Agricultural workers are at significant risk for heat stress. Heat stress results when the body cannot get rid of excess heat and its core temperature rises.  Heat stress may lead to more severe heat illness including heat exhaustion, heat cramps, heat stroke, and even death if left untreated.  Agricultural work, which requires performing physically demanding work for long hours in hot and sometimes humid weather, places workers at high risk.

This guide provides information to clinicians on the prevention and treatment of heat-related illness. Since workers may not be familiar with all of the symptoms of heat stress, it is important that clinicians discuss heat illness symptoms and prevention with agricultural workers and others who are at risk.

This joint FJ and MCN publication was supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of awards totaling $1,949,598 with 0% financed with non-governmental sources. The contents are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement by, HRSA, HHS, or the U.S. Government. For more information, please visit HHS.gov.

These image-centric and engaging resources can help clinicians reach refugee, immigrant, and migrant communities with important information regarding getting vaccinated. The flyers are available in English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole, and both pre-made and editable versions are available. Users can insert their organization logo as well as state-specific information such as their state vaccine sign-up website and vaccine customer service phone number. Along with these fliers, MCN has created a simple ‘how-to’ video (see above) for editing the fliers.

The original designs for this resource were created by a staff member of East Coast Migrant Head Start Project who is the daughter of a farmworker, and who had once gone to East Coast Migrant Head Start Project centers herself. The flyers were adapted by MCN. 

This colorful vaccine calendar comic gives low-literacy information on vaccines and some information on why adults need immunizations, too. Available in high resolution to download and print into poster size.

The analysis encouraged by these Five Key Questions, developed by the Center for Media Literacy (CML), can inform the decision-making or actions that we may take in a media-driven world.

A Prezi presentation that includes the Five Key Questions accompanied by links out to related resources is available to view here: https://prezi.com/view/2zUKL4KGQWaysr1BertD/

The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Worker Protection Standard (WPS)protects agricultural workers from the health risks associated with pesticides. The WPS requires agricultural employers to comply with minimum safety precautions when using pesticides on farms and in nurseries, greenhouses or forests. Requirements include: training of workers handling pesticides or working in treated areas, provision of adequate personal protective equipment (PPE), communication of information about work areas recently treated with pesticides and when it is safe to re-enter these areas, and in case of emergency, availability of decontamination facilities and provision of medical assistance. The following guide reflects the WPS provisions currently in effect, which were last updated in 2015.

The New England Journal of Medicine has an article analyzing early cases in China which gives some clarity around how the virus works: “Clinical Characteristics of Coronavirus Disease 2019 in China".

This almost real-time map shows where COVID-19 cases have been reported, all over the world, which provides some perspective and allows for a visual understanding of the spread as it progresses. 

HRSA’s new COVID-19 FAQs give some overview on the health center requirements around emergency preparedness as well as recommendations for communications from health centers.

APHA's Get Ready campaign helps Americans prepare themselves, their families and their communities for all disasters and hazards, including pandemic flu, infectious disease, natural disasters and other emergencies.

Diabetes is a common but complicated health condition facing agricultural workers within the United States. To help assist agricultural workers in learning about this diagnosis, Migrant Clinicians Network has partnered with professional artist and collaborator Salvador Sáenz to create “Mi salud es mi tesoro: Un guía para vivir bien con diabetes,” or, “My Health is My Treasure: A Guide to Living Well with Diabetes.” This low-literacy comic book explores the topic through the full-color story of an agricultural farmworker named Goyo, whose recent diagnosis of diabetes prompts him to engage in conversations with other agricultural workers on topics of diet, exercise, and illness prevention while facing the unique hurdles of living a life of migration. The comic book was originally produced in Spanish, and is now available in English below. Please click "Leer en español" above to access the Spanish-language version. 

In order to print the right number of comic books, we are asking organizations to pre-order in quantities up to 500. The comic book and shipping will be paid for by MCN. In exchange, we simply ask that you, or someone from your organization, complete an evaluation of the comic book several months after you first receive it. Information from the evaluation will help us improve our resources and will give us important insight into how the comic book is being used in the community.

Download a digital copy of the comic book below!