Needs by immigrants and refugees

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I am working on community placement and my main target group are new comers to the country, mainly immigrants and refugees. I have to do an educational presentation to this group of people and come up with resources available for them to benefit from. Please give me ideas what I could offer them from nursing perspective? Here are couple ideas that come to my mind:

- eating smart on budget

- education

- social connections and communication

**Update: to modify my question. I am located in Canada, therefore health care is covered in many cases here. And the community I am involved with is in the ESL school district where 18+ adults attend. I am more so interested in what resources I can provide to them. I am going to come up with the survey that will allow me to figure out their needs, just need a guidance on bigger picture.

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Specializes in Neuro ICU and Med Surg.

What about how to find a physician for primary care, local free and reduced cost clinics, when to go to the ER, Urgent Care, or MD office? How to get into ESL (English as a second language) classes.

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these are great points. thank you for your reply.

What about how to find a physician for primary care, local free and reduced cost clinics, when to go to the ER, Urgent Care, or MD office? How to get into ESL (English as a second language) classes.
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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

Moved to the Nursing in Canada forum

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As an immigrant myself living with parents/family who are 1st generation immigrants, the most beneficial thing for many immigrants I find are information on what Canadian healthcare system actually is. In Asia and many other countries primary care, or health care in general are very different. When to go to the clinic vs ER would be beneficial.

Also, language support or translation assistance information, or basic primary care information would be helpful. My family's friend got a letter from a specialist's clinic saying that they will not see her/him if he/she does not bring a translator. This shocked me a lot as a nurse. Immigrants do not always have resources to bring a medical translator and a lot of information can be lost when families (often times children) translate for the parents. I had to get a day off to "be" the translator for my family friend... but there was a huge miscommunication regarding the appointment due to the language barrier so the specialist appointment kept getting pushed back etc.. Language barrier is a challenging issue for sure...

Good luck on your project!

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thank you very much for sharing your experience. You pointed out some great points. i appreciate it.

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