Increasing the Delivery of Health Care Services to Migrant Farm Worker Families Through a Community Partnership Model

Abstract

The Farm Worker Family Health Program (FWFHP) is a 13-year community partnership model designed to increase delivery of health care services for migrant farm worker families. During a yearly 2-week immersion experience, 90 students and faculty members provide health care services, including physical examinations, health screenings, health education, physical therapy, and dental care for 1,000 migrant farm workers and migrant children. Students and faculty members gain a deeper appreciation of the health and social issues that migrant farm worker families face by providing health care services in the places where migrant families live, work, and are educated. Although the model is not unique, it is significant because of its sustained history, interdisciplinary collaboration among community and academic partners, mutual trust and connections among the partners, and the way the program is tailored to meet the needs of the population served. The principles of social responsibility and leadership frame the FWFHP experience. This community partnership model can be replicated by others working with at-risk populations in low-resource settings.

Facilitating School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Enhancing Student Mental Health: An Overview of the Special Series

“…Founded in the models of Development in Context Evaluation or DICE (Ostrom, Lerner, & Freel, 1995) and University-CBO Collaborative Partnership or UCCP (Harper & Salina, 2000), community-based participatory research (CBPR) emphasizes the importance of partnering with community agencies to co-develop culturally sensitive assessment and intervention strategies involving important problems facing low-resource urban communities (Connor, Rainer, Simcox, & Thomisee, 2007;Minkler & Wallerstein, 2003).…”

Health Status of Migrant Farmworkers in the Shenandoah Valley

“…These programs and resources may help to bridge the gap between health care providers and migrant farmworkers and improve the effectiveness of efforts to educate and promote health (Migrant Health Promotion, 2011). A community partnership model is another proven method of increasing delivery of health care to migrant farm worker populations (Connor, Rainer, Simcox, & Thomisee, 2007). Migrant health centers collaborate with colleges and universities to provide health professions students an educational, cultural, and enlightening clinical experience.…”

“…Community-academic partnership models of community health increase students' cultural competency and awareness of social responsibility. The partnership provides for a variety of services including health education, health screening, dental hygiene, and body mechanics education (Connor et al, 2007).…”

Extent and patterns of community collaboration in local health departments: An exploratory survey

“…The IOM 2002 report concluded that collaborations are becoming more common in public health practice [2]. A number of studies suggest that collaborations are a viable strategy as LHDs are actively partnering with different entities/stakeholders in their communities to address public health issues [6,8,23-25]. …”