Blue Ridge Community Health Services honors Farmworker Awareness Week with shirt drive

Blue Ridge Community Health Services is one of several organizations participating in National Farmworker Awareness Week, which runs from March 24 through March 27. The national campaign was started by Student Action with Farmworkers to bring attention to the unsafe working conditions and low wages that face many agriculture workers.

“Farm work is the third most dangerous job in the United States,” writes SAF on its website. “The people who plant and harvest our fruits and vegetables suffer from the highest rate of toxic chemical injuries of any other workers in the nation and have higher incidences of heat stress, dermatitis, urinary tract infections, parasitic infections and tuberculosis than other wage-earners.”

Locally, the campaign is being promoted by Blue Ridge Community Health Services, which provides medical, dental, behavioral health and outreach services to more than 3,000 farmworkers in the region.

“When you think about sitting down to a cozy holiday dinner and eating a slice of warm apple pie, there is a face and a story behind every bite,” writes BRCHS. “Farmworkers pick our fresh fruits and vegetables and work long hours to ensure you have enough to eat.  They spend long days in the fields so we can enjoy easy and affordable access to nourishing foods.”

BRCHS will be hosting a long-sleeve shirt drive to donate to farmworkers. The goal is to help the workers protect their skin from pesticides and reduce sun exposure. Shirts can be donated at the front desk of any BRCHS locations.

Here’s the full press release from BRCHS:

Blue Ridge Community Health Services (BRCHS) is joining with hundreds of organizations this week to participate in Farmworker Awareness Week.  This national campaign, which runs March 24^th through 27^th, seeks to educate communities on the important contributions farmworkers make every day and the dangers they face doing this work.

 When you think about sitting down to a cozy holiday dinner and eating a slice of warm apple pie, there is a face and a story behind every bite.  Farmworkers pick our fresh fruits and vegetables and work long hours to ensure you have enough to eat.  They spend long days in the fields so we can enjoy easy and affordable access to nourishing foods.

An estimated 2-3 million men, women and children work in the fields in the United States and farm work is ranked as the third most dangerous job in the Country.  Regardless of the crop they work, many often face challenges including inadequate food, difficult housing conditions, cramped quarters, emotional isolation repetitive motion and muscular-skeletal stress and injury, and unpredictable working hours.  Furthermore, farmworkers suffer from the highest rate of toxic chemical injuries of any other workers in the nation through exposure to pesticides.  Last year, BRCHS provided medical, dental, behavioral health and outreach services to over 3,000 farmworkers.

How can you help? BRCHS strives to address the needs of all vulnerable populations in community, including farmworkers.  This week, BRCHS is hosting a long-sleeve shirt drive to donate to farmwokers.  The gift of a long sleeve shirt can help a hard-working farmworker avoid the dangers of pesticide and sun exposure while they work. Shirts (NEW and USED!) can be donated at the front desk of any BRCHS Location.  Look through your closets and see if there is a shirt you could part with for a good cause.

 “We are very proud of the work we to do serve local farmworkers , but there is still so much to do,” said Kenett Melgar, Outreach Team Leader.   “This is an extremely vulnerable population facing multiple barriers to health care.  BRCHS is committed to serving them in our clinics as well as providing them with health services on the farms where they work.  I hope everyone will join with us as we take part in Farmworker Awareness Week.”

 BRCHS is a non-profit community health center that has been providing high quality and affordable medical, dental and mental health care as well as promoting health awareness/education for over 50 years.  Services are conveniently provided in Hendersonville, NC at Blue Ridge Health Center and Hendersonville Family Health Center; in Brevard, NC at Brevard Health Center; in Arden, NC at Arden Health Center; in Spindale, NC at Rutherford Health Center and in four Henderson County Public Schools.  If you would like more information about BRCHS services, call 692-4289; or visitwww.brchs.com and www.facebook.com/BRCHS.