As physicians, we are privileged to provide care to families from diverse populations and countries of origin. Unfortunately, our country’s current immigration policies have incited fear as well as established systematic efforts to remove basic healthcare and social support for immigrant children and families that is detrimental to their health. Fifty percent of California’s children have at least one immigrant parent. Many counties in our chapter have populations where one-third of the residents are immigrants. Making healthcare facilities a safe space for immigrant families as well as optimizing care is an important goal for the chapter and its members.
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The AAPCA1 Immigrant Health Task Force is a coalition of physicians from community and academic institutions working together in order to create a cohesive effort at promoting immigrant health in Northern and Central California. It is housed within the Advocacy Committee and includes members from all levels of training including residents and fellows that meet on a monthly to bi-monthly basis in order to discuss and implement strategies that benefit and protect the health of immigrant children and their families.
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Contact: info@aapca1.org

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Objectives

  1. Collaboration between different institutions to create and share standardized policies and protocols for creating safe and welcoming spaces for immigrant children and their families.
  2. Promote educational opportunities on immigrant health through speakers and free webinars provided to pediatricians.
  3. Provide support for AAP opportunities such as CATCH grants that promote immigrant health endeavors.
  4. Establish partnerships with local organizations also focused on promoting immigrant health that align with the mission of AAP-CA.
  5. Work to mitigate effects of harmful policies, such as public charge regulations, by mobilizing and assisting our collaborators to provide accurate information to physicians and immigrant families.
  6. Operationalize and expand current National AAP resources on Immigrant Health and aligning with the AAP Council on Immigrant Child and Family Health.
  7. Focus on legislative change by advocating for policies that promote, rather than hinder, immigrant health.

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Current Initiative

The California Chapter 1 program aims to dispel misinformation about the public charge rule through a two-pronged approach that creates accurate resources with current and periodically updated information for 1) physicians and 2) immigrant families and advocates. The first set of resources will target providers and immigrant family interactions to ensure that patients and families are receiving accurate information in healthcare settings. The second set of resources will focus more broadly on community members and will span multiple different media to reach a larger population.

Visit the initiative website:

Combatting Public Charge Rule Misinformation

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Statements:

 

Resources:

Immigrant Health Issue Page

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