DOCTORS in Melbourne’s western suburbs are gaining new skills to help them work with the region’s rapidly growing refugee and asylum seeker population.
The Refugee Health program, run by West Footscray-based Macedon Ranges and North Western Melbourne Medicare Local, is providing more than 100 local general practitioners with training to tackle specific medical issues faced by newly arrived refugees and asylum seekers.
Lindy Marlow, ‘statewide refugee health nurse facilitator’, said there was a big issue around health literacy and understanding how the health system works in Australia for people coming from refugee camps.
GPs are shown how to provide their patients with appropriate information and how to help them with a referral.
GP Karen Linton, who has been training other doctors through the program, said some patients might never have seen a doctor before.
“More specific challenges would be that lots of the patients don’t speak English, so there’s a need for interpretive services. Then there are certain specific health issues, particularly mental health issues around being survivors of torture and trauma.” Dr Linton said the first thing she made clear to GPs was the need to be welcoming.
“People’s general experience of authority is that they are either scared or concerned that it’s somehow going to have a negative effect on them, especially when there’s lots of technology around them.”
Dr Linton and Ms Marlow hope the program will be extended beyond June. “I’m trying to encourage more doctors to see more refugee patients,” Dr Linton said. “There’s been a huge influx of refugees into Melbourne. I get a lot of joy out of it; I love the cultural exchange of meeting people from other countries.”
