Celebrating Farmworker Health Day across the nation

[Guest guest]

Dear Colleagues,

I hope you are all planning something special for Farmworker Health Day which is scheduled for August 14th. Please see our suggestions and offers to support your work as described in the letter below.

Bobbi Ryder

July 14, 2008

Dear Colleagues,

I am writing to bring to your attention the recent designation of August 14, 2008 as the first National FARMWORKER HEALTH DAY to be celebrated in conjunction with the NACHC sponsored National Health Center Week August 10-16, 2008. The theme of this year’s event is “America’s Health Centers: Home of America’s Health Center Heros”. It recognizes the vital role of health center providers in achieving success of the health center mission. From primary care physicians, to behavioral health specialists, to nurses, promotoras and community outreach workers, nearly 40,000 health care professionals serve on the front lines each day in health centers.

As a co-sponsor to this event, we at the National Center for Farmworker Health are excited about the potential for this recent addition to National Health Center Week to bring positive attention to the contributions that migrant and seasonal farmworkers make to our economy and the production of fruit and vegetables that our country relies on for good health, and the importance of our Migrant Health Centers in sustaining a healthy workforce.

We hope that you will take advantage of this designation to add something unique to your ongoing National Health Center Week activities, and will call upon us to assist you in any way possible. The primary purpose is to inform and educate those in your community about the work of the health center, to honor health center staff and providers who serve with such dedication, as well as the farmworkers and their contributions. The sorts of activities that we would like to suggest include any of the following:

Invite your local migrant service providers to set up booths at a health and social services fair for farmworkers. Host a symposium for interested community members to present information on the local farmworker population and the history of farm labor migration to the area. Co-hosts or speakers could be other service providers, local growers, your farmworker board member representatives, etc. Distribution of fact sheets, newsletters, service agency directories, posters, etc about available services for farmworkers. Presentation of an award by an appropriate legislative representative to one of your providers or staff to honor his/her service to the population.

Presentation of an award to an appropriate legislative representative by one of your board members for his/her recognition of the importance of farmworkers in your area. Invite a state or national expert in migrant health to come and speak to your staff, and board and/or community on a topic that is relevant to your community.

With this letter, NCFH is committing to send one complimentary artwork 2008 poster, (suitable for framing and presenting to the recipient of your choice) to the first 10 Migrant Health Centers who respond to this email. In order to claim your poster, please respond to me at Ryder@... and tell me how you will plan to use this poster as a means of informing and educating.

Additionally, we will commit to sending one staff member to each of two locations on August 14th to speak on the topic of migrant health. In order to request our participation in your event, please send us a short paragraph describing your event in general, anticipated participants and the topic you would like us to cover and the length of time you would like us to speak. Requests must be received no later than 7/21/2008. NCFH will make the selection of the two venues we can participate in on this day and will cover the costs of our participation.

I hope that you are as excited as I am about this opportunity to educate, inform and advocate for the population we serve, and I look forward to working with you on this effort.

Sincerely,

Bobbi Ryder

Bobbi Ryder, President & CEO

National Center for Farmworker Health, Inc.

1770 FM 967

Buda, TX 78610

(512) 312-5453 (Direct)

(512) 312-5451 (Assistant, Estrada-Boren)

(512) 312-2600 (Fax)

www.ncfh.org