Volunteer Training

On October 19^th, Jeanne hosted a volunteer training for both new and experienced volunteers.  Our guest speaker was Sue Winegar, a recently-retired Public Health Nurse who worked primarily with refugees.  She shared her hared-earned wisdom about the need for better-trained medical translators, about how often recently-arrived refugees misunderstand their health care providers’ instructions, how challenging it is for new families to learn who their primary health provider is and how to contact him or her, and, above all, how important it is for family volunteers to understand what kind of health care is available to their families and to know how to help them access it.

Ask your family, Sue said, who their doctor is.  Ask them if they know how to call their doctor.  If they know how to order medication refills.  If they know the difference between a routine health issue and an emergency health problem.  Keep asking, she suggested.  Write down the information for your family.  If the family wishes, go with them to their doctor and dentist appointments, at least once.  It makes a huge difference if a new family has an advocate with them.

At the end of the meeting, we talked about volunteers becoming health buddies for one or more families.  This led to a discussion about creating teams of volunteers for each family, instead of assigning one volunteer to one family.  Each team would consist of a language teacher, a homework helper, a health buddy, a recreation guide, and a case manager.

We also talked about developing volunteer-run wellness programs for refugees who are newly-arrived and for those who have been here for awhile.  We now have four active volunteers with extensive medical experience, and they are meeting soon to brainstorm how to create an effective program.

Stay tuned for further developments.