California Endowment Allocates $50M to Improve Farm Workers’ Health
The California Endowment announced yesterday it will provide $50 million over the next five years to improve the health of California's farm workers, the Fresno Bee reports. The Endowment, California's largest health foundation, plans to implement both short- and long-term programs to improve workers' health. It plans to "immediately expand the capacity to deliver services," which could include the construction of health clinics or the creation of mobile clinics to serve migrant workers. "[M]ore ambitious" long-term projects include efforts such as cross-border health insurance coverage and improving communication between health departments and providers on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. Dr. Robert Ross, president and CEO of the Endowment, said that building new health clinics, adding on to existing clinics and establishing traveling clinics in towns with many farm worker residents would all be "appropriate examples" of projects the funding could cover. At a rally with Mexican President Vicente Fox yesterday morning, Gov. Gray Davis (D) "hailed" the grant. Fox expressed "sincere appreciation and gratitude to the California Endowment" for its project. Ross said that the project arose out of recommendations made by the foundation's Agricultural Workers Health Task Force, which was formed in response to a foundation report that found that 70% of nearly 1,000 farm workers surveyed lacked health insurance. He added that the Endowment also was "buoyed by the cooperation" between Fox and Davis (Ellis, Fresno Bee, 3/23).
This is part of the California Healthline Daily Edition, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.