Canadian hospitals and clinics are preparing for the first arrivals of 25,000 Syrian refugees, many of them children and youth who may need everything from vaccinations to trauma counselling.

In Ottawa, the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario is ready to tackle the newcomers’ medical and mental health needs, said Dr. Lindy Samson, the chief of the division of infectious diseases. 

“We’re going to look after the health of children and youth as they arrive in Ottawa from Syria and other parts of the world. This is something that we do on an ongoing basis, given the make-up of Ottawa’s community,” Samson told CTV’s Canada AM Tuesday.

All refugees will receive a medical check-up and get screened for infectious diseases, including tuberculosis, before they arrive in Canada.

But many of them will still require health care services, especially babies, children and youth who have likely missed basic check-ups and vaccinations during the war in Syria and while living in refugee camps, Samson said.

She said health-care providers don’t know yet what the major challenges will be, but they are ready.

“We are not aware of any big infectious disease risk that will be heading this way, but we will be prepared,” she said.

Refugee children may need to get their immunizations up to-date, as well asto be treated for malnutrition and psychological issues.

“What we expect is that many of these children, youth and families will have been on the move and away from their homes for a prolonged period of time, maybe even years,” Samson said.

“We know they’ve come from an area where there’s been a lot of violence and war.”

The World Health Organization says that children, women and elderly people who have been living in refugee camps outside Syria are considered to be more at risk for chronic disease, “psychosocial and violence-related illness,” due to lack of medicine and poor conditions in some camps.

Clinicians at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario have helped develop a resource guide for pediatricians and others who treat immigrant and refugee children.

The guide includes a medical assessment checklist, which recommends that children be screened for vitamin deficiencies, gastrointestinal parasites and diseases like Hepatitis B and C. The checklist also says children’s vision, hearing and dental health should be checked.

The hospital has also joined Refugee 613, a collaborative effort to help refugees resettle in the Ottawa area.