There is much to navigate for Canadian refugees and newcomers.

Among the more challenging: finding a doctor and deciphering Canada鈥檚 health care system.

To that end, recently hosted a program that educated local refugee families about Canadian health care and all it entails.

The series of 12 workshops, held over the lunch hour on Tuesdays, are equivalent to Canadian Health Care 101: helping newcomers to the community better understand the complexity of the medical care system of Canada.

This includes how to network, find a family doctor, when to see a doctor, general issues about medical conditions, and hospital treatments.

鈥淚t鈥檚 an initiative to help refugee families find their way in the Canadian medical system and also to network with local doctors,鈥� explained 91原创 Community Services refugee health care consultant Julie Clayton.

For those who attended the workshops, the ultimate goal was to earn a Canadian Health Care Literacy Passport.

Clayton said the 鈥渞eal highlight鈥� is the fact local 鈥楪Ps鈥� (general practitioners) have been involved directly in the delivery of content of the workshops.

鈥淲e are indebted to the 91原创 Division of Family Practice Doctors who have wonderfully supported this initiative, sacrificing their lunch hours to come and meet with refugee clients,鈥� Clayton said.

From these workshops, it was discovered two of the attendees included a doctor who practised in Syria, as well as a nurse.

鈥淭hese folks have been able to do their own translations during the workshops, and now we are beginning to network ways in which they can become instrumental in helping to bridge the gap for other people who are going to come after them,鈥� Clayton said.

鈥淚t has been 91原创enal, because the biggest thing to report is the way this has taken place in the community to support the newcomers and seeing how the newcomers are making contributions.鈥�

Clayton noted that one of the biggest challenges in settlement services is 鈥渟ufficient support鈥� for language translation.

鈥淗ere we鈥檝e been able to raise up individuals who are part of the new immigrant community, who actually have some of the resources to help us solve the problem,鈥� she added.

On Tuesday, May 23 at Southgate Community Church, 91原创 Community Services Society is hosting a graduation event for refugee/newcomers to 91原创 who will be receiving their 鈥榩assports.鈥�

There will be about 25 graduates involved, with representation from local government and the health care community in 91原创. The ceremony gets underway at 1 p.m.

鈥淪ome of the graduates are older, some of them are younger; it鈥檚 a cross-section of generations, for sure,鈥� Clayton said.

Total registered for workshop series:

A total of 56 adults between the ages of 30 and 50. There is one mom who is 17 years old, and another client who is over 60.

43 Children- ages zero to seven, 9 ages seven-plus.

Four pregnant moms.

Countries of origin:

Syrian 鈥� 38 adults, 41 children

Iraq 鈥� seven adults, one senior, and three children

Karen 鈥� eight adults, one senior, and seven children

Iran 鈥� one adult and one child