October 15, 2012

Spanish version

Background
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) with state and local health departments and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are investigating a multistate meningitis outbreak of fungal infections among patients who have received a steroid injection of a potentially contaminated product into the spinal area. This form of meningitis is not contagious. The investigation also includes fungal infections associated with injections in a peripheral joint space, such as a knee, shoulder or ankle.

American Journal of Public Health. October 2012, Vol 102, No. 10

Werner E. Bischoff, MD, PhD, Maria Weir, MAA, MPH, Phillip Summers, MPH, Haiying Chen, MD, PhD, Sara A. Quandt, PhD,
Amy K. Liebman, MPA, MA, and Thomas A. Arcury, PhD

Objectives. The purpose of this study was to assess water quality in migrant farmworker camps in North Carolina and determine associations of water quality with migrant farmworker housing characteristics. Methods. We collected data from 181 farmworker camps in eastern North Carolina during the 2010 agricultural season. Water samples were tested using the Total Coliform Rule (TCR) and housing characteristics were assessed using North Carolina Department of Labor standards. Results. A total of 61 (34%) of 181 camps failed the TCR. Total coliform bacteria were found in all 61 camps, with Escherichia coli also being detected in 2. Water quality was not associated with farmworker housing characteristics or with access to registered public water supplies. Multiple official violations of water quality standards had been reported for the registered public water supplies. Conclusions. Water supplied to farmworker camps often does not comply with current standards and poses a great risk to the physical health of farmworkers and surrounding communities. Expansion of water monitoring to more camps and changes to the regulations such as testing during occupancy and stronger enforcement are needed to secure water safety. (Am J Public Health. 2012;102: e49–e54. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2012.300738)

Latinas are experiencing high rates of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), teen childbearing, and unintended pregnancy. This report presents nine recommendations for sexual and reproductive health clinics and providers to increase young Latina women’s access to reproductive health services. The recommendations are based on findings derived from 14 focus groups conducted by Child Trends in three cities in the United States with young adult Latina women (18-24 years-old) and with reproductive health care and social service providers serving large Latina populations.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Supportive Voice. Among The Most Vulnerable by Tina Castañares , MD. Fall 2008

Webinar Presentation by Tina Castañares, MD George Davis, MD Jennie McLaurin, MD, MPH on Palliative and End-of-Life Care for Latino Migrants. Recorded on 8/22/2012.

This resource (in English and Spanish) gives a basic overview of what breast cancer is and some of the general terms used to describe breast cancer.

This article describes an excellent integrated behavioral health program at a Federally Funded Health Center. The full abstract from the article is as follows: In a progressively complex and fragmented health care system and in response to the need to provide whole-person, quality care to greater numbers of patients than ever before, primary care practices throughout the United States have turned their attention and efforts to integrating behavioral health into their standard service-delivery models. With few resources and little guidance, systems struggle to gather the support required to establish effective integrated programs. Based on first-hand experience, we describe a working integrated primary care model, currently utilized in a large community health center system in Colorado, that encompasses universal screening, consultation, psychotherapy, and psychological testing. With appreciation for the way an organization’s unique circumstances inform the best approach for that particular organization, we highlight the clinical level and system-level variables that we consider necessary for successful practice development and address how our behavioral health program operates despite funding limitations. We conclude that organizations that aim for integrated primary care must mobilize leadership to implement systemic changes while making difficult decisions about program development, financing, staffing, and interagency relationships.

The 2012 Blueprint for Protecting Children in Agriculture. Awarded 2013 Paper of the year by the International Society for Agricultural Safety and Health (ISASH), this National Action Plan takes an updated look at preventing childhood agricultural injury and death.

From the National Center for Farm Worker Health

An estimated 1.1 million people in the USA are living with HIV/AIDS.  Nearly 200,000 of these individuals do not know that they are infected.  In 2006, the CDC recommended that all healthcare providers routinely offer HIV screening to adolescent and adult patients.  Nurse-dentist collaborations present unique opportunities to provide rapid oral HIV screening to patients in dental clinic settings and reach the many adults who lack primary medical providers.  However, little is known about the feasibility and acceptability of this type of innovative practice. Thus, elicitation research was undertaken with dental providers, students, and patients. This paper reports the results of qualitative interviews with 19 adults attending a university-based dental clinic in New York City. Overall, patients held very positive attitudes and beliefs toward HIV screening in dental sites and identified important factors that should be incorporated into the design of nurse-dentist collaborative HIV screening programs.

Hidden Ha­rvest is a nonprofit organization that gleans or rescues produce from Coachella Valley fields and packi­ng houses. After harvest is complete, local farmers leave millions of dollars worth of first-rate produce behind in the fields due to market fluctuations and other factors.

Hidden Harvest takes­ advantage of this bounty and delivers the healthy produce free-of-charge to agencies that serve the hungry and needy

Hidden Harvest's mission is twofold - 1) to hire low income farmworkers at $10 per hour (above prevailing wage) to 2) to"rescue" or glean fresh, healthy and locally grown food from farmers' fields and area packing houses to feed the poor and hungry.