2021 Increase Access to Care for Ag Workers Network Promising Practices Award - Sun River Health

Sun River Health (NY) is one of this year’s Promising Practices Award Recipients for our Increase Access to Care for Ag Workers Program. Sun River Health is being recognized for its ancillary service adaptations since the start of the pandemic. Their transportation team added prevention procedures, improved infection control, and allowed for continued transportation services to those patients in most need.
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Watch how they were able to accomplish this on NCFH’s “COVID-19 Safety Measures for Transportation Teams” video here.
 
From Sun River Health:
Sun River Health is a network of over 40 Health Centers who serve more than 245,000 patients throughout the Hudson Valley, New York City, and Long Island in New York State.  Our Migrant Health Centers serve approximately 9,000 agricultural (Ag) workers across 6 counties each year, providing medical, dental, behavioral, and enabling healthcare services to all, regardless of insurance or ability to pay.  Over the decades that we’ve served farmworkers, we have worked hard to build relationships with farmworker community members, partner organizations, growers, and community leaders to work collaboratively to improve access to the much needed healthcare services our Health Centers offer.

• Why is increasing access to care for the Ag worker population important to your health center? Access for underserved communities is the heart of Sun River Health and the driving force behind the initial work of our Founding Mothers in the 1970’s.  As our health center expanded, the critical need for health care access for our farmworkers and their families spoke to the mission, the organizational value of health care access, and the commitment to care and dignity that is central for all.  Sun River Health, our board and our staff, have an unyielding dedication to increasing access to care for the agricultural community that nourishes us all.
• How do you anticipate the $1,500 award will support your promising practice or enhance your continued efforts of increasing access to care? Sun River Health is committed to addressing barriers to care and to ensuring that care for our patients is comprehensive.  The funds will be used to continue to offer camp based and community based access to care that is culturally and linguistically accessible to our patients.  Development of educational materials and organizing events in collaboration with the growing community will be prioritized.​

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Funding for the IAC Network Promising Practices Award is generated from the annual sales of NCFH commemorative artwork. All proceeds from sales go directly to the IAC Network Promising Practices Award and the NCFH Migrant Health Scholarship fund.  Learn more about the IAC Promising Practices Award here.