Background I Refugees I African communities
Infectious diseases I Health checks
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Within the last 10 years, the Greater Geelong area has welcomed hundreds of refugees and asylum seekers into its surrounds. The significant groups over the last five years include the Karen from eastern Burma, the Sudanese (predominantly from South Sudan), Afghanis, Liberians and Congolese.
These people come from many diverse backgrounds, and they all build on the diverse community that already exists in Geelong. Many of these refugees have escaped political persecution, trauma and torture in both their home countries and in refugee camps.
Some, like the Karen from eastern Burma and have been badly discriminated against by the military dictatorship. Others have escaped ethnic tensions such as in Sudan, whilst others such as those from Afghanistan have suffered at the hands of the extremist group, the Taliban.
These people face many challenges when they first arrive in Australia, not least understanding Australia’s medical system. Refugee health provision is a unique and specialised field of medicine and health promotion that requires highly-skilled health professionals from various backgrounds.
Over the years, Barwon Health has provided both comprehensive and culturally sensitive healthcare to refugees and asylum seekers. These include dedicated refugee health nurses, an infectious disease outpatient unit, refugee health promotion and translater services.
The hospital also provides ‘hospital tours’ for certain ethnic groups that orientate newly arrived refugees and asylum seekers to the various departments that they may need to attend such as pharmacy, paediatrics Barwon Medical Imaging and other relevant outpatient clinics.
One of our fastest growing immigrant populations in Geelong are people from Africa who are escaping their homelands that have been ravaged by civil war.
Each country has a different way of managing health care and Africa is no exception. In fact Africa, has a completely different set of health issues to the ones we face here in Australia. This has required health services like Barwon Health to look at the way it nurtures the health of new African communities.
“Over the past couple of years, we have been seeing more and more African families who have very different health needs to the general population,” said Julie Heath, Clinical Nurse Consultant.
“In Africa, for instance, there are not the same levels of screenings for infectious diseases like tuberculosis and sexually transmitted diseases. There is also not the same vigorous approach to childhood immunisations.”
Barwon Health often is involved in providing comprehensive health checks to African refugees and offers a comprehensive, streamlined service to the refugee community. It welcomes referrals from local GPs and other healthcare providers who may not be as experienced with refugee health needs.
“The clinic is in its very early stages but it’s a great one-stop service for refugee families. We offer adult and children’s services so the healthcare needs of the whole family can be managed in an integrated approach,” said Dr Dan O’Brien who provides the adult refugee service.
“We understand that it can be very daunting of these families to visit health services because they are not as common in Africa. That’s why it’s important that families can be treated in the one place so we can minimise any fears or concerns they might have” he continued.
Dr O’Brien provides adult services through the clinic, while Dr Dave Fuller provides the paediatric refugee service.
“The clinic was set up because we were seeing a number of children come through the hospital with rare conditions like tuberculosis and Vitamin D deficiencies,” said Dr Fuller.
“These kids had missed out on comprehensive health screenings when they immigrated to Australia. W e saw a need for a specific clinic that would have a pro-active approach to screenings and then decided it should be a collaborative approach to cover adults as well,” said Dr Fuller.
The strength of having a refugee health clinic within a service like Barwon Health, is that it can get a number of sub-specialties working together on particular health issues with strong linkages between the hospital and community health services.
Barwon Health’s refugee health clinic has been running with the assistance of Diversitat and the Multicultural Health and Support Service. It is part of a state-wide strategy to address the unique health needs of African communities in regional Victoria.
The strategy aims to create better pathways for members of local African communities to receive testing and treatment for infectious diseases and to better understand infection prevention and treatment options.
For more information about the Refugee Health Clinic, contact Barwon Health’s Infection Prevention Unit on 5226 7691.