Jennah Badger @jkbadger-blog - Tumblr Blog

Posts

Monday, November 13th, Team Farmworker had their last official meeting! I have loved everything about this practicum experience and am so thankful to have had such an amazing group to work with. We are just doing last minute prep for our final presentation!

Monday, November 6th, instead of our regular meeting, Team Farmworker went out to another farmworker camp to conduct a second focus group! We were able to gather more information about mental health just before the farmworkers went back home.

Team Farmworker went and helped out with a sweet potato glean on October 31st! We had an awesome time picking the potatoes and learning about how the farmworkers have special techniques for the most effective glean and the size of potatoes that are selected!

F14. Advocate for political, social, or economic policies and programs that will improve the health in diverse populations.

Team Farmworker was able to go to the Dia de los Muertos event in Dunn this weekend, October 29th! We were able to learn more about the culture of the Hispanic Farmworkers, hear obituaries and testimonies, and even advocate safety measures for poultry workers. This event was an experience that I will always cherish and believe in.

When we first arrived to the Dia de los Muertos event, it was clear that this was going to be a large celebration and that it would be the perfect place to reach a lot of people at one time. This was the case. The event started with the singing of a traditional song and then led into a description of what Dia de los Muertos means. It is just the celebration and remembrance of those who the community has lost during the year. The service continued by hearing testimonies about farmworkers and how they had to come to America to work because they had no other option and they needed a way to support their family. We heard obituaries from all over the United States about farmworkers who had passed either of old age or in work-related accidents. It was in this moment that we realized that something needed to be done in order for farmworkers to have safer workplace and have fewer work-related deaths.

What really made it evident that change needed to take place was when some poultry plant workers from North Carolina came and described what their work conditions were like and how it was only going to get worse. The poultry workers first described how their job is very physically demanding as is, as they must cut the chickens into different parts, such as thighs, wings, and breast. This being said, they are already required to move quickly in order to get through as many chickens as possible. But then they hit us with the astonishing fact: their bosses were trying to get it so that the line of production would have an unlimited speed. This means that the poultry workers would be moving so fast that they would increase the risk for cutting off fingers as well as losing their chance to go to the bathroom, which now is required to be taken while sprinting from the workstation to the restroom. What is sad is that plant owners do not care about the safety of their workers and would rather them risk being injured in exchange for higher productivity. The poultry workers even stated how they have tried to speak to the FDA about putting regulations on how fast the line can move and have gone to Washington D.C. to do this, but have had no luck in getting anyone to listen. This is when Team Farmworker decided to sign the cards that were acting as a petition against increasing the line speed for the poultry workers.

With the information that was gathered from this event as well as throughout our practicum experience, Team Farmworker knew that we needed to do something that would make a difference with regard to workplace safety and health needs. That is why we asked our preceptor, Anna Jensen, about what type of social media platform we could use that would be able to reach the vast majority of the farmworker population. That is when we learned that the NC Farmworkers’ Project had actually just started a blog that was being used as a way to post information about the Affordable Care Act and other information that they thought would be helpful for farmworkers to be aware of. With this form of social media, it became clear that this was what Team Farmworker needed to use in order to reach a large number of farmworkers.

Now that we have information about health education with regards to topics that are most commonly asked about, workplace safety, and mental health/substance abuse in the farmworker community, Team Farmworker is working on writing blog posts about these topics and sending them to Anna at the NCFWP in order to get them posted and bring forth more information that will allow for the farmworker community to be able to live healthier lives. Each member of the group is taking a topic and they are in charge of writing about general information that comes with either the disease or health disparity and them applying it to farmworkers specifically. By doing this, the NCFWP and Team Farmworker will be able to allow for farmworkers to lead healthier lives and improve the health outcomes of a community that has previously not had really any information on healthy behaviors and lead to a better life for each farmworker.

F7. Assess population needs, assets and capacities that affect communities’ health

This past week, Team Farmworker went to their first focus group! We traveled to Angier and met with a group of farmworkers in their home. We went with the intention of learning more about mental health as well as ways that we could improve resources for mental health for the farmworkers.

To begin this process, we met with Dr. MacNell to go over suitable questions that would be effective without being overbearing for our focus groups. We decided that we needed to focus on three main areas: personal barriers, logistic barriers, and cultural differences. We used these groups to create questions that would allow for us to tackle some of the things that deter and keep mental health from being discussed culturally for farmworkers as well as what could be changed to make resources more accessible. We made sure that the word choices we used were going to be able to be translated and continue to have the same meaning. Once the questions were devised (including main questions that would lead to some probing questions), we went to the NCFWP and Anna made sure to translate them for us. We then waited for Leonardo to contact some camps that would be available to be part of our focus group on a Sunday. We made our way to a farmworker camp on Sunday, October 22nd. Before we left, we made sure to get some recorders that would be used to record the focus group in order for us to translate responses at a later date.

On Sunday, Team Farmworker, along with Leonardo and Nick, drove out to a farmworker camp that was in Angier, not too far from campus. There, we had to wait for a majority of the farmworkers to come back from the market. This was to be expected due to the fact that Sunday is their only day off and this is when the farmworkers get their shopping done. As we waited, we watched some soccer with the two farmworkers that were already at the house. Once the other farmworkers made it back and unloaded their groceries, we asked if any of them would be willing to take part in our focus group. We made sure to disclose that the focus group would discuss mental health. We ended up recruiting three farmworkers to be part of our focus group.

The farmworkers that agreed to be part of our focus group filled out consent forms that allowed for us to video, record, and photograph them. Now, it was time for the focus group to begin! We had Nick, who interns with the NCFWP, be the translator for the group. We started with a question that just discussed what the farmworkers thought health was, which stemmed from cleanliness to overall wellness. The focus group continued and we asked about their feelings towards work, being away from family, and how they felt their society would feel if they tried to talk about mental health with them. We also asked about resources they knew about and used and if there was anything that we could try to do with regards to better access to mental health resources.

Based off of the responses from the farmworkers, there were some basic conclusions that would be drawn. Many of the farmworkers defined health as being “clean,” which was very interesting. I found this to be interesting because most of the time when we discuss health, we talk about feeling well and not having pain or anything of that sort. When it comes to asking about the farmworkers’ feelings, we got a lot of responses. Mostly they discussed how it was hard to be away from family and how it was strange in their culture to discuss if they were sad when in America, because coming to America is one of the best opportunities that most of the farmworkers say that they have. Most of the farmworkers also discussed how they would feel judged if they did try to talk to people in their culture about mental health, because they should be grateful for the opportunities that they were given. There were resources that the farmworkers used, most of which involved the Catholic Church. Overall, the farmworkers said they needed to have someone to talk to about their struggles at work and at home so that they would be able to be productive at their jobs and continue to make money to send to their families.

This focus group was very beneficial in the sense that we were able to hear from a population that most people do not even try to do focus groups on. We were able to see some of the cultural impacts on their view of mental health as well as how they feel solely responsible for the bettering of their town or community. This experience was wonderful and it was amazing to be able to hear about the struggles that farmworkers go through and how they would do anything to be able to work and send money back to their families.

R2. Identify and distinguish the access to care barriers and the health care utilization challenges that affect the health of rural communities.

When we first began our journey, we were not sure exactly what it meant to be “Team Farmworker.” During our second meeting, we were able to go out to actual farmworker camps to talk to some of the farmworkers to see what they felt were challenges with regards to healthcare in general for them. We were told that some of the challenges that they faced were language barriers, discrimination, and convenience.

When it comes to the lives of farmworkers, it is easy to see how access to health care may not be the easiest. Farmworkers are working 6 days a week, most of those days being 12 or more hours long. This where it comes in that going to a clinic or seeing a doctor is not always convenient or possible for them to do during the 9:00-5:00 time period. It is also a fact that most farmworkers do not have access to transportation, unless they all ride a bus together. These things make it very, very difficult to get to a doctor’s office. It is also difficult in the sense that there are not many translators in rural areas, which prevents farmworkers from sharing personal information. Farmworkers expressed that when talking about topics, especially mental health, that they do not share when it comes to using translators because they do not trust the translators. It also creates distance if the farmworkers feel they cannot get service because they will not be understood. The difficulty of discrimination is also very prevalent. Farmworkers have talked about how they felt that they were not welcome when they went to various health care facilities and they choose not to go because of this. These are only a few of the barriers that prevent farmworkers from utilizing health care services.

Following our meeting with the farmworkers, we were able to go, along with Anna and the other members of the NCFWP, to the clinic that they were having. This was a clinic that was held at a facility that was close to where farmworker camps were, which allowed for better access. The clinic also started at around 6:30 pm, which was a time that was after the workday for farmworkers. Students from UNC-Chapel Hill’s Medical School were also present and were able to see patients, as well as a PA, and then get confirmation from their faculty preceptor who was also present. Translators were available to be in the room and the faculty preceptor also spoke Spanish. Before the patients saw the medical students, there was an area outside where nurses, who were typically native Spanish speakers, were taking vitals and weight as well as doing health assessments on the farmworkers. The health assessment dealt with general health questions as well as some about mental health, such as depression. There were also some vans that were used as patient rooms for when all of the rooms were full in the actual facility.

I felt that the health clinic was a great thing to experience. With regards to what the farmworkers expressed as being barriers to health care utilization, this clinic was a way that allowed for those barriers to be tackled. The time of the clinic, being that it was in the evening, allowed for farmworkers to not have to take time off to seek medical services. It was also nice because the buses that were used to take the farmworkers grocery shopping took the farmworkers to the clinic, helping with the lack of transportation that is often seen in farmworker communities. Having native Spanish speakers as the nurses and translators help to diminish the untrustworthiness that many farmworkers feel when it comes to health care; they were able to know that there were individuals who understood their concerns and would be able to understand them. Having translators as well as members of the health care team being Spanish speakers helped with the farmworkers fearing discrimination, making the entire process more comfortable for the farmworkers.

Overall, I felt that the health clinic was very successful and is something that is creating a huge impact to the health of the farmworker community. The health clinic allows for convenience of health care services to a population that is otherwise disadvantaged by their profession. Farmworkers are plagued by the conditions of their job; their entire life revolves around working. This is different from other working professions in the sense that if they do not work, they go back to their home country. The clinic is an initiative that takes the convenience factor, language barrier, and discrimination into consideration and makes health care more accessible and evolves it to fit the mentality of the farmworkers. The NCFWP is working hard to get quality health care to farmworkers in a way that is suitable for their lives.

We spent the past week working together to try and come up with questions for our upcoming focus groups! We are so excited to be looking into areas of focus with regards to mental health for the farmworker community!

Team Farmworker met at Creek Coffee to debrief after our Health Fair and start preparing for our next big project: Farmworker Focus Groups! We just have to have a meeting with Leonardo and start planning when we are going to see the groups and which camps would be good to go to. Cannot wait to start going to actually farmworker camps and gather information that will be used to their benefit!

R3. Develop strategies to prevent and respond to occupational health effects and safety risks of key industries in rural communities.

We did it! Team Farmworker completed our Health Fair for a group farmworker families (about 30-40 people). It was a huge success and I am so blessed to share what all happened and what was learned from the experience.

After weeks of preparation and 6 trays of ziti later, the Health Fair was set to start at 6:00 pm on Wednesday, September 20th. Our entire group showed up in Angier at the house where the fair would take place (after we went to the wrong place first but we made it eventually). Our entire group, along with Anna Jensen and other members of the Benson office of NCFWP, set up tables that would differentiate the topics that each group would discuss: cancer, sexual education, and nutrition. We also had a group of tables that would eventually be used for dinner but were used as coloring stations for the children that came with the adults.

Our station that discussed sexual education was led by Kanesha and Ashley. They had a jeopardy board with questions about different types of contraception as well as various STDs. The leaders said that there were not too many questions but that this station was very important when it came to the teenagers that came to the health fair. They even discussed continuing education, such as going to college after high school. Kanesha and Ashely said that this was very beneficial as many of the teenagers had questions about their options after high school.

Stephen and I were in charge of the session that talked about various types of cancers that are common in the farmworker community. We split out research into two sections: one that dealt with common cancers in men and the other dealing with common cancers in women. Stephen and I both prepared an info sheet that was in Spanish and gave the information to the group that way. Stephen also created ‘El Hombre de Cancer,” or Cancer Man. Cancer Man was used as a game to ask questions and have the farmworker families answer question and determine which cancer the description was talking about.

The last station that we had was the station on nutrition and chronic disease, which was ran by James and Wrenn. They had printed sheets that allowed for the groups to think about their exercise and eating habits. They both also talked about ways to eat healthier and also become more physically active. The biggest discussion when it came to chronic disease for them was when they talked about diabetes. Some of the farmworkers talked about how they were not taking their medications for diabetes and Wrenn and James consulted with them about how to get their diabetes under control.

All in all I thought that this was a huge success. With the help of members of the NCFWP acting as translators for our groups, we were all able to have meaningful dialogue between ourselves and the farmworkers. I know personally, my and Stephen’s group got a lot questions about sun exposure and dust, things that the farmworkers would deal with on a regular basis and how cancer can stem from these things. We also had a farmworker ask us about her mole and if she should have it checked out so it was astonishing to me how we built enough trust with some people within such a short period of time that we were consulted about the health of another person. This fair was hugely important because a lot of the farmworkers were able to get answers to questions they had and also get their blood pressure, weight, and other things checked by nursing students from the local community college. The Health Fair went without a hitch and I could not be more thankful to have had the opportunity to help a population who was so welcoming and grateful for the information.

Also a huge thank you to Morgan and Shaniqua for helping with set up and taking pictures for the group! I would also like to extend a thank you to everyone who donated hygiene supplies to us. We were able to give each family a pile of hygiene products, including toothpaste, toothbrushes, soap, etc. This was a very important factor because it allowed for us to try and extend the healthy behaviors past the health fair by giving the families some supplies that will keep their dental health strong, as most of the farmworkers do not regularly see the dentist. Team Farmworker is so blessed with a great support system, so heres to more amazing projects for this semester!

Team Farmworker doing our final review before our Health Fair! Awesome experiences to come. Teaching about sexual education, cancer, and nutrition!

Team Farmworker prepping for the Health Education Fair we are hosting on 9/20! Looking at all of the relevant topics and seeing what would be best for the farmworkers in our surrounding communities. Let’s go educate some families!

Team Farmworker meeting to discuss our upcoming Health Education Program scheduled for 9/20!

We went out to our very meeting at the NC Farmworkers Project’s office in Benson! Had an awesome time at the health clinic...time to practice some Spanish!

We had out first official meeting as Team Farmworker! So excited to see what amazing things will come from this group.

Trending Blogs

Recently Viewed Blogs

Jennah Badger