[Wamvan] Today! Health workers for Refugee Healthcare

[Harsha W.]

Roundtable: Health workers for Refugee Healthcare

Where: YWCA, 733 Beatty street, right next to Stadium Skytrain Station.
(Note: there are several Y’s, please make note of the address).
When: 6.30PM, Wed, June 27

FB: https://www.facebook.com/events/291338344296097/


Where: YWCA, 733 Beatty street, right next to Stadium Skytrain Station.
(Note: there are several Y’s, please make note of the address).
When: 6.30PM, Wed, June 27

Fathima Cader: Fathima is a law graduate active in community-based
feminist and anti-racist organising. She is a member of No One is
Illegal and is interning for the summer at Pivot Legal Society. She will
discuss the anti-refugee trends in public policy that have paved the way
for the IFH cuts, with specific attention to recent changes in immigration
and criminal law.

Byron Cruz: Byron is with the Latin American Coalition for the Rights of
Migrants and is health care worker with the Provincial Health Authority
street nurse program. He has been the President of the BC Multicultural
Health Society, member of a task group to support undocumented pregnant
women, and involved in planning the mobile clinic for migrant workers.

Agnes K: Agnes and her family are being impacted by the Interim Federal
Health cuts to refugee health care. She will be speaking about her
personal experience and the impact of the upcoming cuts on her family.

Martha Roberts: Martha is a registered midwife who has recently launched
the Strathcona Midwifery Collective. At an international level, she was a
rural midwife with Community Health Workers in the Philippines. Her
current community work includes popular education workshops for low-income
communities through the Alliance for People’s Health.

******************

As of June 30, 2012, refugees in Canada who are in need of medical
assistance, including children, the elderly, and pregnant women, will no
longer be able to access critical health care services. Among the services
to be cut for some or all refugees are: prenatal care for... pregnant
women; access to mental health care; coverage for necessary medications,
including insulin. Unless their condition is deemed a threat to public
health or safety, some refugee claimants will also be denied access to
physicians -- even if they are suffering from illnesses like cancer or
cardiovascular diseases, even if they are having heart attacks.

Health workers have warned that people will die because of these cuts. On
May 11, doctors staged a protest on Parliament Hill, while another group
of 90 physicians occupied Minister Joe Oliver’s office in Toronto. On June
18, in a coordinated “National Day of Action,” health workers in
Vancouver, Calgary, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Toronto, Hamilton, Ottawa,
Montreal and St. John’s will be staging events across the country. The
cuts have also been condemned at the institutional level, with numerous
national health organizations issuing statements: the College of Family
Physicians of Canada, Canadian Association of Optometrists, Canadian
Association of Social Workers, Canadian Dental Association, Canadian
Medical Association, Canadian Nurses Association, Canadian Association of
Community Health Centres, Canadian Association of Midwives, and Canadian
Doctors for Medicare. For more information:
http://www.doctorsforrefugeecare.ca/index.html

These cuts to health care for refugees come at the same time as the
passing of Bill C-31, the draconian Refugee Exclusion Act that, in
supposed efforts to crack down on human smuggling, mandates the immediate
certain detention of refugee claimants, including minors.

Please join us on Wednesday, June 27 as health workers explain what health
services are being cut, what community and health care resources exist for
people who have limited access to health care, what resources need to be
created, and how we can ensure adequate and accessible health for all.

Speaker list to be announced.

Light refreshments will be provided.
Child-friendly event with childcare on-site.
This venue is wheelchair accessible including washrooms.
This event is free of charge. Donations are welcome to assist with cost of
room rental.

For more information, email noii-van at resist.ca or call 604 787 4109.



-- 
Harsha Walia

https://twitter.com/HarshaWalia
https://www.facebook.com/nooneisillegal
http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/author/dtes-power-women-group



-- 
Harsha Walia

https://twitter.com/HarshaWalia
https://www.facebook.com/nooneisillegal
http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/author/dtes-power-women-group



-- 
Harsha Walia

https://twitter.com/HarshaWalia
https://www.facebook.com/nooneisillegal
http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/author/dtes-power-women-group



-- 
Harsha Walia

https://twitter.com/HarshaWalia
https://www.facebook.com/nooneisillegal
http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/author/dtes-power-women-group