Agricultural employers have a big impact on the health of their workers. Whether it is responding to emergencies or facilitating preventive health services, employers can make a big difference. NCFH is committed to assisting employers of all sizes with resources that increase their workers’ awareness of and access to health services in the United States.
On this page, agricultural employers can find resources on the following topics:
For employers who want to organize a health fair event for their entire workforce, there are two primary types of health providers that can usually do this:
An additional option to facilitate health care access for workers is NCFH’s Call for Health program. It’s a free, bi-lingual helpline that farmworkers can call or text to receive help in finding and scheduling medical appointments that they need.
See below for more information on each healthcare option.
Community & Migrant Health Centers (C/MHCs)
What specific services can health services offer farmworkers?
This resource describes the specific primary and preventative care services offered by Health Centers and how to find them. Download the English and Spanish resource today!
Health Departments
Call for Health/Una Voz para la Salud
Established in 1997 by NCFH, this nation-wide, toll-free, bilingual, health information and referral service helpline offers:
infectious diseases like COVID-19 and the flu can spread quickly among farmworkers, especially in employer provided housing and transportation. See below for educational materials for workers, educational materials for employers, and promising practices by employers.
“Your operation is going to be dependent on whether your employees come back day after day”
-Georgia farm employer on facilitating COVID-19 vaccines for his workforce
Resources for Farmworkers
NCFH has made print materials and videos to provide simple information about COVID-19, Influenza, Tdap (Tetanus, Diptheria, Pertussis), and Tuberculosis. Some of these materials have been reviewed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and by farmworkers. We encourage employers to use these materials to supplement orientations and safety trainings for workers. Most materials are available in English and Spanish. Go to our Infectious Disease Hub to see all the materials.
COVID-19 Risk Management Promising Practices
Many employers have implemented effective and efficient practices during the pandemic to protect workers from COVID-19. We have documented some of those efforts in our Promising Practices by Employers page.
Flu and TDaP Vaccines: Why Should Employers Encourage Them?
See the statistics in this flyer about the need for TDaP and flu vaccines among farmworkers. Flu and TDaP vaccines are very important for farmworkers, but many do not have them. Available in English and Spanish.
COVID-19 Resources from Partner Organizations
With the rise in heat hazard warnings, it is becoming more and more important for agricultural employers to implement heat illness prevention measures and plans for emergencies.
NCFH Resources
Partner Organization Resources
Bi-lingual flyers about heat stress prevention, shade, water from CalOSHA.
See below for mental health resources from our partner organizations. For help finding mental health services for workers, contact NCFH’s Call for Health program.
For more information and resources, visit NCFH’s Mental Health Resource Hub.
NCFH has delivered health education trainings and talks to agricultural employers of all sizes, and we have experience making sure these trainings are interpreted into whatever languages are spoken by workers, including Mesoamerican Indigenous Languages. Any agricultural employers who are interested in providing health education trainings to their workforce can make a request here.
Do you want to hear directly from agricultural employers about how making sure farmworkers have proper health care access brings benefits to both the employer and the employees? Listen below to the episode of NCFH’s podcast where we sit down for a discussion about Total Worker Health, which is an occupational health and safety framework from the CDC that emphasizes supporting workers’ health and well-being inside and outside the workplace.
Speakers include:
Cultivating Health Connections Episode 1 – NATIONAL CENTER FOR FARMWORKER HEALTH (ncfh.org)
A specific note for listeners: at the 34:40 point, one of the speakers makes a claim about COVID-19 test positivity rates between H-2A workers and between the general U.S. population between February and May of 2021. The average positivity rate of H-2A workers who were preparing to come into the United States during that time was indeed 1.3%, according to a study conducted by the CDC with nearly 1,200 H-2A workers. However, the positivity rate of the U.S. population was slightly lower than claimed, fluctuating between 5.9% and 2.2% during the same time period.
Sources:
Any questions about NCFH’s resources for agricultural employers, please email info@ncfh.org.