Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Occupational Therapy Program Fostering The Development Of School Readiness Skills In Refugee Children, Grace Reminder

Occupational Therapy Doctoral Student Capstone Posters

U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI)- Cleveland offers programming and services that help immigrants, refugees, and uprooted individuals transition to life within the United States. Refugee children face challenges with socialization, mental health, and experience a great deal of trauma and are unable to engage in meaningful activities. This paper aims to highlight programming that was created throughout a 14-week capstone experience at USCRI Cleveland that fostered the development of school readiness skills needed for pre- school aged refugee children and exposed them to new occupations and skill development, increased their quality of life, self-esteem and self-confidence

Bridging Cultural Barriers To Perinatal Mental Health Care In New Americans, Madeline Yvette Powell

Family Medicine Clerkship Student Projects

Perinatal mental health outcomes are worse in New Americans, particularly in refugee patients. Mental health stigma and cultural differences in views on mental illness impact New Americans’ willingness to discuss mental health concerns with healthcare workers. This is in addition to language barriers, time constraints, financial barriers, and general mistrust of medical professionals.

Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, Jorge Baron, Maria Kolby-Wolfe, Kristen Smith Dayley, Twila Bird, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

The Northwest Immigrant Rights Program has been around for 35 years, started in 1984 specifically to help Central American refugees during the mid-1980s, when they were fleeing civil wars. A pro-bono group of attorneys performing "direct legal representation", helping low income community members who are navigating different aspects of the immigration system. NWIRP also engages in "systemic advocacy" which attempts to change systems and policies revolving around asylum and immigration rights.

Steve & Anita, Steve, Anita, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Steve and Anita Canfield helped the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Turkey. They helped send blankets, coats, and washing machines to Syrian refugees. They were assigned to Frankfurt to assess refugee camps, soup kitchens, warehouses, and immigrant communities. The couple visited refugee camps and soup kitchens all over Europe to determine what was needed most by refugees.

The Canfields established the Friendship Center in Rome. The center offers classes in Italian, English, Italian, and a Red Cross course. It also has a gospel choir, a popular activity for primarily African refugees. The LDS Church has plans to …

Transition In Occupations Of Refugees During Resettlement, Jennifer H. Daine, Adam A. Chan, Jacqueline-Elizabeth Cantrell, Kimberley Keagan Banuelos

Student Research Posters

Purpose: In 2016, there were 22.5 million refugees worldwide (UNHCR, 2017). California resettled just over 5,000 of those 85,000 (Igielnik & Krogstad, 2017). Limited research has been conducted in the United States (U.S.) focusing on the refugee experience; furthermore, there is a significant gap in research regarding the impact of the refugee experience on the occupations of refugees as they transition to living in the U.S. Smith (2012) explored the adaptation of cultural weaving among Karen refugees to maintain their previous occupations and the impact of daily weaving on their lives within Western culture; however, the study focused only on …

Depression Screening And Prevention Among Vt Bosnian Refugees, Mushtaba Yuridullah

Family Medicine Clerkship Student Projects

Mental health and mental health disorders are stigmatized in our society today. Many people suffer from mental health disorders but are not willing to seek treatments due to various concerns. One big factor is lack of awareness about mental health disorders and brushing mental health issues as something “non-medical” or “all in your head.” This view is especially prevalent among our refugees and new immigrant communities. This project aims to bring about awareness regarding mental health in our local Vermont communities and will emphasize the availability of treatments.

It Takes A Village, Valerie Smith (Interior Design), Allison Mccabe (Interior Design), Kelly Mcmullen (Interior Design), Evatt Holmström (Industrial Design), Coral Pistilli (Occupational Therapy)

Nexus Maximus

Through collaboration and teamwork, we tried to fulfill the needs of refugees coming into the country. We created a temporary society (urban plan) through the use of IKEA shelters in order to better the everyday lives of refugees who are in limbo waiting for approval in the country they landed. We hope the plan will spark a sense of community, contribution, and improve the mental health of the society residing there.

Nexus Maximus IV

The Challenge: Innovation for Refugees and Displaced Populations

One of the great challenges of our time is how to help refugees and displaced populations, and how …

Language Learning Application, Sarah Plonski (Landscape Architecture), Mohit Jain (Construction Management), Amar Chinni (Pre-Med), Venla Pirhonen, Victoria Silva (Advertising), Victoria Martinez (Marketing Engineering)

Nexus Maximus

An application that facilitates immersive language learning by connecting refugees to one another as language learning partners and to native-speaking tutors.

Our group worked to overcome language barriers of our own to complete this project. This work represents a major success in terms of collaborating across disciplines as well as cultures and languages.

Nexus Maximus IV

The Challenge: Innovation for Refugees and Displaced Populations

One of the great challenges of our time is how to help refugees and displaced populations, and how to prevent the causes in the first place. Every minute, 24 people around the world are forced to …

The Children's Community Center, Noelle Howard (Economics), Silvia Martin Aldana (Graphic Design Certificate), Cristina Pareja (Disaster And Medicine And Management), Albaraa Jebreel (Disaster And Medicine And Management)

Nexus Maximus

We are the Children’s Community Center, a NGO thats wants to provide an emergency response to the new surge of Rohingya refugee children. We want to relieve the daily mental traumas of the refugee camps through the collaborative interaction of the different children within the camps. This center will also give parents the space to focus on their own healing without the preoccupation of childcare.

Nexus Maximus IV

The Challenge: Innovation for Refugees and Displaced Populations

One of the great challenges of our time is how to help refugees and displaced populations, and how to prevent the causes in the …

Refugee Connects, Chintha Snow Vongsakulvong (Interior Design), John Murphy, Maria Latorre, Alejandra Hernandez

Nexus Maximus

Refuge Connects

An opportunity for Refugees Syrian refugees are in a vulnerable state while in their camps, mentally, physically, and economically. They miss their homes, jobs, and their old community. While waiting to hear about their asylum status, they want to have a sense of normality. Refugees have limited access to job opportunities, which delays productivity for families. When trying to strive for normality in their current state, having a steady source of income will stabilize their lives.

Nexus Maximus IV

The Challenge: Innovation for Refugees and Displaced Populations

One of the great challenges of our time is how to …

Leonard Bagalwa, Leonard Bagalwa, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Leonard was forced to join the military at the age of 17 in his home country of the Congo. A Catholic priest smuggled me out of the country and I lived in refugee camps in several different countries until 2004 when he came to the United States.

In 2005, a couple came to Leonard when he was homeless in the Provo library. They found out that he needed help and offered to let me live with them. They ended up paying my tuition for my education and I went to college for five years.

Leonard uses his experiences to teach …

Identifying Barriers To Healthcare Access For The Somali Population At Cmmc, Matteen Hakim

Family Medicine Clerkship Student Projects

The city of Lewiston has a significant Somali population, but that population is very poorly represented in the patient population at CMMC and the Family Medicine Residency (FMR). This project was meant to elucidate the Somali perspective on this discrepancy in order to share it with physicians at the FMR as a first step towards fixing the divide.