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emergency nurses week - heart around nurses hat

From the Field: Dr. Laszlo Madaras Honors the Medical Staff who Work in the World As It Is

Oct 9, 2017
By: Jannette Nuñez
As a doctor, I have worked with so many kind and excellent nurses over several decades - dedicated, hard workers in the ER, labor+delivery, intensive care, oncology, geriatrics, pediatrics, and non…
MCN Five on Friday

Five on Friday: Ben & Jerry’s Helps Improve Migrant Dairy Workers’ Conditions and Help For Puerto Rico

Oct 6, 2017
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
It’s the first week of October, which for me means Fair Trade Candy Buying Week. It’s a troubling task -- if I wait much longer, it might not ship to me in time for Halloween and the local stores may…
Jirayut “New” Latthivongskorn at San Francisco General Hospital

For DACA Med Student, The Path to Becoming a Clinician for the Underserved is in Jeopardy

Oct 5, 2017
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
Jirayut “New” Latthivongskorn at San Francisco General Hospital. Photo: Jirayut LatthivongskornOne month ago today, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a March 5th, 2018 end of Deferred Action…
Puerto Rico flag painted on rock

MCN Stands with Puerto Rico: Clinician Partners Struggle to Access Critical Resources After Disasters Across North America

Oct 2, 2017
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
Nothing could prepare our clinician partners for the level of destruction we have seen in North America in recent weeks. In Puerto Rico, after Hurricane Maria ripped through the island following on…
MCN Five on Friday

Five on Friday: Aid Lags in Hurricane-torn Puerto Rico as San Juan Mayor Pleas for Support

Sep 29, 2017
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
As we reach the end of September, we look back at the devastation that this particular page in the calendar has brought to vulnerable communities across North America. Major earthquakes, hurricanes,…
Apple tree orchard without farm worker

Farmers Adjust to Fewer Workers: Reprint of Rural Migration News Blog

Sep 28, 2017
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
[Editor’s Note: This week, the mobile agricultural worker shortage was once again in the news. Last month, Rural Migration News blog posted this analysis of how farmers are shifting gears in…
Damage after Hurricane

After the Waters Recede, Worker Vulnerabilities Rise: How to Prepare Workers in a Post-Disaster Environment

Sep 26, 2017
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
After any disaster -- earthquake, hurricane, explosion, attack -- there are immediate survival concerns. Puerto Rico is right now on the brink of a humanitarian crisis, as millions face every new day…
MCN Five on Friday

Five on Friday: Migrant Workers After Hurricane Irma and Humans of New York

Sep 22, 2017
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
Just this week, can we rename this rundown of reads and resources, “Six on Saturday,” or “Seven on Sunday?” It’s awfully challenging to whittle down the list of suggestions from our well read staff…
man spraying pesticides on plants

From the Fields to the Exam Room: MCN Trains Thousands on Pesticide Poisoning Response

Sep 21, 2017
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
Pop quiz: Before Migrant Clinicians Network trainings, what percentage of surveyed primary care clinicians knew if reporting pesticide exposures in their state was required? Read on to find the…
Hurricane thrashing palm trees on the beach

Barely Recovering from Irma, Puerto Rico Health Centers Brace for Maria

Sep 20, 2017
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
When Daniel Ramos, MPHE, from the Primary Health Care Association of Puerto Rico, picked up the phone yesterday, he sounded surprisingly upbeat. He asked how I was doing, and I had to admit I was…
COSH Network staff survey damage to homes after hurricane Harvey

After the Storm: National COSH's Perspective from their Train-the-Trainer Sessions in Houston

Sep 19, 2017
By: Jessica E. Martinez
I’m writing you from Houston, on the third and final day of an intensive bilingual “train-the-trainers” session for workers who want to see their city rebuilt safely and securely. What I’ve…
MCN Five on Friday

Five on Friday: The Heroin Addiction Epidemic in Ohio/Kentucky and Staying Safe After Flood Damage

Sep 15, 2017
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
Have you seen the Binational Health Week GoFundMe page we created? We need to raise just $1400 to pay for services, childcare, and more during Binational Health Week in Austin, which this year serves…
Journal of Agromedicine Socio-ecological approaches for improving agricultural safety and health

Multifaceted, Overlapping, Critical to Understand: The Spheres of Influence Affecting Agricultural Worker Health and Safety

Sep 14, 2017
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
This month, the Journal of Agromedicine released a special issue focused on utilizing the socio-ecological model (SEM) to improve agricultural safety and health. Migrant Clinicians Network’s…
woman in hijab from behind facing brick wall

Luck of the Draw: A Sudanese Woman's Journey to the United States

Sep 13, 2017
By: Jean Schrecengost
Fatima*, a North Sudanese woman in her mid-twenties, welcomes me into her apartment for an interview. She wears jeans and a blouse but no turha, the term she uses for the headscarf she usually dons…
hurricane aftermath destroyed houses

Harvey vs. Irma vs. Katrina: Can Displaced Patients Get the Care They Need?

Sep 12, 2017
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
"There is such an unmet medical need," says Kristin Malaer, another social worker who also showed up to volunteer. "Just going and connecting with people, you find out so many of them are diabetic or…
MCN Five on Friday

Five on Friday: Clinician Burnout Rates Increase at FQHCs and Denouncing the End of DACA

Sep 8, 2017
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
Another difficult week for the mobile poor. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the thousands just beginning to recover from Harvey, while thousands more are displaced by Irma. Meanwhile, across the…
clinician taking child's blood pressure

Access to Health Care in a New Immigration Environment

Sep 7, 2017
By: Farmworker Justice
Photograph: Earl DotterEditor’s Note: How do immigration policy changes -- or even the tone of the national conversation around immigration -- affect health care needs and access for people who lack…
houses and basketball court underwater

In the Field: HOPE Clinic in Houston Rides Out Harvey

Sep 6, 2017
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
A week ago, as Harvey thrust toward its clinics, HOPE Clinic, a Federally Qualified Health Center in Houston, took stock. And then moved that stock. “We transferred our vaccine storage to our…
hundreds of empty cots

Cots in Austin: Visiting the Local Shelter for Harvey Evacuees

Sep 5, 2017
By: Migrant Clinicians Network
This week, Austin is set to receive somewhere between 1,500 to 2,000 evacuees fleeing the receding waters in their neighborhoods around Houston. They are to be housed in several locations, one of…
MCN Five on Friday

Five on Friday: Federal Judge Protects Texas Sanctuary Cities and Human Flow, Documentary on Global Refugee Crisis from Ai Weiwei

Sep 1, 2017
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
Thank you to the migrant laborers across the country -- agricultural workers, custodians, construction workers -- who are often overlooked during our Labor Day festivities but make up an essential…
baby's feet

Maria, Two Months Old, Had Congenital Zika. Should She Stay on the Immunization Schedule?

Aug 30, 2017
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
Maria* is a two-month-old patient at a Federally Qualified Health Center in Puerto Rico. It’s time for her two-month vaccinations -- but her doctor is hesitant. Maria had congenital Zika, which…
Dream and Nightmares by Liliana Velásquez

Liliana Velásquez: From Unaccompanied Minor to College Freshman and Future Nurse

Aug 29, 2017
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
“One of the narcos pistol-whipped me on the head, because he wanted my backpack to see if there was money inside. He said, ‘We need you to turn all of your money over to us.’ Then they threw all of…
MCN Five on Friday

Five on Friday: AgHelp Connects Migrants with Services and California Pursues New Health Protections on Chlorpyrifos

Aug 25, 2017
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
The kids are headed back to school, some for the first time. But the first timers aren’t just the photo-ready Kindergarteners, with colorful backpacks and superhero lunchboxes. Some are newly arrived…
hand outstretched with rainbow light

Breaking Health Disparities for Transgender Patients

Aug 24, 2017
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
Does a transgender patient’s preferred pronoun make its way from the patient’s registration form all the way into the exam room? How does a health center evaluate if a patient is a good candidate…
child getting vaccination

Shots: Immigrant Community Under Fire for Measles Outbreak. What Can Health Care Providers Do?

Aug 23, 2017
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
In the suburbs around Minneapolis, Minnesota, an alarming measles epidemic has public health authorities on edge. As of mid-July, 79 cases have been confirmed, primarily among small children. Like…
MCN Five on Friday

Five on Friday: 25.6 Million People Using Health Centers and the Human DX Project

Aug 18, 2017
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
It’s the end of National Health Center Week, in which hundreds of Federally Qualified Health Centers around the country offered community events, hosted their local representatives, and held health…