On March 31, many Americans celebrated César Chávez’s birthday throughout the country. Chavez, co-founder of the United Farm Workers union with Dolores Huerta, is known for his activism supporting farmworkers’ rights. He strove to gain fair treatment, improved working conditions, and increased wages on behalf of farmworkers. Migrant and seasonal farmworkers serve a critical role not only to our economy but also to all Americans’ tables for the abundant food they help provide.
President Kennedy signed the Migrant Health Act into law in 1962 which established the Migrant Health Program that addresses the basic medical needs of farmworkers. In Colorado, CHCs provide affordable, high quality, primary health care to more than 12,000 hardworking migrant and seasonal farmworkers.
CHC services are located in regions throughout the state at High Plains Community Health Center in the Southeast Plains region; at Pueblo Community Health Center, Inc., in the Pueblo region; at Salud Family Health Centers in Metro Denver, Northern Front Range, Boulder/Broomfield, and Northeast Plains regions; at Sunrise Community Health in Northern Front Range and Northeast Plains regions; and at Valley-Wide Health Systems, Inc., in the San Luis Valley, Western Slope, Central Mountains, Southwest, Arkansas Valley, Northeast Plains, and Southeast Plains regions.
To learn more about migrant health programs and jobs at these health centers, please click on their website links:
- High Plains Community Health Center
- Pueblo Community Health Center, Inc.
- Salud Family Health Centers
- Sunrise Community Health
- Valley-Wide Health Systems, Inc.
To view a map of Colorado CHC migrant services locations, click here.
Health professionals interested in providing health care to farmworkers may be interested in the upcoming 2013 National Farmworker Health Conference. The event will be held, May 8 – 9, 2013 in San Diego, California. The conference is sponsored by the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) which advocates for health care needs on the behalf of millions of people served by Community Health Centers (CHC) located in all 50 states and U.S. territories. For more information, click here.
