Help Avoid a COVID-19 Explosion Among Refugees

Our volunteer team of local and international team members and local trainees continue to strive to reach as many refugee children and their families in Jordan as possible to provide them with life-saving emergency medical and psychosocial health care.

As we are entering a 3rd year of the COVID-19 pandemic and moving through yet another wave of the latest variant continuing to push the global health care system to full capacity - and in many cases far beyond capacity – the refugee population in Jordan continues to be the most at risk, as are all refugee populations across the world.

The rate of contagion and resulting death or disability is highest among this especially vulnerable population that is already struggling to survive from an 11 year violent civil war; a war that has uprooted millions and traumatized hundreds of thousands if not more. Their very limited access to the local health care system in Jordan, itself pushed to full capacity - and in many cases beyond capacity - as it struggles to meet overwhelming demand for the health care of it’s citizens, places refugees at an even higher risk. Vaccines and their level of effectiveness that are plentiful in other wealthier segments of the world are at a deficit in countries like Jordan, and refugees are unfortunately at a lower priority within these limited services and resources.

This why we are focusing on utilizing our local team members and trainees in Jordan, who are medical students and new practitioners, to combine their medical skills with the training we provide them in psychosocial treatment to offer refugees disaster healthcare services that address the COVID crisis.

Within the limits of our current resources, we are working to use tele-health as a means to reach those who are isolated due to the pandemic and in desperate need. We are also continually seeking ways to expand and improve on what help we can provide.This requires that we purchase more telecommunication equipment and adequate internet access to set up more 2-way communication stations at refugee sites across the country. More health care and monitoring equipment and supplies that can be shared by entire groups of people living within the same site, as well as medications to help treat those who contract the virus.

As these items can be made available where refugees are forced to congregate in close living quarters our team can work with those living in the area to provide vital information, guidance, and treatment on how to prevent contracting the virus and how to treat the symptoms for those who do to help them recover. With the psychosocial trauma healing skills our team and trainees bring we can also provide the vital mental health healing and resilience building that is needed. When this service is made available to those in the refugee community the ability to avoid contagion and recover from contracting the virus increases and overall mental health improves.

The key to how much aid and healing we can provide is directly based on how much support we receive for the out of pocket costs required to provide the basic logistics of this service. Our appeal continues to be for the critical financial support of those who can donate the power of their donations to the direct costs of our getting these services to those who need it most, and in time.

HOW YOU CAN HELP US MEET THIS NEW CHALLENGE AND MAINTAIN OUR LIFE-SAVING ASSISTANCE:

• Continue supporting our work with your generous contributions. Every donation amount results in our reaching more children and families to achieve more healing and recovery.
• Share our story with family, friends, and colleagues to encourage their support by raising awareness of both the need and the concrete good being done.
• Link our appeal site to your social media sites and ask others to do the same
• Learn if your employment offers matching donations for humanitarian causes to multiply our contributions.

Feel free to contact Steve Olweean, SHC Program Director and IHPA President, with any questions or to share your feedback at: SOlweean@aol.com.

Links:

• International Humanistic Psychology Association
• Program Details at our nonprofit partner site: Common Bond Inst.

Uncertainty caused by the pandemic continues to be pervasive throughout the refugee community in Jordan and the local population in general, further fueled by new waves of infection, variants of the virus, and break-through cases. As countries like Jordan that are havens for millions of those escaping war and turmoil struggle to reduce and contain the virus, drastically reduced availability of humanitarian health care services for refugees due to strict travel and contact restrictions remain a major challenge for international and domestics services providers.

As health services and services in general from international aid organizations have significantly declined or been put on hold, members of the refugee community must increasingly rely on their own abilities and resources to prevent, mitigate, and recover from COVID, even as they are burdened with the unprecedented convergence of debilitating psycho-social loss and trauma and now the deadly virus pandemic.

Until physical access is again feasible our services have converted to tele-health in continuing to provide critically needed disaster health care to the most vulnerable, and to help equip individuals, their families, and community with self-care skills as much as possible.  

The pandemic crisis is unfortunately expected to extent into the unforeseen future, and along with it the challenging obstacles to direct humanitarian aid. Overcoming the extraordinary and complicating limitations caused by the pandemic in particular requires even more time, energy, and resources on the part of our dedicated, all volunteer service team to continue our life-saving help. The logistics of establishing and maintaining live virtual stations at locations in Jordan where large numbers of refugees can have regular access to tele-health services requires skills at providing remote treatment, health care equipment and supplies, technical management and support, and funding to cover these increasing essential costs.

We are still struggling to purchase more telecommunications hardware and internet access, as well as self-monitoring health equipment and supplies entire groups of people can use, such as no-contact thermometers, oximeters, blood pressure machines, CPAP machines, masks and face shields, etc., and where possible medications to help relieve symptoms. These items are acutely needed to help surmount the severe direct accesslimitations created by the pandemic crisis and reach people in dire need.

Our committed team continues to work diligently to fill the gap in critical care and provide refugee children and their families with life-saving assistance and hope, and donation support from those who resonate with our efforts are crucial to allow us to maintain these humanitarian services.

Our appeal is for the critical financial support of those who can donate the power of their money to the direct costs of our getting these services to those who need it most, and in time.

HOW YOU CAN HELP US MEET THIS NEW CHALLENGE AND MAINTAIN OUR LIFE-SAVING ASSISTANCE:

• Continue supporting our work with your generous contributions. Every donation amount results in our reaching more children and families to achieve more healing and recovery.
• Share our story with family, friends, and colleagues to encourage their support by raising awareness of both the need and the concrete good being done.
• Link our appeal site to your social media sites and ask others to do the same.
• Learn if your employment offers matching donations for humanitarian causes to multiply our contributions.

Feel free to contact Steve Olweean or Myron Eshowsky with any questions or to share your feedback at: SOlweean@aol.com.

Links:

• International Humanistic Psychology Association
• *More details at our NGO partner website - Common Bond Institute