Health Matters - Apple Magazine Health Matters Spring 2016 | Page 7

A healthy
Canadian welcome
Mosaic PCN cares for Syrian refugees
Syrian brothers Bshara and Joseph Al-Khoury
are among the many government-sponsored
Syrian refugees who recently arrived in Calgary—
and at the Mosaic Refugee Health Clinic. Part of
the Mosaic Primary Care Network in northeast
Calgary, the clinic has more than a decade of
experience welcoming refugees and caring for
their health needs.
Located in Marlborough Mall, the clinic has a
multidisciplinary team that includes 12 family
doctors, social workers, nurses and specialists.
They treat refugees for up to two years, or until
they’re ready to see a physician in the community.
“Most of our refugees are resettled in the
northeast,” says Dr. Annalee Coakley, MRHC’s lead
physician.
The Al-Khourys are typical of most new refugees
at the clinic: they arrive with a variety of questions
about how to settle into their new life. The
Al-Khourys questions were answered, in Arabic,
by Magda Hussein, the MRHC’s transition and
community coordinator.
The MRHC usually treats every new
refugee that arrives in Calgary, about 700
people a year. With more Syrian refugees
making Calgary home, other clinics and
Arabic-speaking physicians have helped
the clinic.
“Now we are here, and Canada is the
future,” says Bshara, who is living with
Joseph, Joseph’s wife and the couple’s
two children in northeast Calgary. “We
With their most pressing health needs looked
after, the Al-Khoury brothers hope to recertify
their technical skills and work as electricians or
computer technicians. One of the first things they
did when they arrived was to evaluate the city’s
electrical outlets, panels and light fixtures, and
they were relieved to discover that electricity is a
universal language.
— Doug R. Horner
The Mosaic Refugee Health Clinic is open
to all new refugees in the Calgary area,
including those privately sponsored.
To learn more, visit mosaicpcn.ca.
Brothers Joseph Al-Khoury (far left) and Bshara Al-Khoury
(far right) are among the hundreds of Syrian refugees who have
been helped by Magda Hussein (left), Dr. Gabriel Fabreau (right)
and others at the Mosaic Refugee Health Clinic in Calgary.
“We are very thankful that Magda is helping us in
our own language,” Bshara says. Hussein
has connected the family to health
services and social groups and has helped
with medical appointments, transportation
and passes to fitness centres and the
Calgary Zoo.
know it is hard, but we are not sure how hard it will
be or for how long.”
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