Massachusetts Nurse On Volunteering With Migrants

11:16

December 30, 2015

Children of Kurdish migrants gather outside a tent at the Grande Synthe migrant camp near Dunkerque in northern France on December 23, 2015.
More than 2,000 migrants, mostly Iraqis and Kurds, live in the camp. (Denis Charlet/AFP/Getty Images) — Children of Kurdish migrants gather outside a tent at the Grande Synthe migrant camp near Dunkerque in northern France on December 23, 2015. More than 2,000 migrants, mostly Iraqis and Kurds, live in the camp. (Denis Charlet/AFP/Getty Images)

Jennifer Silverstone (R) volunteered at a French refugee camp this year. She told us about her experience. (Courtesy Jennifer Silverstone) — Jennifer Silverstone (R) volunteered at a French refugee camp this year. (Courtesy Jennifer Silverstone)

Jennifer Silverstone is a nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital and she's the mother of two young children.

When she saw the photograph of the young Syrian boy who drowned while trying to make it to Greece with his family, she started thinking about how her nursing skills could help the migrants.

She raised money for supplies and wound up in Western France with two other local volunteers, Sami Abdallah and Heidi Sleiman. Migrants head there, to camps in Calais and Dunkirk, in the hopes of getting into the UK via the Channel Tunnel.

Silverstone described the deplorable conditions that the migrants endure to Here & Now's Peter O'Dowd.

Then, we check in with immigration expert Demetrios Papademetriou, who explains what happens to migrants like the ones Silverstone met if they are able to make it to the UK.

Guests

Jennifer Silverstone, nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Demetrios G. Papademetriou, president emeritus of the Migration Policy Institute.

This segment aired on December 30, 2015.

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