Supporting the Resettlement and Care of the Afghan Community
Thursday, October 28, 2021
7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
There are roughly 53,000 Afghan evacuees in military bases across the U.S., another 14,000 more expected to arrive from military bases overseas, including children in family units and unaccompanied children. California is expected to resettle over 5,000 people who will need some level of medical care. In this panel discussion on caring for Afghan children and families, we will provide a briefing of the situation, guidance for working with Afghan families from a place of cultural humility in the clinical setting, what community based organizations are doing to help resettle, and how you may be able to help.
Register
We are joined by:
- Zarin Noor MD MPH, Director of International Clinic at UCSF Center of Excellence for Immigrant Child Health and Wellbeing
- Fouzia Azizi, Director of Refugee Services at Jewish Family & Community Services (JFCS)
- Ben Kavoussi, Physician Assistant at Sacramento County Health Center
- Rahim Sediqi, Parent at Sacramento County Health Center
- Jordane Tofighi, Director at International Rescue Committee (IRC) in Oakland
- Gulshan Yusufzai, Executive Director of Muslim American Society – Social Services Foundation (MAS-SSF)
Dr. Zarin Noor is a pediatrician at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland Primary Care clinic. She is the Director of International Clinic within the Primary Care clinic, which focuses on the medical care of immigrant and refugee pediatric patients. She teaches and mentors residents and medical students. Dr. Noor has a US Civil Surgeon designation and provides medical exams for immigration purposes. Dr. Noor is on the steering committee for the new UCSF Health and Human Rights Initiative. She completed her Masters degree in Public Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health with a focus on International Health and Humanitarian Health. She received her medical degree from Drexel University College of Medicine and completed her pediatric residency at Children’s Hospital Oakland.
Fouzia Palyal Azizi is Director of Refugee Services at Jewish Family & Community Services East Bay. Fouzia grew up in Afghanistan and came to the U.S. as a refugee in the 1990s.
Ben Kavoussi a Physician Assistant with a Doctor of Medical Science (DMSc) degree. I am also an Army Reservist and have been trained in trauma care and tropical medicine. I currently work for the Sacramento Country Refugee Clinic.
Jordane Tofighi has been with the IRC since 2019 where she serves as the Director of the IRC Oakland office. Prior to IRC, Jordane began her journey in social & human service agencies in 2003 where she worked in various non-profit organizations supporting vulnerable populations. Jordane has a Master’s degree in Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies.
Jordane is Persian and French. She was born in France and spent the first seven years of her life in the Ivory Coast, West Africa. Jordane then lived in the countryside of Southern France and eventually moved to Boston in the mid-90s. Jordane arrived in the Bay Area in 2010 to attend graduate school and never plans on returning to New England winters.
Gulshan Yusufzai is an Afghan refugee who left Afghanistan at the age of 2. Her early childhood was interrupted by the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and subsequent displacement of her family as refugees. She has over 17 years experience in the mental health field in the areas of administration, advocacy, policy and peer support which consist of working in various nonprofits in different positions to always support the needs of the underserved communities, increase access to multicultural competent services, health equity and reduce stigma.