Migrant Health Celebrates Partnerships |
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The
Migrant Health and Community Coalition has Representatives include those from the Department of Labor, Rural Opportunities, the Migrant Education Outreach Program, ABCD (Migrant Head Start), Cornell Cooperative Extension and Chautauqua Opportunities, Inc. The group meets on a quarterly basis, and hopes to eventually bring new partners to the table. The problems, issues and barriers specifically related to the migrants are always on the table. We have identified that not all members of the population have benefited from medical and dental support services that are available. Barriers to the access of these health services include geography, language, lack of knowledge, lack of transportation, low income, inconvenient clinic hours and culture. Chautauqua County is very unique in that this very rural area does not have any migrant camps, which is the trend in most other areas. Clinics are frequently offered right at th e camp sites, which makes health services in our county more difficult to reach. Goals, objectives and activities are determined by first hand knowledge of the identified gaps in service and the barriers that the migrant population faces in this county. We hope to improve access to primary and preventative health services, improve general nutrition for the workers and their families and to decrease sexually transmitted diseases and other communicable diseases through educational and screening activities. The need for increase partnerships at the local level is very much needed for planning and assessment, linkage and commitment. The health and well-being of this population is highly valued because of their key role in NYS's agricultural industry. Quarterly meetings have brought about discussion of unique problems that the migrants face when attempting to access health services, and how we can interface and network to overcome these barriers. Through this network of partners, COI was able to institute the "Migrant Health and Wellness Fairs", which have been very well received and continue to grow throughout the year. The following partners are participating in the even t offering education, information and health services:
We are looking forward to new providers joining in this event, and are especially looking forward to the Finger Lakes Migrant Health Care Project coming down with their mobile dental van for service provision and the introduction of a Migrant Immunization Program. Some of the problems we hope to work on in the near future include translation, especially during childbirth, educating the public regarding attitudes towards teh migrants and their families, making folds aware of the key role that they play in harvesting crops in NYS and to continue to build our coalition for improved access to health services throughout Chautauqua County. |
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been in existence
since its first meeting held on September 28, 2004. The
initial group consisted of partners, with a designated interest
and connection to the Migrant population in Chautauqua County. 