Are you interested in working with the local refugee population? Are you interested in helping refugees access health care and health information? Let us tell you more about the Refugee Health Initiative!

RHI is an interdisciplinary service group that provides longitudinal in home health navigation and health education sessions to newly resettled refugees in the Durham area.  The refugee population in Durham come from a huge span of countries, including Burma, Iraq, Central African Republic, Eritrea, and Sudan to name a few. No foreign language skills are needed (but are greatly welcomed!).  

As a RHI volunteer, you and your team will meet with new refugee families about twice a month.  During the meetings volunteers typically assist with basic US health system skills, like setting up appointments, navigating the public transportation system, calling in prescriptions, going over the differences between over the counter medications, and more. Some families may also have access to insurance, so you could assist them in finding providers in their plan, and coordinating with a case manager. Other tasks include helping with skills such as memorizing personal information, maintaining proper documentation, and identification.  And of course providing a warm welcome to new refugee families. 

If you are interested please apply by September 20, 2019, at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeNeqd8JpU2a-FxGwgq4iCV8NVBPIY5Qk4JWAaLUGmCkDx2Gw/viewform?usp=sf_link.  If you are interested in getting involved with RHI leadership make sure to fill out page 2 on the application! 

If you have any questions, please reach out to Krista Odom (krista.odom@duke.edu) or Sammi Fernandes (samuela.fernandes@duke.edu).