Promoting awareness ,identification and prevention of work related symptoms at a mobile migrant worker clinic in Central New York

The Salt City Health Outreach Program (SCHOPE) project conducts medical clinics for migrant farm workers on farms in upstate New York. Upstate Medical University students coordinate the clinics, and are mentored by the project medical director. They perform patient assessments under the supervision of volunteer community physicians in tents pitched on farm property. Public health nurses and bilingual outreach workers provide preventive and educational services.

The Central New York Occupational Health clinical Center (CNYOHCC) is a grant funded multidisciplinary occupational diagnostic and treatment center. In 2004, the CNYOHCC began to participate in the SCHOPE project as consultants during migrant clinics. CNYOHCC's goals in the project include: 1) Improved recognition of occupational illnesses and injuries among migrant farmworkers. 2) Integration of occupational health into the general health services provided. 3) Development of more effective measures to treat and prevent work related injuries and illnesses among migrant farmworkers.

Our presentation describes aspects of CNYOHCC's collaborative role in the project in relation to these goals. Specifically the Clinic will report on the development and results of a questionnaire administered to farmworker patients in 2006 which screened for a range of potential work related health issues, and among whom a large percentage reported one or more symptoms attributable to work exposures. In addition the clinic will present data from previous seasons to further describe the incidence of occupational maladies in this population. Efforts to educate student coordinators and attending clinicians will be discussed, as will barriers to effective treatment and prevention.