ABSTRACT
Malgré l'attention renouvelée de plusieurs médias sur la question des risques liés à la COVID-19 au sein de diverses communautés marginalisées au Québec, nous entendons encore très peu parler des personnes âgées immigrantes et de leurs proches. Dans cette note sur les politiques et pratiques, nous aborderons l'expérience du contexte pandémique chez les personnes âgées immigrantes montréalaises et leurs réseaux. Nous présenterons d'abord quelques données sociodémographiques sur les immigrants âgés montréalais. Nous exposerons ensuite nos constats sur les impacts de la COVID-19 sur les personnes âgées immigrantes, en particulier en ce qui concerne l'accès aux soins de la santé et aux services sociaux, la proche-aidance, l'emploi et le logement, à partir de nos travaux et de la littérature en gérontologie sociale. Nous terminerons en proposant quelques recommandations qui permettraient d'améliorer l'inclusion sociale des personnes âgées immigrantes et de leurs proches, autant en matière de politiques publiques que de pratiques sur le terrain.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Humans , QuebecABSTRACT
In order to ensure safety for students, staff, and faculty, and in response to local public health guidelines on physical distancing, Canadian post-secondary institutions rapidly shifted to virtual platforms and operations for teaching, student learning, and research (Bazinet et al., 2020;Wall, 2020). Hosted at the University of Calgary, the TFEL partnership brings together local, provincial, national, and international partners to explore the current state of social work field education while supporting the development and implementation of new sustainable models of field education;facilitate the integration of research into practice in the context of field education;increase the recognition of the importance of social work research in field education;and create new training and mentorship opportunities for students to inform the next generation of social workers (Drolet, 2020). The plenary session was followed by a panel presentation with Dr. Grant Charles, University of British Columbia;Holly Bradley, Vancouver Island University;Clement Dlamini, University of Eswatini;and Dr. Lena Dominelli, International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW). The Summit also included workshops highlighting innovative ways that research can be integrated into social work practice: 1) Research As Daily Practice, presented by Drs. Sally St. George, Dan Wulff, and Lauren Birks, University of Calgary;2) Articulating Transformation in Field Education and Research through Digital Storytelling, presented by Dr. Christine A. Walsh and social work students Natalie St. Denis and Alison L. Grittner, University of Calgary;3) Models for Integrating Research and Practice in Social Work Education, presented by Dr. Sheri M. McConnell, Memorial University, and social work students Melissa Noble, Heather Shenton, Mohammad Idris Alemi and alumna Amanda Duke;4) Wise Practices from the Indigisphere to the Land: Indigenous Intersectional Violence and Trauma-Informed Field Education in Shifting Spaces of Learning, presented by Dr. Natalie Clark, Thompson Rivers University;and 5) Digital Storytelling Premiere.
ABSTRACT
While access to healthcare for permanent residents in Canada is well known, this is not the case for migrants without healthcare coverage. This is the first large-scale study that examines the unmet healthcare needs of migrants without healthcare coverage in Montreal. 806 participants were recruited: 436 in the community and 370 at the NGO clinic. Proportions of individuals reporting unmet healthcare needs were similar (68.4% vs. 69.8%). The main reason invoked for these unmet needs was lacking money (80.6%). Situations of not working or studying, not having had enough food in the past 12 months, not having a medical prescription to get medication and having had a workplace injury were all significantly associated with higher odds of having unmet healthcare needs. Unmet healthcare needs were more frequent among migrants without healthcare coverage than among recent immigrants or the citizens with health healthcare coverage (69%, 26%, 16%). Canada must take measures to enable these individuals to have access to healthcare according to their needs in order to reduce the risk of worsening their health status, something that may have an impact on the healthcare system and population health. The Government of Quebec announced that all individuals without any healthcare coverage will have access to COVID-19 related health care. We hope that this right, the application of which is not yet obvious, can continue after the pandemic for all health care.