Half of all male subjects and two-fifths of female subjects said they had never been to a dentist. The extremely low access to dental health services is reflected in the high proportion of adverse dental health outcomes found in the PE sample. More than two-thirds of subjects reported never having had an eye care visit. The report concludes that the risks for chronic disease, such as heart disease, stroke, gall bladder disease and diabetes, are startlingly high for a group that is mostly comprised of young men who would normally be in the peak of physical condition. Hired farm work is often very strenuous, and surely qualifies as regular exercise.
Unhealthful diet is likely to be a major contributor to the conditions noted above.
It is a tragedy and more than a little ironic that the labor force that is responsible for producing such a great abundance of healthy food in California should themselves be suffering from the effects of poor nutrition. The findings of this study demonstrate that we, as Californians, need to reevaluate how to address the unmet health and health care needs of agricultural workers. Attention is urgently needed to address the access to health care problems found in this survey. The lack of health insurance, the inability of existing programs to meet the needs of this population, and the infrequency of health care visits demonstrates a breakdown of this nation's health care system for hired farm workers. These findings point to the need for vigorous efforts to address the lack of health insurance coverage issues, and the shortage of culturally compatible health care providers and facilities in rural areas.