IRIS hosts health fair to address backlog of refugee kids in need of physical exams

Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services, or IRIS, held a pop-up health clinic over the weekend in New Haven. It addressed an ongoing need in the community: a backlog of refugee kids who needed to get a health exam that is required by law to enroll in school.

“There was a big relief, you know,” Shafiullah Faizee, IRIS health coordinator, said about the clinic addressing the issue.

Faizee and Rona Rohbar are the IRIS health coordinators who organized the health fair.

Rohbar, a nurse and healthcare interpreter, grew up in Afghanistan and Pakistan before coming to the United States. She had the same health exam two decades ago as a teenager.

“It was a difficult journey. But I'm glad that I was able to get to where I am today,” Rohbar said.

Faizee was a physician in Afghanistan before he was forced to leave two years ago, when his medical work with the U.S. government put him in danger under the Taliban regime.

“I feel really great when I'm working with doctors,” Faizee said. “From one angle, I'm kind of connected, my field. So from the other angle, I'm serving the community, and especially I speak the languages, and I serve my own community, and people from all over the world. And I feel really great."

Both put their skills toward organizing the health fair on Saturday, where six refugee families received care and 21 children got the required physical to enroll in school.

They did not do it alone. Dozens of healthcare providers with Fair Haven Community Health Care volunteered their time to make the clinic possible.

“I just wanted to be here to help support,” Shannon Hughes, FHCHC registered nurse, said.

They feel the pop-up clinic was crucial, since they regularly provide care for refugee families.

“I enjoy seeing these families, and they’re courageous loving families looking for a safe life for their children,” Lori Wallach, FHCHC refugee clinic nurse coordinator, said. “They'll sacrifice anything to do to get here and to keep their children safe. The children are so resilient, and they're, they're a joy to work with.”

They also saw firsthand the uptick in refugee resettlement in Connecticut last fall that drove up the demand for the kids’ physical exams.

IRIS has been struggling to make appointments for every new student in 2024.

“Ideally, we see these children within 30 days up to about 90 days. But due to the high numbers of children coming to resettle in New Haven for the last several months, we had started to having longer wait times for our children,” Dr. Camille Brown, FHCHC refugee clinic director, said.

Now, thanks to the health fair over the weekend, the backlog was cleared.

At IRIS, the health coordinators said more healthcare providers statewide need to get on board to meet this ongoing need for children resettling in Connecticut.

“Hopefully we can find more partners for the future,” Rohbar said to Faizee.

For Rohbar, the effort strikes a chord on a personal level. As a little girl, she did not have access to education under Taliban rule in Afghanistan, until her family later moved to Pakistan.

“I was 12 years-old and I was enrolled in first grade. I was the biggest child in the class,” she said. “Seeing that situation convinced me to talk to my father and have him arrange a tutor for me to do the second grade studies after school. So in this way, I completed two grades per year.”

Now, after finishing high school in six years and going on to complete several years of higher education, Rohbar is glad she can help refugee children, once like herself, attain access to an education.

“It gives me so much comfort, knowing that I am a refugee and I faced all those challenges in the beginning when I came in, and they don't have to face that, because I am here,” Rohbar said. “It feels great that I'm here and I'm able to help them guide them...And get them ready for school so they don't miss any education.”