As we gather around the dinner table to give thanks and share a meal, many of us will be missing the presence of a loved one who has passed, who is too sick to join at the table, who is too far away to be able to join us. This is particularly true among migrant and immigrant families. Across the country, COVID-19 has devastated migrant and immigrant communities unequally. Their dangerous and exploitative work situations [2], the social determinants of health [3] that they experience, and the severe and ongoing inequities and disparities in health care access [4] have increased migrants’ and immigrants’ risk of COVID-19 [5] above that of the general population, led them to be more vulnerable to climate crisis-related health impacts [6], and less likely to have access to the support they need to manage their physical and mental health needs. In turn, clinicians struggle to reach out to the migrant and immigrant communities in their clinical service areas, and lack strategies, resources, and technical assistance to do the critical work to open the doors to health in a culturally relevant, linguistically appropriate way.
Migrant Clinicians Network is changing that. Our programs are practical solutions to the biggest challenges in migrant and immigrant health. A patient can't continue their care because they are migrating? Whether it's a pregnant asylum seeker, a farmworker with diabetes, or an immigrant with active TB who is moving home, enroll them in Health Network to help them connect to care in their next community. A clinician who is struggling under the weight of the pandemic? Link up with Witness to Witness, which provides trainings and resources specifically for clinicians grappling with trauma from what they have witnessed on the job. Struggling to know how to reach out to your community around COVID-19 vaccines? Use our multilingual vaccine campaign templates, watch a webinar, or join our learning collaborative to learn best practices and connection with fellow clinicians across the country battling the same issues. This is just a fraction of the work we do at MCN – and it's all toward one purpose. We strive for health equity. We want our most vulnerable to be supported in their health needs. We want families to gather together in health and in happiness around the Thanksgiving table.
This coming Tuesday, November 30th, is Giving Tuesday. We invite you on that day to honor the migrant and immigrant communities who are so essential to this country. Migrants and immigrants are who grow the food on our Thanksgiving plates. Migrants and immigrants pack and process that food in warehouses, they transport that food all across the country, they sell that food in the grocery stores. This holiday is impossible without them. So, let's make health possible for them. Donate to Migrant Clinicians Network on Giving Tuesday [7] – mark your calendar – and support health justice for migrants and immigrants.
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