213109 Migrant Clinician as Farmworker Advocate: Telling the Story of How Farmworkers Feed Us All

Tuesday, November 10, 2009: 5:10 PM

Mike Rowland, MD, MPH , Migrant Clinicians Network, Wilton, ME
  
Public perception of immigrant agricultural workers is driven by negative, media-reinforced, stereotypes. This inhibits lawmakers from supporting legislation to improve living and working conditions for this essential group of workers. This presentation will discuss how the Maine Migrant Health Program (MMHP) used the The Farmworkers Feed Us All documentary project to bring a more positive and realistic image of farmworkers to the public. MMHP help exhibit Farmworkers Feed Us All throughout Maine and used it conjunction with public meetings to advocate for improved working conditions. This presentation will discuss the project and its effects from the point of view of a clinician advocating for improved conditions for immigrant farmworkers.

Learning Objectives:
Examine the public health advocacy model of using documentary work to raise the profile of an invisible and marginalized population.

Keywords: Latino Health, Occupational Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: Over 20 years as a primary care physician and medical director in migrant health. Occupational Medicine Specialist.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

See more of: Occupational Health Disparities Institute: Farmworkers Feed Us All
See more of: Occupational Health and Safety