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Sarah Syed: Community Organizing to Redress Health Disparities

-Sarah working for the Nurture Project International as a Clinical Coordinator facilitating access to quality healthcare for Women, Children, and Infants between three refugee camps – an initiative followed by TIME for Find Home: A Year in the Life of Syrian Refugees

As the daughter of immigrants, and granddaughter of refugees, Sarah has witnessed first-hand the challenges of navigating through limited resources to produce health equity. This has motivated her to uplift marginalized communities in similar situations. Sarah – a ScribeAmerica project manager – has been able to spend time in special patient populations, learning ways to create meaningful changes within disenfranchised groups. Through the bulk of her experiences, she has pushed the cause further and continues to community organize to redress health disparities. Today, she shares with us the organizations she is currently working with, and the ways she has increased awareness of the intersection of diversity and healthcare.

Sarah has working relationships with the Sudanese American Medical Association, a non-profit, non-political, and educational humanitarian organization dedicated to improving healthcare outcomes led by medical professionals of Sudanese descent. She is actively assisting with fundraising for high-grade FDA-approved medical supplies outsourced from local U.S. companies to be sent directly to Sudan. Sarah is also fundraising to build out a primary care health center in Khartoum, Sudan for vulnerable populations in rural areas, in turn providing better healthcare outcomes for patients regardless of financial ability. She is additionally assisting in facilitating remote mental health care / trauma counseling through the revolution in Sudan. Her efforts will allow her to visit Sudan to oversee the progress of all projects, when the political climate improves.

Sarah also serves as a team member of the Health-Point Foundation, a grassroots, non-profit, volunteer ran relief organization set up for the provision of medical, dental and educational services to displaced individuals regardless of religion, race and nationality. She is able to directly work on the ground in refugee populations on the borders as a certified translator bridging the gap of language barriers. Sarah is currently fundraising to send U.S. FDA-approved medications with their teams directly to underserved populations in primitive healthcare settings, where free treatment for all is always the goal. She is able to join projects directly overseas, when available throughout the year.

-Sarah and members of her family working for the Salaam Cultural Museum capacity building and serving as emergency rescue responders for refugees.