September 2000 Migrant Health Project is Good Medicine for Decatur County Gus Aquino, a volunteer interpreter from the Centers of Disease Control, translates information for a migrant worker, as Susan Sweeney, an Emory PA student, prepares to examine him. It is estimated that Decatur County s population increases by 10,000 people during the month of June. It s harvest season for hand crops such as peppers, watermelons, cucumbers, tomatoes, and squash. Farmers hire crews of migrant workers who come into the county by the car and truckload to work in the fields from dawn to dark, picking, lifting, stooping, and bending, until it s time to move to a new location for the next harvest.
Migrant workers are an important component of the agricultural economy of the region and the state.
Migrant farm workers, their families, and other uninsured individuals had access to primary care, dental, optometric, and chiropractic services. Physician assistant students from Emory University, nursing students from Albany State University, local dentists and optometrists, and other health professionals from southwest Georgia worked as volunteers during the project. A total of 837 individuals were examined at farms, trailer parks, dental offices, Lillian Williams Elementary School in Attapulgus, and the Decatur County Health Department in Bainbridge. Family Health Services of Southwest Georgia provides an Hispanic outreach worker as an access point for migrant workers and their families throughout the year. The hazardous conditions and arduous work performed by migrant workers can lead to hypertension, otitis media, pharyngitis, asthma, allergies, diabetes, skin irritation, muscular skeletal problems, poor oral hygiene, and vision disturbances.