This month, Migrant Clinicians Network (MCN) was awarded a Susan Harwood Training Grant for capacity building from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). MCN’s project, Worker Safety and Health in Community Health Centers: A sustainable and integrative approach to immigrant safety and health, will target immigrant workers in hazardous industries, in both rural and urban areas.

Throughout the project, MCN will partner closely with health centers around the US and Puerto Rico to facilitate the integration of occupational health into the health center setting. MCN will utilize a train-the-trainer model to train community health workers (CHWs) to provide occupational health and safety education to immigrant workers. This project will build capacity for occupational health at partner health centers and within MCN. 

In year one, MCN looks forward to partnering with HOPE Clinic to serve nail salon, janitorial, and housekeeping workers in Houston, Texas, and Hospital General Castañer to serve agricultural workers in Castañer, Puerto Rico. The project will also launch a CHW webinar series that will kick off in March 2016. The series will highlight best practices in worker education for CHWs, on the topics of chemical safety, work-related asthma, and heat stress. The webinar series will also weave the theme of workers’ rights into each lesson. In addition, MCN will offer a work-related asthma webinar designed specifically for clinicians.

“This project offers an exciting opportunity for MCN to reach urban immigrant workers and we look forward to developing materials that are culturally appropriate and relevant for this rapidly growing population,” said Juliana Simmons, MSPH, MCN’s Environmental and Occupational Health Program Manager. 

For more information on this project, contact Juliana Simmons at jsimmons@migrantclinician.org.