Migrant Farm Worker Clinics
About the Health Education Outreach Program:
Undergraduates have a critical role at the clinics by providing farm workers with preventive health education information. Connecticut hosts over 17,000 migrant farm workers annually. This population is the poorest group in the United States with the highest rate of occupational injury and illness. To address this issue, the Health Education Outreach (HEO) program was piloted in the summer of 2007. Undergraduate students had contact with more than 400 migrant farm workers discussing issues including occupational health issues and prevention strategies for pesticide poisoning, musculoskeletal injury, heat stress, skin cancer, Lyme disease and West Nile Virus, and more.
Common Questions asked by undergraduate volunteers:
When and where do the clinics occur?
The UConn Migrant Farm Worker clinics run from June to September on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights from 6:00 -10:00ish p.m. The mobile clinic sets-up at farm locations in throughout Connecticut.
When can I sign up to volunteer?
The schedule will not be finalized for undergraduate volunteer sign up until June 1st. After June 1st, Shannon Bacchi will contact students to schedule based on their first contact.
* Students who can provide English/Spanish translational services are given more priority and should notify Shannon if they are fluent.
Who do the clinics serve?
The mobile clinics serve uninsured and underinsured seasonal and migrant agricultural farm workers in Connecticut. These are primarily single men, living in barracks at the farms, with otherwise little to no access to healthcare.
The workforce comprised of a variety of difference cultural groups, the largest are:
- Mexican and Mexican Americans
- Haitian migrants based in Florida
- Jamaica H2-A guest workers
- Puerto Rican Migrant workers
What will I be doing at the farms?
Undergraduates engage the farm workers waiting to be seen at the medical and dental clinics. Undergraduates get groups of farm workers together, present the topic(s), distribute printed health education materials, watch a short video or have a "jeopardy style" quiz. Then, if supplies permit, supplies related to the health education topic(s) are distributed to farm workers (ex. sunscreen, sunglasses, & toothbrushes and toothpaste). Participating farm workers are then given a brief evaluation (oral or written) to access or measure the impact of the outreach.
What is the level of commitment for undergrad students?
Undergraduate students have two options:
- Students with limited time to commit to the program can sign up to volunteer at one or two clinics by e-mailing me AFTER JUNE 1st to Bacchi@uchc.edu.
- For those of you interested in taking on a leadership role, the time commitment is a one or two week blocks, 3 days a week (T, W, Th) in the evenings (See more details below). Please contact Shannon Bacchi (Bacchi@uchc.edu) immediately if you are interested in taking a leadership role.
What about transportation?
Students are responsible to arrange transportation to & from the clinics. Carpooling is available from the UConn Health Center Hospital entrance in Farmington which departs sharply at 5:00 p.m. Students from the UConn Storrs campus must arrange their own carpools. Directions are provided to those who prefer to drive directly to the farms. In order to be eligible for the leadership positions, you must have transportation to the farms. The majority of farms are in the Greater Hartford area, but there are farm also located in Middlefield, Lebanon, and Glastonbury.
When is orientation?
All undergraduate student volunteers are strongly encouraged to attend the annual UConn Migrant Farm Worker Clinics Symposium on June 17th from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at UConn Health Center. Participants must RSVP to Bacchi@uchc.edu by June 1st.
The Symposium will give you a solid foundation of knowledge about the populations we serve, UConn clinic set-up and services, and about other partners in the Connecticut River Valley network. During the Symposium, there will be an undergraduate training session for the outreach work you will be doing. If you are unable to attend, you can still volunteer if you fulfill the following requirements:
In order to volunteer ALL undergraduates must:
- be on the master schedule (contact bacchi@uchc.edu)
- sign a HIPPA form (available at the clinics)
- photo consent form (available at the clinics)
What are the expectations for Health Education Outreach (HEO) undergraduate leaders?
We are looking for several undergraduate students to again take leadership roles with the Health Education Outreach (HEO) program at the clinics. The benefits for those who decide to take leadership roles as coordinators include resume building, exposure to health careers, and the opportunity to help prevent injuries and diseases which positively impacts not only these individuals but also their families and communities.
General requirements for leaders:
- You must be able to speak basic Spanish or be partnered with another coordinator who can
- You must have your own transportation. (Leaders are encouraged to either help transport supplies in their personally owned vehicles or caravan/carpool from UConn Health Center hospital entrance.)
Responsibilities for HEO leaders include:
- Undergraduate student sign-in & welcome
- Double checking the students have:
- HIPAA trained (self-training packet provided)
- photo consent forms completed
- Assigning tasks to undergraduate volunteers:
- get a group formed of farm workers waiting to be seen
- discuss/present HEO topic assigned in English and/or Spanish
- distribute supplies related to the health topic during presentation
- Tracking number of farm workers are contacted
- Collecting responses from farm workers (orally or written) for survey
- Keeping health education materials organized
- Coordinating the restocking of HEO materials
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