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Training parents as community health workers

In the Field: Training Parents as Community Health Workers to Protect Children from Environmental Hazards

Sep 12, 2018
By: Migrant Clinicians Network
The downpours over the weekend ahead of Hurricane Florence did not dampen the spirits of the 14 farmworker parents participating in MCN’s Community Health Worker (CHWs) training in collaboration with…
Woman farmworker putting on scarf

Medical-Legal Partnership: Helping Pregnant Agricultural Workers Avoid Pesticide Exposure with Aaron Voit, Esq.

Aug 7, 2018
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
photo credit: Alan PogueIn the spring, the California Department of Pesticide Regulation announced that 209 million pounds of pesticide active ingredients were used in 2016 across the green fields of…
Family gathers water in forest

World Refugee Day: Lessons from Serving Asylum Seekers

Jun 20, 2018
By: Caitlin A. Fish J.D.
photo: Earl DotterTrauma-Informed Care: Lessons from Serving Asylum SeekersBy Kate Sugarman, MDA woman came to the exam room with irregular and heavy periods, during which she says she was passing…
Girl looks through border fence

Children at the Border: Layers of Trauma Compounded By Detention

Jun 19, 2018
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
photo by Karl Hoffman In the first six weeks of the Trump Administration’s new policy of separating children from parents who requested asylum after crossing the border as is within their legal…
Kids on a farm

US Children Need Protection, Too: World Day Against Child Labor

Jun 12, 2018
By: Caitlin A. Fish J.D.
photo: Earl DotterToday is World Day Against Child Labor. Here in the US, we assume that children are protected from our most dangerous jobs, like mixing and applying pesticides. We scorn images of…
Child choosing faces that match emotions

Toxic: How To Battle Adverse Childhood Experiences Among Mobile Agricultural Workers

Jun 6, 2018
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
Divorce, violence in the community, a family member incarcerated or deported, physical or sexual abuse, a lengthy and dangerous migration. For many people across the US, adverse experiences like…
Mother and child

Position Statement: Families Seeking Safe Haven Should Not Be Separated

May 14, 2018
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
As health care providers, we at Migrant Clinicians Network strongly oppose immigration policy that separates children from their parents. The lifelong health impacts of such trauma administered by…
sad woman with hand on forehead

Toxic Stress

May 10, 2018
By: Eva Galvez
Earlier this week, I saw a patient for her prenatal visit. She is now in her 20th week of pregnancy. Her husband was deported during her tenth week of pregnancy and her seven-year-old son has been…
Child's face over bed of leaves - Illustration by Jessica Johnson

Children in the Fields: Environmental Protection Agency Reconsiders Minimum Age Protections

Feb 28, 2018
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
Illustration by Jessica JohnsonTwo years ago, Juan,* a sixteen-year-old farmworker, was tasked to apply pesticides to a field of tobacco in North Carolina. Juan mixed and applied the pesticides with…
Woman with stethoscope

MCN Statement: DACA and the Health Care Workforce

Feb 19, 2018
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
We at Migrant Clinicians Network are deeply committed to the development of a health care workforce that meets the needs of all individuals in every community. The pursuit of a clinical workforce…
woman feeds baby from bottle by candlelight

Documentation As a Barrier to Care: Dr. Marsha Griffin on Border Health Care and Split Families

Jan 18, 2018
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
"Candle of Hope" by Alan PogueIn October of last year, Rosa Maria, a 10-year-old girl with cerebral palsy, was being transported by ambulance from her hometown of Laredo, Texas to a nearby hospital…
child eating food at a picnic

Growing Healthy Children: Growers and Childcare Providers Meet to Protect Agricultural Worker Kids

Nov 29, 2017
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
This week, MCN’s Juliana Simmons, MSPH, CHES, Environmental and Occupational Health Program Manager, arrived in Las Vegas to facilitate a focus group with childcare providers and growers -- an…
child reading a book with her dad

Migrant Clinicians Network Receives Aetna Grant for Health Education for Farmworker Parents

Oct 31, 2017
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
Migrant Clinicians Network has been selected as a grantee in the Aetna Foundation’s Cultivating Healthy Communities program and was awarded a $100,000 community grant to implement a new program…
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…
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…
homeless man sitting on street corner

Unsettled: Agricultural Workers and Homelessness in California

Aug 16, 2017
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
Today, it’s predicted to reach just 90 degrees in Porterville, California, a town outside of Merced in the Central Valley -- it’s the first time a daily high hasn’t gone above 95 degrees in over…
two children standing in front of a brick building

How Do Clinicians Confront the Social Determinants of Childhood Health?

Jun 28, 2017
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
“Our families pick up and leave what was once a familiar place to them and their children better opportunities in life, always starting over, mostly without supporting family or friends to trust…
refugee children traveling

World Refugees In Our Hometowns: Serving Unaccompanied Minors

Jun 20, 2017
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
Today is World Refugee Day. Here in the US, thousands of people arrive at our borders each year requesting asylum. Many of them are children who arrive without an adult. “Unaccompanied children”…
Ileana-Maria-Ponce-Gonzalez-at-University-of-Washington

Empowerment: CHWs Help Patients Combat Chronic Diseases

May 2, 2017
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
The newspapers report on it every day, our medical journals are filled with the latest data, and the patients in our exam rooms confirm: Diabetes is on the rise in the US and worldwide, including…
pesticide label and graveyard

A Misused Pesticide Killed Four Children. Could This Have Been Prevented?

Jan 25, 2017
By: Alma Galván
By Alma Galván, MHC, Senior Program Manager of Environmental and Occupational HealthOver the weekend, at funeral services in Amarillo, Texas, the community mourned the death of four siblings who died…
Fall Streamline newsletter

Three Reasons To Read the New Issue of Streamline

Dec 8, 2016
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
Perhaps this post’s title is a bit too boastful, but we couldn’t help it! We are proud to announce the launch our newest issue of Streamline, Migrant Clinicians Network’s quarterly clinical…
MCN Five on Friday

Five on Friday | November 4, 2016

Nov 4, 2016
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
Migration continues to be above-the-fold news. Recent reports at the US-Mexico border fortify earlier speculations that 2016 will post greater migration attempts than even 2014, as Central American…
MCN Five on Friday

Five on Friday | September 23, 2016

Sep 23, 2016
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
Happy Autumn Equinox! This week, as the sun rises directly due east and sets directly due west, we pull out the sweaters and celebrate the cooler mornings and longer nights. Grab a cup of hot tea…
MCN Five on Friday

Five on Friday | August 26, 2016

Aug 26, 2016
By: Claire Hutkins Seda
It’s back-to-school time! Two of our MCNers are away this week, dropping their children off at college for the first time. Many of us, however, still think of those full-grown college freshmen as…