Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services (IRIS) held a pop-up health clinic in New Haven over the weekend. This was in response to an ongoing need in the community for the retention of refugee children who needed to undergo legally required medical examinations in order to enroll in school.
IRIS Health Coordinator Shafiullah Faizi said there was “a great sense of relief” about the clinic's work on the issue.
Faizee and Rona Rohbar are the IRIS health coordinators who organized the health fair.
Rover, a nurse and medical interpreter, grew up in Afghanistan and Pakistan before coming to the United States. She underwent the same medical examination 20 years ago, when she was a teenager.
“It's been a tough journey, but I'm glad we got to where we are today,” Rover said.
Faizi worked as a doctor in Afghanistan but was forced to leave the country two years ago because his medical work with the U.S. government was at risk under the Taliban regime.
“I feel great when I'm working with the doctors,” Faizy said. “From one angle, I feel like I'm connected to my field. So, from another angle, I'm serving my community, especially speaking the language and connecting with my community. I'm serving people all over the world, and it feels really great.”
Both put their skills to work in organizing a health fair on Saturday, where six refugee families were cared for and 21 children received the necessary medical examinations to enroll in school.
They didn't do it alone. Dozens of health care providers from Fair Haven Community Health Care volunteered their time to help set up the clinic.
“I just wanted to be here to help support,” said FHCHC Registered Nurse Shannon Hughes.
They feel this pop-up clinic is very important as they regularly care for refugee families.
“I enjoy meeting these families. They are brave, loving families looking for a safe life for their children,” said Lori Wallach, nurse coordinator at the FHCHC Refugee Clinic. “They will sacrifice anything to get here and to keep their children safe. Children are very resilient and fun to work with.”
They also saw an increase in refugee resettlement in Connecticut last fall, which drove up demand for physical exams for children.
IRIS is struggling to secure reservations for all new students in 2024.
“Ideally, we would be able to see these children within 30 days up to about 90 days. However, in recent months, as many children have come to New Haven to be resettled, Wait times are starting to get longer,” said Dr. Camille Brown, director of the FHCHC Refugee Clinic.
Well, thanks to the health fair over the weekend, the backlog has been cleared.
IRIS health coordinators said more health care providers across the state need to participate to meet the continuing needs of children being resettled in Connecticut.
“We hope to find more partners for the future,” Rover told Faizy.
For Rover, this initiative resonates on a personal level. As a child, she was denied an education under Taliban rule in Afghanistan, but her family later immigrated to Pakistan.
“I was 12 years old and enrolled in first grade. I was the biggest kid in the class,” she said. “Seeing the situation, I decided to talk to her father and ask him to arrange for a tutor to help me study for the second grade after school.In this way, I completed the first year. I completed the second grade in .
Now, after graduating from high school in six years and completing several years of higher education, Rover is happy to be able to help other refugee children like her once get an education.
“It was such a relief to know that I was a refugee and faced all the challenges when I first arrived. Now that I'm here, they don't have to face anything like that,” Rover said. said. “I'm so happy that I can come here and help guide them…and get them ready for school so they don't miss out on an education.”