Wisconsin growers produce some of the nation’s largest supplies of Christmas trees, beets, corn, cranberries, apples, and other fruits and vegetables. These growers depend on migrant and seasonal agricultural workers that migrate from southern U.S. states and foreign countries to assist with field and cannery work. Family Health La Clinica (FHLC) Community Health Center worked with the Wisconsin Farmworkers Coalition to develop the Education and Empowerment for Wisconsin Migrant and Seasonal Agriculture Workers Project.
Migrant workers live and work in close quarters and are at high risk for virus transmission. Access the project paper and find more information at www.famhealth.com/wi-msaw-covid-19.
During the 2020 growing season, FHLC’s Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker (MSAW) Mobile Outreach Team completed 293 COVID-19 testing and education events at 46 worksites in 23 Wisconsin counties. Bilingual staff provided 3,379 workers with COVID-19 education and 3,313 workers with COVID-19 screening and testing. Out of 3,313 workers tested only 194 tested positive, a positivity rate of less than six percent.
Each time the team identified positive cases, employers and workers averted risk by isolating those positive workers, quarantining close contacts, and stopping them from infecting other workers. The key to project success was providing testing and education at the rural worksites.
Grant funding from the Medical College of Wisconsin’s Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment allowed for rapid project deployment. Support from the State of Wisconsin enabled testing at worksites and provided clinic staff access to personal protective equipment (PPE), testing supplies, lab services, and allowed FHLC to leverage Wisconsin National Guard support for testing large worker groups.
Family Health La Clinica provides services to MSAW employers free of charge through the 2020 season and is currently planning and seeking funding for the 2021 growing season. Katherine Porter, D.O. is leading the continued development of educational materials and a plan to deploy COVID-19 services ahead of the 2021 season. FHLC added outbreak services that rely on rapid antigen testing, coupled with confirmatory molecular testing when indicated. FHLC continues to offer SARS-CoV-2 testing for migrant and seasonal agricultural workers before they leave Wisconsin to return to their home states and countries.
For more information or to support the project, contact Lisa Kilawee, FHLC Director of Strategic Community Engagement, at (920) 787-9442. If you are an agricultural employer or a migrant or seasonal agricultural worker and would like more information regarding these free services, please contact Ashley Bolden, FHLC MSAW COVID-19 Project Assistant, at (920) 787-9450.
