HALIFAX June 25, 2015 – ISANS is pleased to announce the recipients of the sixth annual ISANS Award, which was presented at ISANS Annual General Meeting on Tuesday, June 23, 2015 at Saint Mary’s Boat Club.
The ISANS Award recognizes an individual, community group, business or employer who has demonstrated exceptional and innovative efforts in welcoming immigrants to Nova Scotia and in assisting them to successfully integrate into the community.
Drs. Tim Holland, Mandi Irwin, Leisha Hawker, and Tim Bood of the Halifax Transitional Health Clinic for Refugees are this year’s recipients.
For the last 10 years ISANS has worked to address refugees’ inadequate access to primary health care. The dream was to establish a refugee health clinic that provided transitional care to all refugees that arrived in Halifax. It wasn’t until Dr. Tim Holland took an interest in March of 2014 that the dream became a reality. Dr. Holland was interested in volunteering part of his practice time to seeing refugees in Halifax. ISANS had 200+ refugee clients without a physician, and many had serious health issues. With the additional help of Drs. Mandi Irwin, Leisha Hawker and Tim Bood the Halifax Transitional Health Clinic for Refugees was established. Since then, they have been providing primary care to over 300 patients out of a make-shift office at ISANS. They approach their practice from a global health perspective, understanding the specific health needs of the refugee population. They are thorough, patient and sensitive to the emotional health needs of refugees. In April 2015, Capital Health announced it would provide space for the clinic to operate out of the Dalhousie Family Medicine Clinic on Mumford Road, just down a flight of stairs from ISANS offices. The physicians of the Halifax Transitional Health Clinic for Refugees have not only created positive change in the community, they are teaching the next generation of doctors about this model of care. Medical students who work with HTHCR are inspired to think more globally about health care and the multifaceted needs of Nova Scotia’s changing population.
Congratulations! And thank you to everyone who came to our AGM – we had a great turnout of partners, community members and ISANS supporters. Please check out a few photos below from our AGM.
