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Life & Times launches a special in-depth
look at the health care crisis we haven't heard about
-- the one facing California's farm workers. Who cares
for the people who harvest America's food? A Life &
Times special series in three parts.
Part
I: Farm Worker Health
Over one-million farm workers pick
California's fruits and vegetables. And the fruit of
their efforts accounts for more than half the nation's
food supply.Yet the people who harvest crops are some
of the poorest and sickest individuals living in California.
They work at one of the nation's most hazardous jobs,
second only to construction.
In Part I, we'll meet
Rick Nahmias, a photojournalist who spent months documenting
the plight of the state's farm workers. We asked him
to accompany us on a trip to one of the communities
he profiled -- the Coachella Valley. There, we encountered
some of the people most deeply involved in this critical
public health issue.
We'll also meet Jose Luis Gamez, a farm worker who was
permanently disabled while picking grapes. Gamez received
a $5000 settlement to last him for the rest of his life.
Studies show that farm workers are at risk from more
than just occupational hazards. Recent surveys show
this population is in serious decline -- suffering from
chronic diseases injuries and poor nutrition.
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Part II: Helping The
Hands That Feed
This report features some of the people
trying to help farm workers get better, more reliable
health care. People such as Rosa Lucas, a family nurse
practitioner who grew-up in Beverly Hills. Today she
runs a health clinic located in an impoverished farm
community.
We also meet the "Flying
Doctors" from Northern California -- who dropped out
of the sky and into the Coachella Valley to put on a
health fair. It's the only opportunity many farm workers
ever have to get dental and medical care.
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the transcript
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Part III: The Activists
- Farm Workers Helping Farm Workers
We'll meet two ex-farm laborers who've
taken new paths as activists. Emanuel Benitez toiled
in the fields for years -- now he's a community outreach
worker for the California Rural Legal Assistance.
Part of Benitez' job
is to act as "watchdog" in the fields-and make sure
that workers have simple necessities such as drinking
water and portable toilets. But as we'll see, Emanuel
typically isn't well received when growers and labor
contractors spot him.
We'll also meet Esperanza Sotelo, another former farm
worker who's now a local leader of Lideres Campesinas
-- an organization made-up of female farm workers. As
we'll learn in this segment, many workers are given
little training on how to protect themselves from pesticides.
Esperanza conducts classes to help her peers know what
to look out for.
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the transcript
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