Migrant Clinicians Network mourns the passing of Charles Van Der Horst, MD, a fierce advocate for health access, a prominent HIV/AIDS researcher, and emeritus professor of medicine and infectious diseases at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. [ Charles Van Der Horst, MD was arrested for civil disobedience in protest of the General Assembly's refusal to accept Medicaid expansion... Read More
Happy Father’s Day! This Sunday, skip the new barbecue tools and cologne, and give the father in your life the gift of health. Go for a family day hike, swim some laps in the local community pool, or enjoy a heart-healthy vegetable-rich picnic lunch. Heart disease is the number one killer of men in the US regardless of race or ethnicity, and diet and exercise can prevent it. Among men... Read More
[ Photo provided by CSM ][Editor’s Note: This week, we kick off a short blog series over the course of the 2019 hurricane season focused on Puerto Rico. Here, MCN’s Puerto Rico Program Manager, Marysel Pagán-Santana, MS, DrPH, gives us the update from the field. As a side note, this is the first time that we present Pagán-Santana as a DrPH. Congratulations, Marysel!]At the beginning of this month... Read More
As part of “Filling the Gap in Worker Training: Capacity Building for Occupational Safety and Health,” supported by the Susan Harwood Capacity Building Program of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, I traveled across the country to assist with a monitoring visit to the Ventanilla de Salud in Calexico, CA, where partners Adriana Buelna and Marlet Vizcarra both work as... Read More
On June 12th, we honor World Day Against Child Labor. Launched by the International Labor Organization in 2002, it brings our attention to the continued problem of children at work throughout the world. This week, the Washington Post ran two articles of note on child labor: the first, a disturbing piece on child migrant labor in the chocolate industry, and the second, a piece on child labor... Read More
Diabetes, Disasters, Late Night Outreach: The Life of a Migrant & Neighborhood Health Nurse in North Carolina
[The Greene County Health Care staff. Gena Byrd is third from the right.]“It’s very, very busy this time a year.” That’s the update from Gena Byrd, RN, a nurse with Greene County Health Care, a community health center in North Carolina. One of the true migrant health centers, Greene County supports its mobile agricultural workers through a robust in-the-field program, through which Byrd logs many... Read More
John Ghertner, MD, has been living and working as a physician for the migrant community in the Finger Lakes region of New York State since around 1980. His integration into the community -- he says he’s a padrino for several children, and is a designated guardian for a local child should the parents be deported -- has led him to be a migrant health advocate as well, even after... Read More
Today is National Heat Awareness Day. As we roll into the summer, with the Southwest already experiencing a significant heat wave, let’s take a moment to read up on the news, resources, and information around heat-related illness, with our five recommendations from MCN staff. Alma sent along the Coalition for Sensible Safeguards’ “Safeguarding Summer”, which highlights the... Read More
The repeated and avoidable deaths of migrant children in detention is unconscionable. We at Migrant Clinicians Network demand immediate implementation of greater safeguards and better conditions to reduce the likelihood of yet more deaths. As clinicians, we recognize the impact of pre- and peri-migration stress and trauma on the health of migrants, who are then further stressed and... Read More
May is close to the end; it’s the official kickoff to summer! Before you head to the barbecue or pack up your swimsuit and sunscreen, take a moment to read some of the news pieces and resources that we shared amongst ourselves here at MCN this week. Marysel sent over this article on the shocking number of people still struggling in poor conditions after... Read More
