Re: Assessing Needs

January 29, 2002

Access through the churches would be an excellent idea. Also, access through

community health centers who serve the uninsured would be another possibility.

A lot of health departments have a " migrant worker " question on their

registration forms. If that data could be extracted, it would be useful. I'm

sure you've thought of some of these ideas.

>>> Bobbi Ryder <ryder@...> 01/29/02 01:54PM >>>

In response to Sara's email about assessing needs, I would like to

differentiate between the

type of needs assessment that is (1) directed towards locating and identifying

pockets of

farmworkers who need to be served, and (2)assessing their specific health needs

in order to

tailor programs and services appropriately.Both types of needs assessment are

equally important,

but how you go about gathering the data differs greatly.

I am interested in developing a guide for local communities and states to help

with the first

type of needs assessment. Ie, where are the farmworkers located, how long are

they in the area

and what kinds of work are they doing.

Do any of you have any experience in this arena that you would be willing to

share with us?

The purpose of this work would be to make sure, in the expansion of services in

response to the

Presidential Initiative, that the numbers of farmworkers grow in proportion to

the increased

dollars.

Since farmworkers are truely a " hard to reach " population, it is going to be

much easier for

health centers to expand in the direction of least resistance, ie full time year

round

populations that have CHIP and Medicaid and know how to use public

transportation and have

telephones to make appointments.

Any thoughts or input on this process would be appreciated.

Bobbi RYder

Sara Muhlestein wrote:

> Hi,

>

> I am just beginning to work with the County of San Bernardino, CA Department

> of Public Health on migrant health issues. We are in the initals stages of

> assessing the situation and needs that exist. I was wondering if anyone has

> ideas on how we should go about assessing needs or what things should

> definitely be included. I have been considering surveys, interviews, and

> focus groups. Does anyone have any ideas of what generally works best when

> dealing with this population? Any and all help in this would be greatly

> appreciated.

>

> Thanks

> Sara Muhlestein-Ferreira

>

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January 30, 2002

Hello all,

I'm also interested in a needs assessment meeting criteria for 2nd use that

was mentioned by Bobbi. We are attempting to develop a health risk

assessment for the migrant Farmers of East Texas and can't find any work or

an instrument that has been used in the past.

Any ideas??

Bates

-----Original Message-----

From: Vivianne Hoskinson [mailto:vivianne@...]

Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2002 4:30 PM

ryder@...;

Subject: Re: [ ] Assessing Needs

Access through the churches would be an excellent idea. Also, access

through community health centers who serve the uninsured would be another

possibility. A lot of health departments have a " migrant worker " question

on their registration forms. If that data could be extracted, it would be

useful. I'm sure you've thought of some of these ideas.

>>> Bobbi Ryder <ryder@...> 01/29/02 01:54PM >>>

In response to Sara's email about assessing needs, I would like to

differentiate between the

type of needs assessment that is (1) directed towards locating and

identifying pockets of

farmworkers who need to be served, and (2)assessing their specific health

needs in order to

tailor programs and services appropriately.Both types of needs assessment

are equally important,

but how you go about gathering the data differs greatly.

I am interested in developing a guide for local communities and states to

help with the first

type of needs assessment. Ie, where are the farmworkers located, how long

are they in the area

and what kinds of work are they doing.

Do any of you have any experience in this arena that you would be willing to

share with us?

The purpose of this work would be to make sure, in the expansion of services

in response to the

Presidential Initiative, that the numbers of farmworkers grow in proportion

to the increased

dollars.

Since farmworkers are truely a " hard to reach " population, it is going to be

much easier for

health centers to expand in the direction of least resistance, ie full time

year round