to bring together the various communities that live in Philadelphia. During a time where it is very important to be having conversations around the refugee crisis and strength to our Country our communities bring, this event feels more important than ever. The festival will include performances, art and music activities, food trucks, and more. Each agency is in charge of contacting clients to invite them to the event. Please discuss within your programs your plan of action for this. The flyer is attached here and we are working on translation, however please start spreading the word now. We are also in need of volunteers the day of. If you would like to volunteer or know of anyone, please visit www.phillwrd.org to sign-up. On this page we also have a spot to collect donations for this WRD and future ones. Please feel free to spread the word around this as well and there is a drop-down box for NSC. Lastly, please attend for fun with friends and family! If you are not able to attend though would like to have program materials displayed, there will be some space for this at the event, just let us know.
Thank you,
NSC WRD Team
Survey Invitation for Mental Health Professionals Working with Refugees/Asylum Seekers
Dear Mental Health Professional,
My name is Dana T. Isawi, and I am a doctoral candidate in University of North Carolina at Charlotte’s Counselor Education and Supervision program. You are invited to participate in a dissertation research study titled Counselor Self-Efficacy of Mental Health Professionals Working with Refugees and Asylum Seekers. The overall objective of this research study is to explore factors that affect the counselor self-efficacy of mental health professionals working with refugees who have experienced trauma.
Findings from this study will add to the trauma counseling literature and provide insight to further research in clinical practice, training, and supervision of mental health professionals working with a diverse population. Your participation in this study is entirely voluntary and you may withdraw your consent and terminate participation without consequence at any time. As a ‘thank you’ for your participation, you are eligible to enter into a random drawing for one of four $50 Amazon gift cards. After completing the survey you will be directed to a separate page to provide your email for the drawing.
You are eligible to participate in this study if you meet the following criteria:
1. You hold a graduate degree in a mental health field including counseling, psychology, psychiatry, or social work and
2. You currently provide therapeutic services for traumatized refugees and asylum seekers living in the United States.
The online survey will take approximately 15 to 20 minutes to complete and special measures will be taken to protect your confidentiality to the extent possible.
Please click the following link to begin the survey and provide your consent: http://www.surveyshare.com/s/AYAWFFB
Please direct any questions or concerns about this study to the principal investigator, Dana T. Isawi (disawi@uncc.edu) or my faculty advisor, Dr. Phyllis Post (ppost@uncc.edu).
If you decline participation, I ask that you please share this invitation with other professionals who may be eligible. Thank you in advance for your time and participation!
Thank you in advance for your participation. Your time is greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Dana Isawi
Dana Isawi, MA, NCC
Doctoral Student | Counseling and Supervision
Department of Counseling
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
College of Education
Australian Refugee Health Guidelines
Recommendations for comprehensive post-arrival health assessment for people from refugee-like backgrounds. Chaves NJ, Paxton G, Biggs BA, Thambiran A, Smith M, Williams J, Gardiner J, Davis JS; on behalf of the Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases and Refugee Health Network of Australia Guidelines writing group. See guidelines here.
