The Salinas Valley, Monterey County, California, is an agricultural area with a large population of low-income Hispanic families working in agriculture, manual labor, and service sector jobs. Children living in this area may be exposed to higher levels of pesticides than other children because of proximity to pesticide applications and take-home exposures of their parents. High rates of child asthma are also noted. CHAMACOS (Center for the Health Assessment of Mothers and Children of Salinas), which means "small child" in Chicano Spanish, is a university/community partnership investigating exposure of children to pesticides and allergens and their potential adverse health effects. CHAMACOS is developing intervention strategies to reduce child exposures. The partnership structure includes UC Berkeley-based academics, community-based organizations, local clinics, the county hospital, and SCORE, a coalition of social service agencies. There is also an advisory board of farmworkers, growers, media and governmental representatives, health care providers, and community-based organizations. The partnership is developing a fully integrated community-based outreach, education, and intervention program that includes (1) community training on use and interpretation of pesticide data, (2) training physicians on recognition and management of pesticide poisoning, (3) training of Promotoras and community members to provide education on home-based strategies to reduce child exposures, and (4) integration of environmental health into existing county prenatal health services. Through community meetings, focus groups, and interviews with community members, we are developing scientifically sound and sustainable community-appropriate interventions. The final form of this intervention will address take-home pesticide exposures by farmworker parents.
Learning Objectives: N/A
Keywords: Pesticides, Community Participation
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.