Abstract
Community-academic partnerships have demonstrated how collaboration can provide academic healthcare workers and non-medical community providers such as educators and social services with a comprehensive view of issues affecting refugee populations. The ICIH (Interagency Council on Immigrant Health) is a physician-community partnership consisting of healthcare professionals, non-medical educators, social workers, early childhood services and other community agencies. It was formed to address the well-being of a local immigrant population, strengthen bonds between the community and healthcare system, and educate and empower pediatricians to provide culturally aware services. The collaboration has been very successful as demonstrated by the production of multiple collaborative products in a very short time period with minimal funding. This article explores the experiences of community and physician members in order to share insights and recommendations for others working in small cities who wish to start such a collaborative. We collected data from 17 of 30 ICIH members through focus groups, interviews, and a survey and conducted a qualitative analysis using transcripts from these sessions. From our analysis, the following themes emerged: 1) increased awareness of challenges faced by refugee families, 2) making connections and collaborating with a diverse group of agencies, 3) improvement of care for the population using knowledge learned through the ICIH, 4) expanding perspectives through the sharing of information between agencies, 5) the importance of education for providers and community members about the refugee population, and 6) relational support gained through interaction with other service providers struggling to overcome similar obstacles. Results support the ideals of a productive community-academic partnership. With this information, we present recommendations for others working to establish similar community-academic collaboration efforts.
Highlights
A child’s early years are a time of great growth and development
[1] The Interagency Council on Immigrant and Refugee Health (ICIH) (Interagency Council on Immigrant Health) is a physician-community partnership consisting of healthcare professionals, non-medical educators, social workers, early childhood services and other community agencies
The following themes emerged: 1) increased awareness of challenges faced by refugee families, 2) making connections and collaborating with a diverse group of agencies, 3) improvement of care for the population using knowledge learned through the ICIH, 4) expanding perspectives through the sharing of information between agencies, 5) the importance of education for providers and community members about the refugee population, and 6) relational support gained through interaction with other service providers struggling to overcome similar obstacles
Summary
A child’s early years are a time of great growth and development. For refugee families, circumstances necessitating fleeing their home countries, the process of seeking refugee status, and life in a new country can be very traumatic. The Interagency Council on Immigrant and Refugee Health (ICIH) is a collaboration between physicians practicing at academic medical centers and community partners, formed to address the well-being of immigrant and refugee children in the city. The partnership strives to strengthen bonds between the community, health-care system, and resident physicians in order to educate and empower members to proactively address needs and to provide culturally aware healthcare services for our refugee and immigrant population. The hope is that with improved understanding of the diverse cultures from which local refugee and immigrant families originate, social workers, educators, physicians, and other community partners can tailor their services to better fit the populations they serve
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