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Hurricane wildfire person praying

Now What? Clinical Strategies for Vulnerable Workers, Months After Disaster

Feb 1, 2018
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
The hurricanes that lashed large swaths of the South and the Caribbean, the fires that blackened neighborhoods, farms, and wildlands across the West -- while the severe events themselves have ended…
Tomato Workers' Health and Safety Guide in English and Spanish

Celebrating Winter Tomatoes: Tomato Guide Newly Translated In Spanish

Dec 21, 2017
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
Today is the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year in North America, but across southern Florida, agricultural workers are still picking the tastes of summer. Along this tropical finger of…
Sara Quandt and Tom Arcury Holding Alice Hamilton Award

Honoring Dedication to Worker Health and Safety: Sara Quandt and Tom Arcury Receive Alice Hamilton Award

Nov 20, 2017
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
Photo: thepumphandle.orgLook up the latest and most compelling research on occupational safety and health among the most unprotected and neglected workers in this country -- migrant farmworkers, or…
APHA - Clinicians' role in addressing climate related health conditions

MCN's APHA Poster Presentation: Clinicians' Role in Addressing Climate Change-Related Health Concerns

Nov 15, 2017
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
Last weekend, MCN’s Amy Liebman, MPA, MA, Director of Environmental and Occupational Health, headed to Atlanta for the American Public Health Association’s annual conference, boldly titled, “Creating…
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…
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…
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…
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…
workers raising hands

Picking Fruit in 106 Degrees in Oregon: How Do Health Centers Step in to Prevent Yet Another Heat-Related Death?

Aug 10, 2017
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
It’s August -- and it’s hot. A stubborn heatwave has gripped the Pacific Northwest, and the National Weather Service has two weather alerts for the Columbia Gorge region, a scenic rural strip along…
Workers standing on dusty soil

High Index of Suspicion: Valley Fever in California’s Central Valley

Aug 3, 2017
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
Clinica Sierra Vista’s patient population in their Kern County, California clinics reflects this rural slice of the Central Valley, the southernmost stretch of the famously fertile and productive…
Border wall in Brownsville, Texas

Borderlands Road Trip: Chronic Kidney Disease of Unknown Origin in Texas?

Jul 19, 2017
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
Border wall in Brownsville, Texas. Photograph by Tom Laffay for La Isla Network.Along the Texas-Mexico border, the scorching summer sun is merciless. In McAllen, Texas, the average high for the…
Tomatoes

Summer = Tomatoes! How to Keep Tomato Workers Safe and Healthy

Jul 11, 2017
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
For many of us, the quintessential taste of the summer season is a ripe tomato. The fruits of this summer treat are now lining the produce aisles at grocery stores around the country. But as many…
man spraying pesticides on plants

Pesticide Poisoning in Monterey: What Went Wrong and What Comes Next?

Jul 5, 2017
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
Last month, we wrote about a pesticide poisoning that sickened over 50 agricultural workers in Bakersfield; the neurotoxic pesticide chlorpyrifos is thought to be responsible. A month later and 200…
Amy Liebman presenting on health care challenges reaching vulnerable immigrants

In the Field: Top Five Ways of Reaching Vulnerable Immigrant Workers

Jun 22, 2017
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
Earlier this week, Migrant Clinicians Network’s Amy K. Liebman, MPA, MA, Director of Environmental and Occupational Health, took a drive from MCN’s Maryland office to Dover, Delaware to present at…
physician at computer

Tech and Ag: Using EHRs to Better Identify and Train Agricultural Workers on Occupational Exposures

Jun 14, 2017
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
Fernando* had worked in agriculture on and off for six years. He drove out to the local apple orchards for four months out of the year, pruning, fertilizing, applying pesticides, and harvesting.…
Dr.-Jose-Rodriguez-and-Sr.-Domingo-Monroig-receiving-EPA-Environmental-Champion-Award

Hospital General Castañer Wins EPA Award

May 23, 2017
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
Last week, Jose Rodriguez, MD, Medical Director at Hospital General Castañer, attended an awards ceremony in New York City to receive the 2017 United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)…
man standing in field of smoke

Pesticide Poisoning of Farmworkers in Bakersfield

May 10, 2017
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
Last week, more than 50 agricultural workers were sickened when exposed to pesticides while working in a cabbage field near Bakersfield, California. "We started getting an odor, pesticide odor,…
coffee beans with fair trade usa logo

Fair Trade Arrives on US Farms

May 4, 2017
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
This week, Fair Trade standards for US-grown products went into effect, potentially changing the scope of Fair Trade in the US market and promising a new model of fair labor practices, social justice…
Workers in the field at sunset

Mourning the Dead, Fighting for the Living: Workers’ Memorial Day

Apr 27, 2017
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
Over the course of 2015, almost 5,000 people in the US went to work one day and never came home. An additional estimated 50,000 workers died from occupational diseases. That’s according to the AFL-…
Community healh workers discussing health issues

In the Field: Reaching Rural CHWs in Puerto Rico

Apr 20, 2017
By: Alma Galván
On Thursday, April 6th, I had the pleasure of leading a workshop with Jose Rodriguez, MD, in Lares, a town in the heart of Puerto Rico well known for the coffee they produce. The goal of the workshop…
MCN's Alma Galván speaking in Puerto Rico to a group

In the Field: MCN's Week in Puerto Rico

Apr 13, 2017
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
Last week, MCN’s Alma Galván, MHC, Senior Program Manager of Environmental and Occupational Health and Deliana Garcia, Director of International Relations, Research, and Development headed to Puerto…
streamline newsletter winter-spring 2017

Top 4 Reasons To Drop Everything and Read the New Issue of Streamline Now

Mar 30, 2017
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
Streamline is here! And we’re convinced that you should share our slightly-over-the-top exuberance on the publication of the latest issue of our quarterly clinical publication. That’s because this…
In the Field: Interactive Safety in the Workplace Trainings in Rural Oregon & Washington

In the Field: Interactive Safety in the Workplace Trainings in Rural Oregon & Washington

Mar 22, 2017
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
Last week, MCN’s Alma R. Galván, MHC and Ileana Ponce-Gonzalez, MD, MPCH, CNC met up in some of the most agriculturally productive regions in the country for back-to-back occupational health and…
Stephanie Chalupka, EdD, RN

In The Field: Nursing, Health and the Environment for Nursing Students

Mar 7, 2017
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
Environmental and occupational health (EOH) hazards are ubiquitous and poorly understood. Those who work in high risk jobs and live in impoverished neighborhoods or substandard housing -- like…
keeping safe on the horse farm

Seguridad: How to Stay Safe on the Dairy Farm

Feb 23, 2017
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
Imagine you just got a new job. Congratulations! You now work on a dairy farm with hundreds, possibly several thousand 1,500-pound Holstein cows -- but you have never worked with large animals before…
keeping safe on the horse farm

Keeping Safe on the Horse Farm: Resources for Immigrant Workers

Feb 14, 2017
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
How can we best keep immigrant workers safe on the job? Our Seguridad and Communicating Safety projects resulted in popular low-literacy and bilingual safety materials in comic book form, to help…