Guest guest Posted May 14, 2001 Report Share Posted May 14, 2001 Hope migrant health clinics participate, maybe some of you migrant researchers out there contact you local migrant clinic and encourage them to apply. Any thoughts Don V or L? Adolfo BPHC-GRANTEES: REQUEST FOR APPLICATIONS (SENTINEL CENTERS NETWORK) =================================================================== The Bureau of Primary Health Care, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), in partnership with The s Hopkins Primary Care Policy Center for the Underserved and the National Center for Primary Care at Morehouse School of Medicine is pleased to announce an opportunity for community health centers and other community/public health organizations to participate in the Sentinel Centers Network (SCN). The SCN will be a national network of primary care service delivery units serving vulnerable populations. Through data collection and research on community specific health issues, the SCN will identify information gaps and research evaluation needs in relevant policy and practice areas. For additional information about SCN, or to request an application please contact Sophia Kazakova at Skazakov @ jhsph.edu or Jiahong Xu at Jixu @ jhsph.edu or by phone at (410) 614-2062. Deadline for application submissions is June 30, 2001. -----Original Message----- From: Don Villarejo [mailto:donfarm@...] Sent: Sunday, May 13, 2001 11:10 PM Subject: [ ] NYTimes.com Article: Fear and Poverty Sicken Many Migrant Workers in U.S. Hi Everyone - The following story ran in the Sunday, May 13, 2001, issues of the New York Times. It is based on the California Agricultural Worker Health Survey. Don Villarejo >Fear and Poverty Sicken Many Migrant Workers in U.S. > > >By STEVEN GREENHOUSE > > > >CUTLER, Calif. - Francisco Plaza, a 35-year-old farm worker from >Mexico, made a rare visit to a doctor last year after he suddenly >lost a lot of weight. The doctor told him that he had diabetes and >ordered him to take two medications that cost $134 a month. > > But Mr. Plaza, who prunes fruit trees for $6.25 an hour, often >skips his medicine, saying he cannot afford it after paying for >food and rent. > > " Some months he doesn't get much work, so it's hard to afford, " >his wife, lva, said at their modest home in this Central Valley >farm town. " When he doesn't work, he doesn't buy his medicine. " > > Mr. Plaza, who has lived in the United States for four years, is >in the same bind as many other Mexican farm workers who live more >or less permanently in the United States. While federal clinics for >migrants are supposed to serve all indigent farm workers, illegal >immigrants shun them because they do not qualify for state Medicaid >coverage and fear discovery of their illegal status. (Almost half >of the migrant farm workers are in the country illegally.) Farm >workers often do not see doctors until their condition is so dire >that they must go to emergency rooms, which are not permitted to >turn them away. > > " A situation we see every day is a terrible diabetic who can't >afford the $200 a month for medicine, and that person ends up with >renal failure, " Dr. Sablan, who runs a clinic for farm >workers in Firebaugh, Calif., said. " Then they're able to get a >state health insurance card and dialysis. That's $1 million a >year. " > > Diabetes, high blood pressure and anemia occur at higher rates >among California's 700,000 immigrant farm workers, mainly from >Mexico, than among Americans, and the workers' health worsens the >longer they stay in the United States. > > A study to be released this month found that poor diet and >infrequent visits to doctors make the health of longtime migrant >farm workers considerably worse than that of those who have just >arrived, even after accounting for differences in age. > > Preliminary findings by the California Policy Research Center in >Berkeley indicate that illegal immigrant farm workers, newly >arrived from Mexico, have far lower cholesterol, lower blood >pressure and less obesity than do farm workers who have lived here >legally for a while. > > " It's an appalling picture, " said K. Ross, president of the >California Endowment, a foundation specializing in health issues. > " These are people who help keep food prices low for American >families, and I have a hard time figuring out why their health >status should be so poor. " > > Many things complicate the farm workers' health, including >unfamiliarity with American medicine and a lack of exercise in the >long stretches they are unemployed. A poor diet is a key to their >high rates of diabetes, high blood pressure and anemia, researchers >say, and it gets worse as the migrants combine American fast food >with the staples of tacos and refried beans. Other factors are the >lack of money and insurance. > > A study released last November found that the women, 36 percent of >the migrants, were far more likely than the men to visit doctors, >largely because pregnant farm workers, even illegal immigrants, >qualify for state health insurance. Indigent men here illegally do >not qualify except for medical emergencies. The median income of >the 971 farm workers in the November study, sponsored by the >California Endowment, was less than $10,000 a year. > > Many growers acknowledge that their workers' health is >substandard, but they blame an inferior health system in Mexico and >the failure of the workers to take care of themselves. Many growers >say they cannot afford to provide insurance. > > But many growers agree with advocates for the workers that the >federal system of community and migrant health clinics is >inadequate. > > " The situation is harder because there aren't enough health >professionals in many of these rural areas, " Don Dressler, >president of insurance services for the Western Growers >Association, said. > > These concerns have made an impression on the Bush administration, >which has proposed a 10 percent, or $124 million, increase next >year for the nation's 3,400 community health clinics, including its >400 migrant health clinics. Advocates for the workers applaud that, >but are unhappy that Mr. Bush has proposed reducing money to train >doctors in underserved rural areas. > > Farm owners say they want laws that will make it easier to provide >discounted health insurance through grower associations for >documented and undocumented workers alike. > > And like many farm workers, growers favor having more >government-sponsored mobile health clinics visit farms. For many >farm workers, simply getting to a clinic is an obstacle - the >clinics are often far away, the workers generally do not own cars, >and buses rarely run between farm communities. > > Don Villarejo, founder of the California Institute of Rural >Studies, which conducted the November study, said the state, >growers and workers should contribute to a health program. He >proposes assessing a few cents per bushel of produce to help >finance the program. > > " For another nickel a head of lettuce, we could raise wages by 40 >percent and provide health insurance, " he said. > > Yovana Cisneros Espindola, 23, the wife of an undocumented farm >worker from Mexico, was fortunate, because of her pregnancy, to >have state health insurance last year when she suffered her first >multiple sclerosis attack, which temporarily blinded her. Her child >was born last November, and she no longer has insurance and cannot >afford the pills needed to slow the advance of the disease. They >cost $10,000 a year. > > linda Avitia, a worker with Catholic Charities, wrote to the >Biogen pharmaceutical company, which agreed to give Ms. Cisneros >the medication for three months and to consider renewing the gift. > > Ms. Cisneros's husband, Francisco, hardly ever sees a doctor. > > > " It's too expensive, " Mr. Cisneros said at their dark, crowded >apartment in Visalia, Calif. " Even if I have a bad fever, I go to >work anyway. If I miss work to go to a doctor, how am I going to >pay for food for my family? " > >http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/13/national/13LABO.html?ex=990807442ei=1 & en= d9bea1d675a1fc52 > Don Villarejo, PhD P.O. Box 381 , CA 95617 (530)756-6545 voice & facsimile To Post a message, send it to: Groups To Unsubscribe, send a blank message to: -unsubscribe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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