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Project 4: Arthritis Prevention and Self-Management For Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers
Arthritis is an equal-opportunity destroyer, ignoring racial, social and economic barriers. Some of the most economically disadvantaged victims of the diseases are migrant and seasonal farmworkers. The U.S. workforce includes 3-5 million such people who work mainly in the $28-million fruit and vegetable industry. Some 85 percent of these people are minorities—Hispanics, African Americans, Jamaicans and Haitians, more than half of whom live below the poverty level. Most of them are either American citizens or working in the country legally, but without access to traditional health care services. Most of these workers are uninsured, and only one-fifth of them have access to basic health care at migrant health clinics throughout the country. Because of the heavy physical work involved in performing farmwork, such people are particularly vulnerable to the effects of arthritis.
Experts estimate that between 1 million and 1.7 million migrant and seasonal farmworkers suffer from arthritis in some form. Because of their low educational level, many workers have difficulty reading and interpreting health information in any language, thus effectively living in an informational vacuum.
The purpose of this project is to disseminate much-needed information about arthritis prevention and arthritis management through the existing network of 500 migrant health clinics through the National Center for Farmwork Health, a not-for-profit organization located in Buda, Texas. The project will use the “promotoras,” or lay promoters who will deliver the information directly to migrant workers and translate the technical health jargon into an understandable and culturally appropriate (or sensitive) form.
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