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COVID-19 Vaccines: A National Learning Session from the Frontlines of Refugee, Migrant, and Immigrant Health

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COVID-19 Vaccines: A National Learning Session from the Frontlines of Refugee, Migrant, and Immigrant Health
Date and Time
Timezone
Pacific (PT)
Description

How do we ensure COVID-19 vaccines reach immigrant communities, where many work tirelessly in jobs deemed essential during the pandemic? How do we help farmworkers and their families have access to COVID-19 vaccines? Join Migrant Clinicians Network as we host a national learning session to share experiences from the frontline of COVID-19 vaccine distribution and initiatives to reach disenfranchised and vulnerable populations. The diverse faculty will discuss best practices, challenges and lessons learned in order to help clinicians, health centers, health departments, hospitals, employers and community groups as they work determinedly to help people at high risk from COVID-19 to get access to this much-needed vaccine. The session will also address inclusive rollout strategies, advocacy successes, and vaccine hesitancy. We will share what’s working, what’s not working and what needs to be done to ensure successful vaccine distribution to refugees, migrants and immigrants. 

Watch the Webinar Recording

Learning Objectives
  • Recognize challenges facing communities trying to distribute vaccines equitably.  
     
  • Identify successful strategies to distribute vaccines to refugee, migrant and immigrant communities.
     
  • Be familiar with resources to help promote vaccine acceptance.  

Presenters

Profile picture for user Eva Galvez

Eva

Galvez

MD

Board Member

Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center

Eva M. Galvez, MD, tiene certificación como doctora en medicina familiar y vive en Hillsboro, Oregon. En 2004, recibió su título en la Facultad de Medicina de la Universidad de Washington. Terminó su residencia en 2007, en Sea Mar Community Health Center, y desde entonces la Dra. Galvez ha trabajado en centros de salud federalmente calificados. Desde 2010, ha trabajado en el Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center, donde atiende a un gran número de pacientes, en su mayoria inmigrantes hispanohablantes. Ella tiene el compromiso de ofrecer, a todas las personas de su estado, atención médica de excellente calidad, humana y adaptada a sus culturas. Como hija de inmigrantes mexicanos y trabajadores agrícolas temporales, tiene especial interés en los desafios de salud que enfrentan las familias inmigrantes y los trabajadores agrícolas temporales. La Dra. Galvez también enseña a estudiantes de medicina familiar. Ella considera que tiene la responsabilidad de ayudar a formar la futura generación de médicos de familia y, sobre todo, de sensibilizar a los futuros médicos sobre las barreras y determinantes culturales que afectan a los inmigrantes. Ella se ha desempeñado como docente de medicina familiar clínica en la Facultad de Medicina de la Universidad de Washington y actualmente tiene el cargo de tutora clínica de los residentes de medicina familiar del Wright Center. Ella es miembro de la American Academy of Family Physicians y en la actualidad forma parte del consejo consultivo científico del Proyecto para Prevenir y Reducir los Efectos Adversos en la Salud de los Pesticidas en Trabajadores Agrícolas Indígenas. Ella es una esposa orgullosa y madre de dos hijos.

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Lynn Bahta
Name
Lynn Bahta
Credentials/Title
R.N., MPH, CPH
Information

Lynn Bahta is a Public Health Nurse at the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) serving as the Immunization Program Clinical Consultant. With over twenty years of work in immunization, Ms. Bahta provides subject matter expertise to MDH immunization programs, local public health, and clinicians. Additionally, Lynn works on vaccine safety-related and vaccine hesitancy activities. As a part of this work, Ms. Bahta is part of an interdivisional MDH team that is working to address MMR vaccine hesitancy among Somali parents.  In July 2019, Ms. Bahta was appointed to the Center for Disease Control’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, a national group of medical and public health experts that make policy recommendations for licensed U.S. vaccines. 

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Andrea Caracostis
Name
Andrea Caracostis
Credentials/Title
MD, MPH
Information

Dr. Andrea Caracostis, has dedicated her career to providing equal access to health care for all. She is a medical doctor with a master’s degree in public health from Texas A&M and has 25 years of experience in health care. Since 2007 she has been the Executive Director of HOPE Clinic, a Federally Qualified Health Center providing care to the large multicultural community in Southwest Houston. Under her leadership, HOPE Clinic has grown from 5 employees and a $700,000 budget to a large corporation employing over 200 staff and a $20 million dollar budget. HOPE Clinic is nationally recognized as a quality and innovation leader by the Bureau of Primary Health Care. Dr. Caracostis is board member on various local and national healthcare organizations, including Harris Health, Texas Association of Community Health Centers, Asian American and Pacific Islanders Community Health Center Organization and Susan G. Komen Medical Board.

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Lourdes Villanueva
Name
Lourdes Villanueva
Information

Lourdes Villanueva is the Director of Farmworker Advocacy at Redlands Christian Migrant Association (RCMA) that serves farmworker families in Florida.  At age 11, Ms. Villanueva and her family came to the US to harvest fruit and vegetables.  In the early 1980s, Ms. Villanueva, then the mother of three, came to RCMA because she wanted a safe place for her children to be cared for while she and her husband harvested tomatoes.  She went on to become RCMA staff, got her GED, went to community college, and eventually earned her bachelor's degree. She now  serves as Director of Farmworker Advocacy for RCMA.  She has received numerous awards for her ongoing advocacy and commitment to farmworkers and their families.