Immigrant Health Symposium, a Huge Success!

On Friday Oct 27 over 130 students from Tufts Health Science campus came together for a day of workshops focusing on immigrant health inequity. TUSDM students Roosemide Saint Fort, Jessica Restrepo, Natalie Ingram helped to organize the interprofessional event with TUSM students. The goal is to increase interest in immigrant rights, justice, and health, and students with opportunities to get involved in activism!  

D26 Roosemide Saint Fort’s helped to kicked off the event. Below are words excerpts from her remarks: 

“Hi everyone, my name is Roosemide Saint Fort, and I am a second-year dental student here at Tufts. 

In our journey as healthcare students, we will encounter patients from diverse backgrounds, each with their own unique stories, traditions, and struggles. Yet, our common purpose is to serve and to provide the best care possible for those who entrust us with their health. Throughout the different presentations, I urge you to think about a very important question, your why? Think back to your answer to the lovely personal statements that we all wrote prior to getting into Tufts, why did we want to become doctors and dentists? And for me personally it was to serve as an oral health advocate for Haitian immigrant families like my own who encounter many barriers to receive adequate health care.  

This symposium isn’t about providing all the answers; it’s about gaining a deeper understanding of the complex challenges faced by immigrant families when they seek health care service. It is our hope that the discussions and insights we encounter today ignite a spark within each one of you, to be the drivers of systemic change, to be committed to breaking the barriers to healthcare access, and to ensure that quality healthcare is within reach for everyone.”