Each year, NCFH commissions an artist to depict an image relevant to the life-style of migratory and seasonal agricultural workers to support the Migrant Health Scholarship Award program. Proceeds from the sale of fine art prints and posters are used to award scholarships to individuals with the potential to positively affect Ag workers.
We invite you to consider this wonderful opportunity to showcase your work and be part of a program that helps others to achieve success. If you are interested in being considered as the 2017 artist, please submit the following to [email protected] by January 20, 2017:
The artist chosen must complete the artwork no later than March 3, 2017. A $1000 cash prize will be awarded to the selected artist upon completion of the artwork, as well as 5 fine art artist proofs and 10 posters of the image. In addition to the creation of the original piece of art, the artist agrees to attend the artwork unveiling and participate in poster and print signing at the May 2017 Conference for Agricultural Worker Health in Savannah, GA. Travel expenses will be paid for by NCFH. We invite you to visit our website to learn more about the Migrant Health Scholarship program and view previous years’ artwork. If you have any questions, please contact Janie Favre at 512-312-5460 or [email protected]. One of the three Ag Worker Access 2020 Campaign Strategies* is “Open Hearts, Open Doors, Open Access.” With this strategy we recognize the importance of the human element in increasing access and overcoming unintentional barriers that may deter patients from using their local health center. From the members of the board of directors to the staff at the front desk, and everyone in between, there are numerous opportunities to make sure that the Ag Workers in our communities feel welcomed and that they have a health center home. How do you open hearts? Perhaps one way is by sharing with each other why we care about America’s agricultural workers. “Ask Me Why I Care” stickers were distributed at the recent NACHC Conference on Agricultural Worker Health, and the feedback we received was awesome. Hearing others’ stories and reasons for their commitment to the Ag worker population reminded participants of the reason for this Campaign, and the importance of reaching our goal of 2 million Ag workers served by the year 2020. Everyone’s story is different, and we all look at things through different lenses:
Send us your story. We would love to hear why you care about increasing access to care for Ag workers. Your story may be the one to open someone’s heart, or reinvigorate a colleague’s commitment to this special population! *For more information, visit the Ag Worker Access 2020 Campaign webpage. Christian Garcia is one of the six recipients to receive the 2016 NCFH Migrant Health Scholarship. Each year NCFH commissions an artist to create a piece with the theme of Ag Worker health. The artwork is then auctioned off at the annual National Agricultural Worker Health Conference. 100% of the proceeds go to the next year’s scholarship recipients. Recipients are emerging leaders who have a passion and determination to contribute to the success of the Migrant Health Movement. NCFH sat down with Mr. Garcia, who received the award last month in May. He works as a Regional Outreach Supervisor for Intercare Community Health in Michigan. Why are Migrant and Ag worker Health important to you? It’s important to me because it’s a part of my background. I have family in Mexico that are agricultural workers and my dad migrated to the US in the early 90s and worked as a migrant in agriculture for a couple of years until he settled here in Michigan. I always came to Intercare as a child. Then I just went to school and didn’t really have a plan and the opportunity came to work with migrant/seasonal farmworkers and I just absolutely loved it. It’s important to me because agricultural workers are a priority for our clinic and we do our best to promote health and promote a healthy living style. Being able to be there for the workers and provide those services to them is just an amazing thing to be a part of. Can you talk a little bit more about what you’re studying and how you’re going to apply that in Migrant Health? Right now I’m pursuing a Master’s Degree in Organizational Learning and Performance it includes a lot of strategic planning and management. It involves a lot of human resource components but the training side of it is how I want to apply it to the future. What I envision is creating a standardized outreach program that can be promoted throughout the nation. I want to be able to train potential social workers and community health workers using the strategies I’m learning in my degree. I want the Community Health Workers to have really great training so they can perform at a high level, and then apply this program on a national basis. You said your goal is to implement a standardized outreach strategy throughout the nation. What are some of the challenges you see with trying to implement larger outreach programs? I oversee the outreach program in our clinic with our VP. She and I collaborate to plan our outreach programs and I supervise the workers throughout the season and make sure the CHWs are well guided and working at a high level. Some of the challenges we would like to overcome in the next couple of years would be to recruit and retain enough people or students who can assist the outreach workers in the fields. This is a challenge though, because a lot of new staff have never really been involved in migrant health and are unfamiliar with migrant farmworkers and their specific barriers to access. Do you have migrant health 101 trainings for staff? We’ve created a training catalog that we utilized in our orientation this past year. It covers a lot of issues with agricultural workers and the issues to access and their specific health concerns. We cover the protocols our clinic has when visiting the fields. We teach new staff the role of the outreach worker, outreach nurse, and the role of the transporter. Everyone involved in increasing access to the farmworkers. In addition, we have an overall training on how to promote our clinic in the migrant camps. What are the main barriers for Migrant/Seasonal Ag Workers? Language is the main one. It’s difficult for both sides. We need bilingual staff out there and more so it’s difficult for our migrant workers’. Spanish is their second language and they speak a dialect. Overcoming that barrier would really increase access. Our goal as a leadership team is to be able to provide great guidance for our outreach teams and our program in general, and I hope to take it to a national level in the next couple of years. Perhaps promote our outreach trainings so other outreach programs in the nation and other health centers can adopt our system and overall increase access to health care for agricultural workers. NCFH had the opportunity to talk with Lupe Gonzalo, a long time member of the Coalition for Immokalee Workers (CIW). The CIW is a “worker-based human rights organization internationally recognized for its achievements in the fields of social responsibility, human trafficking, and gender-based violence at work.” The coalition has been around for over two decades and in 2011 launched its highly successful Fair Food Program. The Fair Food Program (FFP) is a unique partnership of growers, farmworkers, retail food companies and consumers. Their mission is to create a safe and fair working environment for the often-exploited farmworker population. Lupe Gonzalo explained how she and other members of the coalition have been working to eradicate wage theft and sexual harassment in the fields, as well as ensuring all workers have the right to sanitary restrooms, breaks, and options to work in inclement weather conditions. The Fair Food Program is unique, Lupe explains, “because workers create the code of conduct.” The workers know what’s best for them and what they are lacking, so a worker-driven code of conduct ensures the workers voices are being heard as, well as met. Lupe goes on to say, “Oftentimes in the fields there are no restrooms nearby, so sometimes you don’t drink enough water because you don’t want to go to the bathroom in the nearby plants.” The Fair Food Program and the CIW want consumers to know that the health and safety of all parties involved are at risk when workers are not provided basic sanitary needs; from grower to worker to consumer. According to the program’s 2014 Annual Report, “health and safety issues generated 20% of valid complaints. Many of these complaints were made by workers to enforce their rights to take reasonable breaks and days off to rest, as well as to stop work (without compensation) when they believed that their health or safety was endangered.” The report also details that 25% of participating growers have now established Health & Safety committees on their farms. These committees are responsible for complaint mechanisms, resolutions, and educational trainings. When asked how the FFP enforces the health and safety standards, Lupe explained that at the beginning of each growing season the CIW goes to the participating growers and educates the workers on their rights. They teach them that they are allowed to have resting breaks, access to drinking water and bathrooms, as well as an option to work if the weather is too dangerous, like during a thunderstorm. And, most importantly, that reporting abuse of these rights is allowed without fear of retaliation. One of the biggest issues that affect farmworker health and safety is application and management of pesticides. The FFP worker-written code of conduct states that “Participating Growers will provide a safe and healthy working environment for their Qualifying Workers and, working with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), develop and implement a Worker Health and Safety process through which Qualifying Workers are able to offer the Participating Grower their input and perspective on health and safety issues in a regular and structured manner.” The Coalition of Immokalee Workers has a long history of advocating for workers rights in the fields. To find out more about the FFP and CIW’s campaign visit their website A woman is a very central, matriarchal, and necessary part of the traditional Hispanic household. Oftentimes one thinks of migrant workers as young men coming to the country to work in the fields. The women who accompany them are too often seen as passive passengers on the dangerous journey many migrant workers face each season.
The month of March honors Women’s History Month. It is important to take time and show recognition for the strong women in the fields who are much more than a passive voice accompanying their male counterparts. “There is no question,” great civil rights and farmworker activist Dolores Huerta says, “that our women are strong. They work right alongside the men in the fields.” And when the day’s labor is done the women go home, cook for their families, help their children with homework or if they’re younger, bathe and feed them. It is very rare that the female farmworker takes time for herself, and she rarely asks for it. There is too much work to be done. Ms. Huerta is right, there is no question whether America’s farmworking women are strong. The question is; how do we give this silent population a voice? According to Cultural Survival there is little known information on the health status of migrating women in the United States. Undocumented female workers face unique barriers, among them, poor occupational health and safety, poor diet, and most are unfamiliar with the affordable health services they are eligible for. The barriers mentioned above do not exclusively affect women. However, one fear that women have reported more frequently than migrant men is the fear of sexual abuse. Many migrant women do not report cases of sexual assault because they fear repercussions. Nearly 50% of the migrant agricultural workforce are undocumented immigrants; too often women remain silent because of their fear of termination or deportation. In the rare occasion that a woman reports abuse, it is usually lengthy process that is not sustainable or affordable for a low-income migrating family. It goes without saying that sexual abuse can cause physical and emotional harm to our women in the fields, especially when abusers are not charged for their crimes. So what can we do to help our mothers, sisters, and daughters in the fields? Community Health Workers and Promotoras de Salud can go out in the fields and educate both men and women on what constitutes as sexual abuse. There are some laws that protect our female farmworkers as well. Abuse in the fields is unacceptable. Abuse in the fields without knowing how to access health services is unacceptable. The National Center for Farmworker Health is calling on Migrant and Community Health Centers to increase their number of farmworkers served to 2 million by the year 2020. No one should fear their mortality or safety because of lack of access to primary and preventative health care services. Find out other ways you can get involved to help women in the fields raise their voices. Photo Credit: iStock Dr. Kelvin Vu was a recipient of the National Health Service Corps scholarship. This scholarship aims to increase the number of primary care physicians and professionals in rural and underserved areas of the United States. Since becoming a doctor, Dr. Vu has worked passionately towards health equity in rural and vulnerable communities. Dr. Vu works with Open Door Community Health Centers, who in 1971, started as just one health center with a fervent mission; to improve access to quality health care to all people of Humboldt County, CA. Now 45 years later, Open Door has 13 health clinics and serves one third of the population in Humboldt County. In an interview with Dr. Kelvin Vu, The National Center for Farmworker Health learned where his passion for providing health care to the underserved originated, how he continues to be a champion for migrant and community health, and how to inspire emerging professionals interested in serving our agricultural workers. How did the NHSC Scholarship help you pave your career path? The NHSC paid my way through medical school. It opened a lot of doors for me. For one I didn’t have to worry about the financial part of it, but it also exposed me to learning a lot about primary care, especially primary care in an underserved area. Because of that, I was exposed to different opportunities, which led me to where I am right now; working in a very remote area and providing primary care services to Humboldt County, in Northern California. What led you to want to champion migrant health in particular? Coming from an immigrant family I’ve always believed that having access to care for all is a very important thing. Getting access to care to people who normally wouldn’t have it, that’s very important. I was raised to believe that people from a certain background, regardless of what they do, what they believe in, and where they came from should have access to care. I currently work in the underserved communities in Humboldt County; our farmworkers are among those communities. Open Door Community Health provides easy access to quality care for everyone. What are some of the challenges you see working closely with underserved and migrant populations? I can list you several. The first thing is lack of transportation, that’s a big challenge. The second is lack of medical insurance, since a lot of farmworkers are undocumented it’s hard for them to get insurance or even qualify for state or federal sponsored services. The third would be the language barrier, some of the patients do speak English, but a majority of them are non-English speaking. Whether it’s Spanish or other native languages. Another thing would be the cultural barrier. All of these barriers lead to a lack of access to care. My clinic is working towards eliminating these barriers. We have a department called Mobile Health Services and so we actually provide care by bringing the care to the people, to where they live. That’s how we’re helping with the lack of transportation barrier. There are two exams rooms in our mobile van. We have a running lab and we do everything we can to provide primary care to all of our patients. To help with the language and cultural barrier we work with promotoras. These are Spanish- speaking health care workers who work closely with me, in not only getting these patients to their appointments, but also help them with follow-up plans. They also help them learn how to manage, for example, diabetes. They are very good at Diabetic education and promoting the importance of diet and exercise. If a patient needs behavioral health, our promotoras are able set up telemedicine for them. We work with a local California university that speaks Spanish, so they don’t have to worry about the language barrier either. With the cost of care and lack of insurance, Open Door has a program called the 340B program, where we work with local pharmacies in providing medications at a cost effective price for our patients. We work hard to eliminate all barriers to accessing quality health. How often do the mobile services run? Everyday. Everyday we are at a different location, but Monday we are always at the same location, Tuesday we’re at the same location and so on. This is basically primary care on wheels, as I like to call it. Patients are able to schedule an appointment and they’re able to walk in. Our patients can see us for acute issues, chronic issues, and also preventive care issues. Patients can get mammograms and pap smears done in the Mobile Health Services van too. What would you say to aspiring professionals within the community and migrant health movement? Figure out what drives you, what are you passionate about? I you are able to find a profession that makes you happy, that will give you financial stability, and that allows you to make a positive impact in your community, that’s what you should aim for. It goes along with my philosophy and everyone’s here at Open Door, we are Americans we live in the land of opportunity, and to have good medical care is a basic right. Great medical care and easy access to care, those two things should always go hand in hand. It’s my goal and it’s my organization’s goal to have no patient left behind. No matter where they come from, no matter what their background is, they will have easy access to quality health care at the end of the day. Those would be the two main pieces of advice I would give to professionals and also NHSC recipients. In 2015, NCFH and the National Association of Community Health Centers launched the Ag Access 2020 campaign, which calls on Migrant and Community Health Centers to increase their number of agricultural workers served from an estimated 800,000 to 2 million by 2020. NCFH is reminded that Dr. Vu and others like him are our champions for access to quality health care for America's Ag worker population.
Mindy Morgan Media & Communications Specialist [email protected] • 512-312-5463 Excitement raced through my body the Monday before I left Austin, TX. I was attending my first Migrant Health conference (Forum) since starting my position at the National Center for Farmworker Health in August 2015. Admittedly, my relationship to the Migrant and Community Health movement was limited to inside our NCFH offices, and I was looking forward to an insightful experience on the importance of, and collaborative participation with, seasoned Migrant Health Champions. I made it to Portland, OR where the Northwest Regional Primary Care Association was holding the annual Western Forum for Migrant and Community Health. I nervously walked into the UPS store and asked if they’d received my shipment of exhibit materials. They had! I waited by my exhibitor table for it to be delivered. I carefully unpacked the materials and introduced myself to other exhibitors and members of the Farmworker Health Network. The following days were filled with inspiring sessions from building and sustaining cultural competency within organizations to discussions on health equity on different governmental levels; each session was as informative and collaborative as the next. Each day I created new connections with my migrant health colleagues. My conversations with community health workers and promotoras de salud inspired me to work smarter towards putting the right tools in the hands that need them. NCFH works hard to create culturally appropriate health education materials for this exceptional population of workers. It was through the CHWs I witnessed the need for better access to quality health care for the population that helps feed America. Nanci Luna Jimenez was this year’s keynote speaker. She moved the room with her vibrancy and enthusiasm for social justice amongst all people. She urged us to recognize that ambiguity exists in our lives and to accept two opposing thoughts to be true. Only with knowing and loving our own culture and ourselves can we truly be champions and allies of another’s. Thank you NWRPCA for hosting a wonderful and inspiring conference this year. Author’s Note: In conjunction with the Western Forum for Migrant and Community Health, NCFH hosts the annual Midwest Forum for Farmworker Health, this year’s conference will be held on October 31st – November 2nd in San Antonio. For more information please contact [email protected]. Written by: Mindy Morgan Media & Communications Specialist [email protected] Photo: NWRPCA & NCFH NCFH is pleased to announce our partnership with H&R Block’s Nonprofit Referral Program. During this year’s tax season, you can support NCFH by having H&R Block prepare your taxes. For every new client referred that has their taxes prepared by H&R Block, NCFH will receive $20 to support its mission. All you have to do is print out this NCFH Referral Form or provide referral code 40010001086300 to your tax preparer at any H&R Block office. This program is effective from now until April 30th.
The H&R Block Nonprofit Referral Program is a great way to support NCFH while ensuring you receive the most out of your tax refund. Let their professionals help you navigate your taxes and know that you are helping NCFH further our mission. Thank you for your support!
Providing health education to patients can be a challenge. Most of the time spent with a patient at a health center is limited. For this reason, having effective health education tools available is very important. There are many traditional printed materials like brochures, pamphlets, and fotonovelas to choose from. Most of the time, staff at health centers and outreach staff only have access to these types of materials and, therefore, utilize only printed materials for their patient education. But, did you know that there are other delivery methods that can help make health education more interesting? Audiovisual tools, like digital stories, are now being used in the health arena and are helpful for different reasons. For example, digital stories can be shared with family and friends. They are portable and can be accessed at any time. They also allow users to learn at their own pace and receive feedback on their progress. According to the AHEC Clear Health Communication Program at the Ohio State University, these tools are also appropriate for users who are visually impaired, have limited reading skills, or who want to learn about sensitive health topics in a shame-free environment, becoming an effective use of audiovisual material. Digital stories have the ability to engage users in the learning process. NCFH has produced a collection of digital stories to meet the need for effective educational tools, for use by the health organizations as well as the general public. These health education tools can be used during outreach, clinical setting teaching, or one-on-one teaching to outreach and health center staff. Our digital stories are free to use and are easily accessible via our website or our YouTube channel. They are bilingual, narrated in Spanish with English subtitles. Topics range from how to access a health center to a personal story on how asthma can be managed, to learning about the Pap Test. Digital stories are a valuable health education tool that should be used more. NCFH is trying to make this happen. By: Joanna Arevalo
It’s important to reflect on the present occupational health risks that agricultural workers face. Higher exposure to pesticides can be a direct cause to certain types of cancer in agricultural workers. But because Ag workers often do not want to “complain” about health issues, preventative measures are ignored. |
The National Center for Farmworker HealthImproving health care access for one of America's most vulnerable populations Archives
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