Barbara C. Lee PhD, Susan S. Gallagher MPH, Amy K. Liebman MPA, MA, Mary E. Miller RN, MN & Barbara Marlenga PhD (2012)Journal of Agromedicine, 17:2, 88-93ABSTRACT. In 1996 the US launched a National Childhood Agricultural Injury Prevention Initiative, guided by an action plan generated by a 42-member multidisciplinary committee. A major update to the plan was released following the 2001 Summit on Childhood Agricultural Injury Prevention. From the year 2010 through 2011 a comprehensive assessment of progress to date was conducted followed by the drafting, review and finalizing of a new action plan—“The 2012 Blueprint for Protecting Children in Agriculture.” This paper briefly describes the purpose and process for generating the new action plan then provides a listing of the 7 goals and 26 strategies within the plan. These goals and strategies account for trends in childhood agricultural injuries, changes in agricultural production and the demographics of its workforce, effectiveness of interventions, and the increasing use of social media, marketing and social networking. Primary funding for this project was provided by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), which continues to serve as the lead federal agency for the national initiative.
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)
- Bischoff_etal_WaterQuality_AJPH_2012_0.pdf (495.42 KB)
Cancer statistics for Hispanics/Latinos, 2012 by Rebecca Siegel MPH, Deepa Naishadham MA, MS, Ahmedin Jemal DVM, PhD
Article first published online: 17 SEP 2012
Abstract
Hispanics/Latinos are the largest and fastest growing major demographic group in the United States, accounting for 16.3% (50.5 million/310 million) of the US population in 2010. In this article, the American Cancer Society updates a previous report on cancer statistics for Hispanics using incidence data from the National Cancer Institute, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries and mortality data from the National Center for Health Statistics. In 2012, an estimated 112,800 new cases of cancer will be diagnosed and 33,200 cancer deaths will occur among Hispanics. In 2009, the most recent year for which actual data are available, cancer surpassed heart disease as the leading cause of death among Hispanics. Among US Hispanics during the past 10 years of available data (2000-2009), cancer incidence rates declined by 1.7% per year among men and 0.3% per year among women, while cancer death rates declined by 2.3% per year in men and 1.4% per year in women. Hispanics have lower incidence and death rates than non-Hispanic whites for all cancers combined and for the 4 most common cancers (breast, prostate, lung and bronchus, and colorectum). However, Hispanics have higher incidence and mortality rates for cancers of the stomach, liver, uterine cervix, and gallbladder, reflecting greater exposure to cancer-causing infectious agents, lower rates of screening for cervical cancer, differences in lifestyle and dietary patterns, and possibly genetic factors. Strategies for reducing cancer risk among Hispanics include increasing utilization of screening and available vaccines, as well as implementing effective interventions to reduce obesity, alcohol consumption, and tobacco use. CA Cancer J Clin 2012;. © 2012 American Cancer Society.
New research out of Cornell University's College of Human Ecology found that low-income children of immigrants have much poorer health than low-income children of citizens, as reported in a special section of the journal Child Development.
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
http://www.farmworkercliniciansmanual.com
This comprehensive manual was developed by the New York Center for Agricultural Medicine and Health and the Migrant Clinicians Network for the diagnosis and treatment of occupational injuries in migrant and seasonal farmworkers. The information in the manual does focus on agricultural occupations in the Northeast.
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.
- BlueprintAgricultureNCC_0.pdf (6.84 MB)
This research study was conducted on 8 dates of an annual flu shot clinic at the San Francisco General Hospital. Patients were offered flu shots as usual (control group) and on 9 other dates, patients were offered both flu shots and FOBT kits (intervention group). Researchers wanted to determine whether providing home fecal occult blood test (FOBT) kits to eligible patients during influenza inoculation (flu shot) clinics can contribute to higher colorectal cancer screening (CRCS) rates. The study concluded that offering FOBT kits during flu shot clinics dramatically increased the CRCS rate for flu shot clinic attendees. Pairing home FOBT kits with annual flu shots may be a useful strategy to improve CRCS rates in other primary care or public health settings.
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.
Migrant Health Issues Monograph series regarding Disaster Relief for migrant populations.
- migrantdisaster.pdf (57.33 KB)
This flyer describes oral health for the diabetic. It is in English and Spanish.
- OralHealth.doc (684.5 KB)
This flyer explains diabetes and kidney disease. Available in Spanish and English.
- MCN+Diabetes+and+Kidney+Disease+ENG+SPN.doc (774.5 KB)
This flyer describes depression and the steps to health living. Available in Spanish and English.
- MCN+Depression+and+Health+Living.doc (706 KB)
The Workbook provides a process that can support state, local,and tribal planners as they advance in their efforts to reach all populations—and specifically, special populations—in day-today communication and during crisis or emergency situations.
The Workbook is divided into three primary sections, each representing a major stage in the process of communicating with special populations,and provides a baseline of research plus selected resources that should substantially reduce the work required of health departments to begin this process.
Published by HRSA's MCHB in September 2011, the chartbook is based on data from the 2007 National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH). This is the second round of the survey; however, some questions were revised since the 2003 survey, and not all findings are comparable to those from the 2003 survey.
Indicators report on the health and well-being of children in rural areas, presenting information on the health status and risk and protective factors experienced by children on a National level.
The Place, Migration, and Health (PMH) network, a diverse group of researchers committed to understanding the links between migration processes and the health of migrants, their families.
The PMH website aims to generate and improve knowledge on the links between migration processes and the health of (im)migrants, their families, and their sending and receiving communities using across-national lens for research and policy.
The work of the researchers in the PMH network seeks to address knowledge gaps in areas critical for understanding the determinants of immigrant health and to inform intervention and policy opportunities to promote the the health of first-generation immigrants and their offspring.
Use the link below to access MCN's Rapid Assessment Tool to help adolescent farmworkers identify agricultural tasks they perform in agriculture and facilitate clinician understanding about the health risks associated with it. Youth worker images are adapted and reproduced with permission from the National Children Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety. Images copyrighted through Marshfield Clinic, Marshfield, Wisconsin.
If computers and internet access are unavailable where patient care is provided, the worker assessment sheet and clinician information grid are available in PDF.
- adol_fw_ rapidrisk_assess_clinician.pdf (3.94 MB)
- adol_rapidrisk_assess_board_2_0.pdf (7.03 MB)
To help more pregnant women and new moms get information about caring for their health and giving their babies the best possible start in life, the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition (HMHB) launched text4baby, the first free health text messaging service in the U.S.Text4baby supports moms by providing accurate, text-length health information and resources in a format that is personal and timely, using a channel she knows and uses. Over 85% of Americans own a cell phone and 72% of cell users send or receive text messages.
The Applied Research Center released this report offering the first national data available on the perilous intersection of immigration enforcement and the child welfare system. ARC's Investigative Research package includes a poignant video and Colorlines.com articles which bring to life the story of one family trying desperately to stay together.
Issue Brief Co-Authored by Health Outreach Partners and the Kaiser Family Foundation
Information provided by the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured
Publication Number: 8249
Publish Date: 2011-10-27
This brief examines how the Affordable Care Act (ACA) may impact immigrant families based on data collected from Outreach/Eligibility Workers in four regions of the country and supported by needs data from several health outreach programs around the country. You will note that the pivotal role of Community Health Centers (CHCs) to connect immigrant families to coverage and care is highlighted. Migrant Health Centers and Homeless Health Centers are specifically cited because of their history of pioneering and strengthening many of the models and strategies that will be needed to connect immigrant families to health coverage and care come 2014.
Download report here.
This issue of Forced Migration Review, features an article about the Strengthening What Works initiative called "Preventing partner violence in refugee and immigrant communities." The article provides an overview of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation initiative for readers in the humanitarian and public health sectors and features information about MCN's program Hombres Unidos.
This article, by the Center for Global Development, provides information about emigration and a comparison of emigration from poor Europe in the 19th century to emigration from other poor parts of the world to the US today.
The importance of clinical diagnostic tools and biomonitoring of exposures to pesticides as well the role of clinicians in pesticide reporting and the challenges clinicians face in accurately diagnosing patients exposed to pesticides are described in a presentation by Matthew Keifer, MD, MPH and Amy K. Liebman, MPA. Click on the link for an APHA policy resolution underscoring the need for clinical diagnostic tools and biomomitoring of exposures to pesticides. This policy supports the information outlined by in the presentation.
This EPA report contains the latest estimates of agricultural and nonagricultural pesticide use in the United States.
- market_estimates06-07.pdf (563.59 KB)
The Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments (ANHE) is a network of nurses from around the country (and world) who are acting on the notion that our environment and health are inextricably connected. We are a group of nurses from all walks of our profession – hospital-based, public health, school-based, academics, and advanced practice, to name a few.
We are helping to integrate environmental health into nursing education, greening our many workplaces, incorporating environmental exposure questions into our patient histories, providing anticipatory guidance to pregnant women and parents about environmental risks to children, implementing research that addresses environmental health questions, and advocating for environmental health in our workplaces and governmental institutions.
Fighting cancer is difficult enough, but living with it is even tougher - and that's where the Cleaning for A Reason Foundation steps in. This nonprofit offers free professional housecleaning, and maid services to improve the lives of women undergoing treatment for cancer - any type of cancer.