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News Releases
Hurting in the Farmland: Project to Teach Migrant Farm Workers Arthritis Prevention, Self-management
Columbia, Mo. (Nov. 8, 2004) - Arthritis is an equal-opportunity destroyer, ignoring racial, social and economic barriers. Some of the most economically disadvantaged people who have the disease are migrant and seasonal farm workers, many of whom do not receive adequate treatment. However, the Missouri Arthritis Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (MARRTC) is taking steps to combat this problem.
Through a new project, MARRTC will disseminate much-needed information about arthritis prevention and arthritis self-management through an existing network of 500 migrant health clinics through the National Center for Farmworker Health. The project will use "promotoras," or lay promoters who will deliver information directly to migrant workers and translate the medical jargon into an understandable and culturally appropriate language.
Occupational risk factors in agriculture include twisting, turning, persistent awkward postures, reaching, heavy lifting, frequent bending, compression of weight-bearing joints by heavy lifting in awkward positions, driving for long periods of time, and walking long distances over uneven ground.
"Work tasks that require the joints to carry large loads may cause considerable pain," says H. Willard Downs, MARRTC Project Investigator and Unit Extension Program Leader for the Food Science and Engineering Unit at the University of Missouri-Columbia.
"Our primary goal is to develop and disseminate awareness and educational materials to these workers, professionals who work with them and health care providers. We hope these outreach activities will improve the migrant/seasonal health-care system's ability to counsel and treat farm workers with arthritis."
Out of the three- to five million people in the United States who work in the $28-million fruit and vegetable industry, about 85 percent of them are minorities including Hispanics, African-Americans, Jamaicans and Haitians. Half of migrant and seasonal farm workers live below the poverty threshold, and experts estimate that between 1 million and 1.7 million of them suffer from arthritis in one form or another. Ironically, those who need help most urgently are also the ones least likely to get proper care.
Many migrant and seasonal farm workers are either American citizens or working in the country legally, but do not have access to traditional health care services. Moreover, many of them are uninsured, and only one-fifth of them have access to basic health care at migrant health clinics throughout the country.
"Arthritis is an increasing national concern and has a particular impact upon farmers and farm workers," says Karen Funkenbusch, a research associate and rural safety and health specialist who directs the Farmers with Arthritis Project. "The lack of health coverage will have a significant impact upon adequate treatment of a chronic condition and may directly affect both the physical ability to farm and economically maintain a viable farm operation."
For information about MARRTC, call 1-800-995-8503 or visit its Web site at www.marrtc.org
The Arthritis Prevention and Self-Management For Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers is a collaborative program between Biological Engineering Extension from the University of Missouri-Columbia and the National Center for Farmworker Health focuses on the unique needs of underserved, minority groups working in the agricultural industry.
The Missouri Arthritis Research Rehabilitation and Training Center (MARRTC) was established in 1971 at the University of Missouri-Columbia Arthritis Center. MARRTC is funded by the U.S. Department of Education's National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research under grant number H133B031120 and is the only federally funded arthritis rehabilitation research and training center in the country.
As part of the MU Health Communication Research Center (HCRC), MARRTC's mission is to become a national leader in the areas of disability management and communication, improve the quality of life and promote independent living among people who have arthritis and arthritic conditions. MARRTC's core message is "Disability is everyone's issue."
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