Health & Social Services
GRSG’s Focus On Health
GRSG has long been aware of the difficulty in new communities accessing
information about health services. Until recently there has
been
a lack of opportunity for ethnic minorities to engage with HSE
personnel and to help input on culturally appropriate services. The
Galway Refugee Support Group was involved in the consultation process
of the Intercultural Health Strategy. The Intercultural Health Strategy
is a policy document from the HSE in which the HSE aims to build on the
existing health provision in place and develop ‘a comprehensive frame
work which recognises the distinct health & care needs of
service
users from diverse cultural & ethnic backgrounds'.
GRSG takes a broad view to health looking beyond physical wellbeing,
but realising that a persons environment, education, access to
services, access to employment and housing ect are key
determinants on a person’s health. GRSG encompass
the health promotion model, which is a holistic approach to
health
recognising that a range of factors contribute to a person’s health and
health is not merely defined by ‘the absence of disease’ Nola J Pender
(1982; revised, 1996)
http://currentnursing.com/nursing_theory/health_promotion_model.htm
The ERF Health Project
GRSG believes that one of the main barriers for ethnic minorities
accessing health services is lack of information on the Irish health
system and a need for culturally appropriate services. With this in
mind GRSG applied to the European Refugee Fund in 2008 to run a two
tier training programme. One which would be a peer led health
information training for asylum seekers and the second which would be a
course on Intercultural Mediation to give participants the opportunity
to train and work as intercultural mediators in the health system.
Both projects are community development projects, based on the premise
that all communities contain a wealth of knowledge and experience that
can be channelled through active participation into collective action
in order to achieve the communities desired goals. In this
case
the goals are to reduce inequalities in access to health information
and to establish a working model for enhanced intercultural mediation
between healthcare providers and healthcare participants.
HIPP
Health Information and Promotion Project for Asylum Seekers
IMC
Intercultural Mediation Course for refugees and those with leave to
remain
HIPP Newsletter (July 2009)
HIPP
Graduated Peer Health Worker's Newsletter (November 2009)
Intercultural Mediation Participant's Newsletter (November 2009)
Intercultural Health Forum Project
In
2008 the GRSG recieved funding to research the prospect of an
Intercultural Health Forum in Galway from the Combat Poverty Agency.
GRSG
was able to hire a part-time worker Roseabella don Pedro to work on the
project.
The
project involved creating an awareness of the Intercultural
Health Strategy amongst ethnic minority service users. The work also
entailed facilitating the creation of an Intercultural health forum in
Galway wherby there will be a consisitant flow of information between
the HSE and the ethnic minority service users.
To download the newsletter relating to the project click here