04.30.09
Migrant Housing in each county varies and for some places there may be large camps or small trailer clusters or small farm houses or apartment complexes. Sometimes camps may have several farmworkers and their families living in one place. Information should be distributed to farmers and farm workers about signs, symptoms, precautions, and isolation, if necessary.
At this time routine quarantine of workers newly arrived from Mexico is NOT recommended.
Health Departments in counties with agriculture as a major part of their economy may already be aware of migrant camps in their area. A listing of migrant camps can be found on the Department of Labor website at: https://www.dol.communications.its.state.nc.us/ash/scripts/pa_1a.cfm
Information that is linguistically and culturally appropriate may be distributed to Farmworkers about H1N1, what precautions to take, and where ill people can go for health services. Information can be found on DHHS website www.dhhs.state.nc.us, and http://www.epi.state.nc.us/epi/gcdc/flu.html.
Health Services/Testing. Individuals exhibiting symptoms should seek health care. If they can not go to their local health department here is a listing of affordable healthcare resources in their area. A listing of NC Farmworker Health Programs/services can be found at www.ncfhp.org under Access Points. This information can be distributed to the farm workers. They can also access affordable care through NC Community Health Centers and NC Free Clinics. Some of these locations may not have sliding fee scales or bilingual staff or interpreters. Therefore, care must be taken as to where they are sent other than the local health department. Many farmworkers are uninsured and may not be eligible for some medical assistance programs. Health centers should continue to follow their process for determining eligibility.
Outreach Workers. NCFHP Outreach Workers have been serving farmworkers and their families for a long time. Health Departments may choose to contact outreach workers for assistance and to establish connectivity through NCFHP, Migrant Head Start, Telamon. For information from Telamon contact Tom Myers tmyers@telamon.org. Telamon has outreach workers in each of the following 9 counties in our state: Jones, Craven, Wilson, Nash, Sampson, Pender, Columbus and Robeson. Local Health Departments, alone or with assistance of PHRSTs, may need to assist with fit testing of a small number of outreach workers. For information regarding contacting outreach workers from the NC Community Health Center Association go to www.ncchca.org .
