WENATCHEE (Washington) WORLD

July 7, 2008

Health fair helps migrant workers get in the know

By Alejandro Gonzalez
World staff writer

MONITOR — Rene Lopez stopped smoking five years ago because his wife regularly gave him a mean look when he lit up a cigarette around his children.

Lopez, 30, of Pasco, said information he received from a community health organization helped him quit.

More than 280 people were present at the "feria de salud," or health fair, at a migrant camp in Monitor on June 26. The fair was organized by Columbia Valley Community Health in Wenatchee.

Families ate Mexican food, listened to a local band and got information on health services. But the focus of the health fair was to make those who attended aware of the hazards of smoking and how tobacco companies are targeting Latinos.

Carol McCormick, the clinic outreach coordinator, said many migrant workers are unaware of the services available to them through the clinic because many speak only Spanish. The clinic received an $8,000 grant from the Washington Association of Community and Migrant Health Centers to put on three fairs per year and to inform migrants through advertisements and health presentations.

"Tobacco companies realize that the Latino community has got a lot of money and not that much information," McCormick said. "They can appeal to them and they are appealing to them."

To help inform people about health and services available to the workers, the clinic sends out a group of people to speak to migrant workers. The program is called "promotores de salud," or "health promoters," and the idea for the program comes from Mexico, McCormick said.

Many of the promoters were present at the fair and passed out health information.

Lopez said he hopes his children remember some of the information that was passed out at the fair. He said he had many headaches and was always tired when he smoked. His wife didn't like him to smoke around the children, he said.

"For the kids, they shouldn't smell the smoke because it harms them," Lopez said. "That's what made me quit smoking; it was a quick decision."

Lopez' children bounced and ran in an inflatable tiger during the fair with other children. El Grupo Ilusion, a band from Wenatchee, played Spanish music nearby. Many of the people who attended lived in the migrant camp where the fair was held, McCormick said.

Many arrived only days before the fair from Mexico and California for the cherry harvest, McCormick said. The clinic decided to have free health exams on the same day as the fair, since people would already be there.

A line of people waited to be examined.

Alejandro Lemus, 19, who arrived in Monitor from California a few days prior to the fair, had a varicose vein in his leg that hurt him while he worked.

His leg has bothered him for a year and a half, he said. Aura Tinsley, a physician's assistant, told him to wrap the leg and gave him advice on how to make the pain go away. He said the exam helped him.

"It's good for the people who don't know people here, especially for the immigrants because they travel from place to place," Lemus said of the clinic.

The fair usually has more people who attend, but since there is a light cherry crop this year, there are fewer migrant workers who live in the camp, McCormick said.

Miguel Mora, 52, listened to the band as his grandchildren played in the inflatable tiger.

"Everyone gets something out of the fair," he said. "The children are having fun playing. The people are joking. Everything is great."