Trauma and the Refugee Patient: Barriers and Strategies for Care

Overview

This webinar begins by presenting refugee resettlement demographics in New York State. In upstate areas, new refugee populations helped increase cultural diversity while presenting new challenges to health care providers and public health practitioners unfamiliar with refugee cultures and the issues they face. 

In this presentation, Dr. Porterfield will explain the way we communicate with a person who has suffered trauma matters. She will describe the major sources of refugee trauma, its impacts on cognition and the brain, and the principles of recovering from trauma. She will discuss ways to facilitate emotional safety among refugees, strategies for talking about trauma, and when and how to refer refugees to community services. 

James Sutton will conclude the webinar by describing the Refugee Health Clinic at Rochester Regional Health, and how they have put some of the principles Dr. Porterfield describes into practice.

Target Audience

Public health professionals, environmental professionals, physicians, physician assistants, nurses, nurse practitioners, local health department staff and other medical and public health professionals.