Going Above and Beyond
The following conversation reflects the extraordinary efforts of the Roots Community Health Centre team as they support families with complex needs. With plans to expand, Roots CHC is strengthening our impact to provide even more comprehensive support to newcomers and refugees in the community.
In May 2023, Nasser and Seyyal arrived in Canada with their four children: a refugee family fleeing from a war-torn middle eastern country. The next seven months were beyond difficult as they struggled to find support for their family’s complex health needs.
It’s hard for us to even comprehend the trauma this family endured. Yet they persevered. During the war, a rocket exploded inside their house, burying them under the rubble of their home.
While struggling with debilitating physical injuries, Nasser continued to care for his young family who were suffering as well. Their pre-teen daughter Amina had become mute. Prior to the missile attack, her development had been normal.
The Roots Community Health Centre Society team has gone above and beyond to support the complex needs of this family — a level of care and dedication rarely available in primary care settings.
An interview with Hana Hamdoun, Cross-Cultural Health Broker, and Katherine Hughes, Nurse Practitioner. Names and details of the family were modified to respect their privacy. They reviewed and approved this article.
We’ve been working very closely with this resilient family. We’ve spent hours working with Amina’s school around the development of an individual education plan that addresses her complex needs. This included her transportation to and from her school. Because of Nasser’s injuries, he can’t walk the kids to school without significant harm to himself.
We’ve connected Amina with pediatricians and specialists so she could receive urgent surgery. Now she’s doing better at school and is really settling in, which is so nice to hear.
As a Cultural Health Worker, I support through interpretation, communication and connections with community resources. I went with Jessica Dailly, our social worker, for a home visit to meet all the family and see how they live and interact.
We’ve filled out BC housing and supplimental housing applications, multiple medical notes and letters advocating on behalf of the family. Jessica has been working very hard to try to secure accessible housing. Their son, Zayid has congenital blindness and requires an easy-to-navigate house so that he can memorize the housing layout.
We’ve been seeking appropriate housing for them since last December and it’s been a big challenge.
Jessica has been educating Nasser and Seyyal on their tenant rights and responsibilities. It’s still a work in progress.
As a nurse practitioner, being able to refer to our cross-cultural health broker team makes a big difference in our providing care. Patients understand what’s been going on with their health; this has increased their ability to manage their conditions better. Their capacity to navigate the health system has increased and has become much smoother. It’s incredible.
Like many of our patients, Nasser, Seyyal and their children daily live with significant trauma. However, their immediate needs around food, housing, and income have had to take priority. There were months where they didn’t get any income.
We assisted them to access income assistance and provincial disability benefits. Now they have a basic income. Participating in trauma healing has just not been possible yet.
We’re a trauma-informed clinic, always learning. Having patient families with such complex needs we ask ourselves: how can we improve on functioning as a trauma-informed clinic? How can we lessen the trauma of our patients and ourselves while providing care? This is so important.
An interview with Hana Hamdoun, Cross-Cultural Health Broker, and Katherine Hughes, Nurse Practitioner. Names and details of the family were modified to respect their privacy. They reviewed and approved this article.