Cultivating Health Connections Episode 1

Total Worker Health Training for Employers

Welcome to NCFH's Podcast and 1st episode!
This episode is a discussion of agricultural employers and their important role in promoting the health and well-being of farmworkers and their families. We specifically explore the concept of Total Worker Health, which is an occupational health and safety framework from the CDC that is not usually applied to the agriculture industry. We bring together three agricultural employers, a medical doctor who's also a Total Worker Health expert, and the head of the National Council of Agricultural Employers, to discuss how the time and energy needed to make sure farmworkers have proper health care access brings benefits to both the employer and the employees.

Read more on Total Worker Health:
https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/twh/totalhealth.html

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: 

1. CDC study of H2A workers https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37639043/  
2. Positivity rates for US population: https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#trends_weeklyhospitaladmissions_testpositivity_00  

---